What does a converter do???

[mx842]

there's a good lesson on why different currents and different amperages have different plugs.. they don't call it power for nothing, and it's a damn good thing no one was hurt of killed..

if you don't know anything about electricity don't play with it, it's not a toy!!

You either didn't read my post or you misunderstood what I was saying. I don't have a problem with wiring stuff up. I ran all my wires and tested everything in the rig before I hooked up the power. Everything ran ok while it was hooked up to my house current.

AS I tried to explain I had not used the geni for several years and the last time it was used my oldest son had a friend that was supposed to be an electrician Replaced the original plug on the geni to a 3 prong 125 volt twist type plug......the same plug that my shore power cable has.

Yeah,I should have checked to see if it was hooked up to the 240 side of the geni but I didn't. I had forgot that little geni even had 240 on it and right on the plug it said 125 volts so I plugged it in.

Believe me I know what electricity will do I had a buddy of mine die from 120V one time. I have worked around electrical all my life in the construction and boat business and know you can't always judge the book by what is written on the cover but this time I fried my converter by not checking the voltage before I made the panel hot. Probably a good lesson everyone should follow because another buddy of mine fried his at a camp ground when someone did the same thing with the wiring pedistal that he hooked up his camper to. It fried the converter but didn't hurt anything else.

Anyway, I relearned a lesson, WFCO fixed the burned up mess and it's back in the trailer so life's good once again.

[S. Heisley]

That whole thing must've been a fright of sorts...not nice.

Congratulations on your teardrop electrical recovery.

It's good to know that WFCO stood behind their product warranty.

[mx842]

That whole thing must've been a fright of sorts...not nice.

Congratulations on your teardrop electrical recovery.

It's good to know that WFCO stood behind their product warranty.

Actually it wasn't all that bad because everything still worked I just didn't have a battery charger. From the looks of things that's all these things are anyway is a glorified battery charger. I have another battery charger in line anyway so no big deal.

I would think these things would have a circuit breaker type protection on them to keep them from going up in smoke if someone happened to plug them into a higher voltage than what they are able to handle.

Thanks for the kind words.

[S. Heisley]

mx842 wrote:

I would think these things would have a circuit breaker type protection on them to keep them from going up in smoke if someone happened to plug them into a higher voltage than what they are able to handle.

I'm not positive about all of them but I think the fuse protects up to 40 Amps but its main function is to protect against reverse polarity. They do have some that have breaker-style protection; but, they may cost a bit more. Depending on your situation, it might or might not be worth it.

As far as high voltage problems, anything can get fried under the right conditions. (Or should I say wrong conditions?) I've seem major main frame computer protection literally melt from too much high voltage (lightening strike).

[mx842]

mx842 wrote:

I would think these things would have a circuit breaker type protection on them to keep them from going up in smoke if someone happened to plug them into a higher voltage than what they are able to handle.

I'm not positive about all of them but I think the fuse protects up to 40 Amps but its main function is to protect against reverse polarity. They do have some that have breaker-style protection; but, they may cost a bit more. Depending on your situation, it might or might not be worth it.

As far as high voltage problems, anything can get fried under the right conditions. (Or should I say wrong conditions?) I've seem major main frame computer protection literally melt from too much high voltage (lightening strike).

Yeah you are so right, I had a computer fry one time and had even though I had one of those battery backup things on it. Not a pretty sight, of course the computer wasn't the only thing that got fried. TV, fridge,microwave. I know nothing is 100% but it seems to me from people that I have talked to that this is a fairly common thing that happens. But I guess they are like about anybody else out there that makes a product. They don't make much on the product when they sell it, they make it up on accessories and parts. The converter part of the unit cost more than the whole unit did when I bought it. LOL They have to eat too I guess.

See ya on the road......

[Engineer Guy]

Circuit Breakers are electromechanical and too 'slow' relatively to save electronics, unfortunately. We just replaced a ~6 year old Fridge that I deduced took a lightning hit down the mountain power line. To my surprise, the Fridge control board looked like a Satellite Receiver Circuit Board. VERY dense electronics to control Fridge operation, and this was on a mid-price Fridge. I promptly put a Surge Protector on the new Fridge at our Retirement House, and another on the Cooktop. It has circuitry to sense the outage and relight the flame if it blows out on low 'simmer'.

For the solderers amongst us comfortable with electricity, the important part - in most all Surge Protector Strips - to consider adding to a TTT are MOVs [Metal Oxide Varistors]. They look like large disc Capacitors. Those rated at 130 VAC conduct at that voltage to clamp surges, like 240 VAC put into 120 VAC circuits. Solder them in across all 3 power line legs: Hot to Neutral; Hot to Ground; Neutral to Ground. GE makes them, amongst others. They also have current ratings, so they can be combined to work fine at 30 Amps, etc.. Home Despot used to sell a whole House Surge Protector for ~$100- that installs at the power box. Not a bad investment if there's a lot to protect in a TTT, like a Convertor/Charger; Microwave; and Entertainment Electronics.

http://www.galco.com/pcats/vari-hrs-11.htm

A TTT on insulating Tires and a piece of Wood under the Hitch sand pad or on a rubber Hitch Wheel is not grounded. A unpainted TTT safety chain dropped on the ground from the TTT frame provides some grounding, at least, especially for Solar/Off Grid TTTs. A small hole kept damp is a decent ground. Earth Grounds on RV Park Pedestals are notoriously unreliable, so test them to be confident. Any sort of Surge Protection or Strips need a good Ground to dump surge Voltage/Current to to do any good.

Some of the highest potential lightning strikes have been measured/estimated at 20 million Volts and up to 10,000 Amps. Tough to protect against... That sort of potential kills Electronics and fibrillates Hearts many feet distant by overwhelming the nervous system, as when a herd of Cows takes a hit.

The lowest voltage human electrocution on record used to be back when REA first ran electricity to Farms. Some poor fellow standing in a puddle of water in a Chicken Coop touched a ~36 Volt lighting wire overhead and left this world. We learned eons ago to clamp a Voltmeter ground lead onto the chassis and then tuck one hand into a pocket. Measure voltage with the other lead in the free hand. If you contact voltage, it conducts down your side; not through your Heart since you're not leaning on the grounded chassis with your other hand.

On the 240 VAC used in much of the world, the Hot AC leg is truly 240 to the Neutral leg. Hot #1 to Hot #2 here in the States, for Ranges or Dryers or Welders, actually measures around 208 Volts. This is because there are line phase differences between the 2 Hot legs. Each Hot leg will measure 120 VAC to Neutral or Ground, however. So, don't let the 208 Volt reading on a Voltmeter mislead you.

[mx842]

Circuit Breakers are electromechanical and too 'slow' relatively to save electronics, unfortunately. We just replaced a ~6 year old Fridge that I deduced took a lightning hit down the mountain power line. To my surprise, the Fridge control board looked like a Satellite Receiver Circuit Board. VERY dense electronics to control Fridge operation, and this was on a mid-price Fridge. I promptly put a Surge Protector on the new Fridge at our Retirement House, and another on the Cooktop. It has circuitry to sense the outage and relight the flame if it blows out on low 'simmer'.

For the solderers amongst us, the important part - in most all Surge Protector Strips - to add on a TTT are MOVs [Metal Oxide Varistors]. They look like large disc Capacitors. Those rated at 130 VAC conduct at that voltage to clamp surges, like 240 VAC put into 120 VAC circuits. Solder them in across all 3 power line legs: Hot to Neutral; Hot to Ground; Neutral to Ground. GE makes them, amongst others. They also have current ratings, so they can be combined to work fine at 30 Amps, etc.. Home Despot used to sell a whole House Surge Protector for ~$100- that installs at the power box. Not a bad investment if there's a lot to protect in a TTT, like a Convertor/Charger; Microwave; and Entertainment Electronics.

http://www.galco.com/pcats/vari-hrs-11.htm

A TTT on insulating Tires and a piece of Wood under the Hitch sand pad or on a rubber Hitch Wheel is not grounded. A unpainted TTT safety chain dropped on the ground from the TTT frame provides some grounding, at least, especially for Solar/Off Grid TTTs. Earth Grounds on RV Park Pedestals are notoriously unreliable, so test them to be confident. Any sort of Surge Protection or Strips need a good Ground to dump surge Voltage/Current to to do any good.

Some of the highest potential lightning strikes have been measured/estimated at 20 million Volts and up to 10,000 Amps. Tough to protect against... That sort of potential kills Electronics and stops Hearts many feet distant, as when a herd of Cows takes a hit.

On the 240 VAC used in much of the world, the Hot AC leg is truly 240 to the Neutral leg. Hot #1 to Hot #2 here in the States, for Ranges or Dryers or Welders, actually measures around 208 Volts. This is because there are line phase differences between the 2 Hot legs. Each Hot leg will measure 120 VAC to Neutral or Ground, however. So, don't let the 208 Volt reading on a Voltmeter fool you.

Yeah, I don't mess around with mother nature. I have seen first hand what lightning will do. Me and a friend were fishing on the James river in a Bass tournment one time and we were a long way from the ramp when we heard the rumble of thunder off in the distance. From experience I knew that the storm was close to where we would have to go to get back anyway so we decided to wait it out where we were. Besides we almost had a limit of good solid 31/2 lb bass and only needed 2 more to limit out.

It was sunny and the thunder we had heard earlier had subsided and all was good. We picked up another fish and after about a half hour we decided to move to a little point with a lone cypress tree that is always good for one or two fish. As we moved up the creek I noticed a few clouds had gathered off to our west but it didn't look threatening just a couple lazy looking clouds that you see on a summer afternoon.

The part of the creek we were in by then the western sky was not visible and we finally came up on the lone cypress tree. The creek we were in winds through the woods with high banks on both sides with the creek being about 100' wide (deep water) in most places and about a 1/2 mile of marsh land with the creek winding right through the middle of the marsh. As you might imagine it is a beautiful setting and I always have to just stop and look around when we are in that part of the creek.

Anyway, we get to the tree and start to fish. My buddy said he thought he had heard more thunder and I told him to shut up and fish. After about 30 minutes we had caught several fish but nothing big enough to match what we had been catching in the other spot. By then we had a limit of bass but we were trying to cull out the smaller ones with something a little larger. By then those clouds we had noticed earlier had moved and now they were visible from the spot we were fishing. Still nothing threatening just a few lazy clouds. I did notice that the wind that had been blowing slightly from the SW had changed almost 180 degrees but at about the same steady breeze just a different direction. I mentioned it to my buddy and as I looked back he had a whopper on and yelled for the net. We got that fish in and it was a healthy 5 pounder and I no more than flipped my worm over to the cypress tree I had one on too. Another 5 pounder and all my weather instincts flew out the window. At that point we had around 35 pounds and I knew we had the tournament won but couldn't resist trying to cull out a few of the smaller 3 lb fish.

It was about then that everything went blank. I smelled smoke, I felt heat, I felt my hat as it was ripped from my head, I never heard anything and didn't know what the heck had happened. It was like I had just awakened from a 3 day drunk where you have to think a minute or so to figure out just where you are at. I looked around and everything seemed normal I thought. All accept the cypress tree was no longer where it was and there was parts of it all in the boat. I was still dazed and I realized my new $150 boron fishing rod was gone and when I finally regained my composure I noticed my buddy was gone too. I also noticed my head bleeding and as I yelled for my buddy I noticed my shirt and pants were soaking wet from sweat. I ran to the back of the boat to see if my buddy was just messing with me but as I did I knew something was bad wrong because if one thing I know, this dude is scared to death of snakes and he can't swim a lick so I knew he wasn't hiding from me just to play a joke. I looked around and about 30 yards from the boat I thought I could see a fishing rod sticking up out of the water beside something that looked like an old log. I thought, it couldn't be but I hauled butt over there with the troll motor and as I got closer I could see it was my buddy. I just knew he was dead as I reached down and grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in the boat. I body slammed him down on the deck and as he hit the deck he let out moan and threw up all over the boat.

Man! you don't know how relieved I was that I didn't have to do mouth to mouth on that ugly son of a gun. He didn't have a clue what had happened to him nor did I until we sat there for a minute and talked about it. He told me the last thing he remembered was that his skin started to crawl and then it was lights out. I said me too and as we looked over to where we had been and noticed that the tree was gone and all that was sticking up out of the water was a nub where this once beautiful cypress tree had been. It was about then that we realized we had been hit by lightning.....well the tree had at least.

We gathered our gear and headed back , we won the tournament by about 18 lbs and had one hell of a story to tell. My hair was burned a little and I looked like I had been tied out face up in the desert for a week. My buddy had a great big ol knot on the side of his head where a big ol slab of cypress tree had hit him and knocked him out of the boat but other than that we were good to go. I still don't remember anything but wonder why were were not both killed, I guess it just wasn't out time yet.