replacing a power conver, leaves a dc wiring issue

[zbrownmd]

Hey ya'll
We are replacing the ELX-20 power converter that came with or Lil Traveler with a WFCO 8735…the WFCO fits the cutout and, I’ve read, provide better battery charging.

Have any of you done that yet? I have a DC wiring problem

The elx-20 has three wiring blocks/bars, ac ground, ac neutral, and another on the outside of the chassis that the trailer ground went to as well as all the white wires from the 12 volt side.

The WFCO 8735 has only 2 wiring blocks/bars , ac ground and ac neutral. I connected the trailer’s ground to the ac ground block/bar since there was a little label there that said chassis ground.

What do I do with all the white wires on the DC side now and do they need to be grounded to the trailer?

Can they be added to the ac ground block/bar

I would really appreciate and suggestions or directions to what I need to properly do with those white wires.

I neglected to mention that on the elx-20, all the white wires of the 12volt stuff –lights, plugs, were connected to the third block/bar with the white wire from the 12volt side of the converter.

[vwbeamer]

The white wires go to the AC neutral

Technically, the AC ground and neutral are not the same, but they are at the same potential voltage.

In a house, the ground is ran to actual ground, usually a copper pipe driven into the ground.

The white wire is neutral and there will be zero voltage between it and ground. Often they are tired together in a breaker box in houses.

[Miriam C.]

Your DC white wires go to dc neutral not to ac neutral. Really I put mine back to the battery via a terminal bar used as a ground bar........

You can see the bar with the DC panel tied in.

[bobhenry]

I ran 4 DC circuits right side left side front wall and galley area.



Left to right fused disconnect then the 4 circuit fuses then a neutral grounding bar to tie the battery ground to the 4 dedicated circuit grounds.

I hard wired each and every ground directly back to the battery with the exception of the running lights these have dedicated grounds wired back to the tongue and then to the tow vehicle.

Poor grounding is the biggest headache in trailer towing and I have been blessed that my system holds the electrical gremlins at bay. Never a problem never a failure inside or out.

My AC side is much the same but NOWHERE do they connect with the DC system.

All AC neutrals return to a neutral bar and all loads have a dedicated ground and each return to a grounding bar and all connect to the shore power correctly.

The ac neutral (the other white wire ) does carry voltage just stand in a puddle and hold it between your fingers.

Play it safe and segrigate the DC from the AC it may take a bit more wire but it is far more reliable.

[Shadow Catcher]

I know it is terribly un-male but try the instructions http://www.wfcoelectronics.com/document ... nglish.pdf

[sid]

Hey Zig,

Can't answer your question, but was wondering if y'all are coming to Crossville in April for the spring gathering?

http://tearjerkers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2408

Mark and Pat

[chorizon]

Hey ya'll
We are replacing the ELX-20 power converter that came with or Lil Traveler with a WFCO 8735…the WFCO fits the cutout and, I’ve read, provide better battery charging.

Have any of you done that yet? I have a DC wiring problem

The elx-20 has three wiring blocks/bars, ac ground, ac neutral, and another on the outside of the chassis that the trailer ground went to as well as all the white wires from the 12 volt side.

The WFCO 8735 has only 2 wiring blocks/bars , ac ground and ac neutral. I connected the trailer’s ground to the ac ground block/bar since there was a little label there that said chassis ground.

What do I do with all the white wires on the DC side now and do they need to be grounded to the trailer?

Can they be added to the ac ground block/bar

I would really appreciate and suggestions or directions to what I need to properly do with those white wires.

I neglected to mention that on the elx-20, all the white wires of the 12volt stuff –lights, plugs, were connected to the third block/bar with the white wire from the 12volt side of the converter.

I have a WFCO 8735 and it hasn't failed me yet!


All right, I'm going to assume the "white wires" you're talking about are the DC negative wires that go to the "12volt stuff –lights, plugs", correct?

I got a barrier strip at Radioshack:


As well as a jumper to connect all the terminals together:


I then connected the Big White Wire coming out of the back of the converter to the battery negative and ran another wire from the terminal to the aforementioned barrier strip from RadioShack. All my 12V negative wires were connected to the barrier strip.

The wires do not need to be grounded to the trailer. You ran a ground wire from the converter's ground bar to the trailer frame already.

If this doesn't clear it up for you I'll take pictures of my wiring. I can't find the camera at the moment, but I know its here somewhere...

[zbrownmd]

Thanks everyone for you help.

Chroizon (Joshusa?) you were on the mark with everything and your assumptions of what i was trying to describe was correct also.

I thought i'd need a terminal block of some sort to emulate that the elx-20 was doing.

Thanks all ya'll
Zig

[vwbeamer]

:o Your DC white wires go to dc neutral not to ac neutral. Really I put mine back to the battery via a terminal bar used as a ground bar........

You can see the bar with the DC panel tied in.

I should read more carefully.

[chorizon]

Thanks everyone for you help.

Chroizon (Joshusa?) you were on the mark with everything and your assumptions of what i was trying to describe was correct also.

I thought i'd need a terminal block of some sort to emulate that the elx-20 was doing.

Thanks all ya'll
Zig

I'm glad to know I could help, let us know how it turns out!