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The 20 Amp fuse on my RV's Converter-Charger blows when plugged into shore power.

by Anonymous

Why does the 20 amp fuse on the converter/charger blow when the trailer is plugged-in for external power? With the fuse removed, the lights, receptacles and fridge work. Could it be a bad battery?

ANSWER Greetings thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

It could be a bad battery or your charger could have a short in it. Here are my suggestions for what you should do.

1. First confirm that the fuse you are talking about is for the built in battery charger on your trailer. You can do this by looking at the owner's manual of your trailer, if the fuse panel is not labeled.

2. Disconnect your house batteries. Make sure that none of the battery cables are sitting on metal when they are disconnected. Replace the fuse and plug in the trailer; if the fuse blows again, we can pretty much eliminate the problem as being the house batteries. This means that the problem is somewhere in the charger itself or the wiring leading to the battery.

3. If the fuse does not blow when the house batteries are disconnected then the problem is with the house batteries or the wiring leading off of the house batteries. Have your house batteries checked for shorts, dead cells etc.

Even if you finally diagnose the problem, fixing it is another story. When it comes to most electrical problems in an RV, I prefer to refer RVer's to let a qualified RV Technician do the repair work. Unless you are real familiar with the workings of your RV's electrical system you may end up doing more harm than good in attempting to repair the problem yourself. Anytime you work on any electrical problems in an RV, there is always the potential of creating a situation where your RV can catch fire.

If any of visitors have tips or suggestions for you they can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Add A Comment" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

Comments for The 20 Amp fuse on my RV's Converter-Charger blows when plugged into shore power.

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starstarstarstarstar 		melted fuses
by: Anonymous

Reversed battery cables popped the fuses in the inverter. I replaced the 35 amp fuses with 30 amp fuses and they worked fine for about 30 minutes. I walked into camper and smelled burning plastic. Fuses were completely burnt and gone any suggestions?
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starstarstarstarstar 		Exactly our problem
by: Anonymous

Thank you so much! When we bought this RV the previous owner took out the battery, afraid someone would steal it. After we bought it, someone I'm guessing that didn't know better replaced the battery hooking it up backwards. When we got it set up and none of the appliances worked we were so disappointed. Couldn't begin to know what was wrong. So thank you for your expertise to help us solve this as it turned out a simple fix. We are up and running now and enjoying our new RV.
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starstarstarstarstar 		fuse on my RV's Converter-Charger blows
by: Anonymous

Possibly reverse polarity. Meaning the 12v + and the ground is reversed and connected to the wrong post of the battery. Most inverters had a fail safe feature that blows the fuse if the battery is connected incorrecly. When running house battery, the light bulbs do not care how its hooked up just as long as it gets power.

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