Electrical Problems in 2010 K-Z Sportsmen Classic

Hello All --

Here are electrical troubleshooting questions.

Son lives in our K-Z Sportsmen Classic trailer (2010), with WF-8735 Power Center. Recently the electricity has been a problem. Lights flickering, ceiling fan weak. He says it's been intermittent for a while, seems to have gotten worse. When the problem began a few weeks ago, sometimes he had regular power, sometimes limited.

There's a router plugged into a 110V outlet, not acting strange. Son says everything plugged into outlet is acting normal.

I checked the extension cord to shore power connection, looks okay--RV exterior cable is connected to shore power with a properly rated extension cord.

The right side of the converter panel (12 V fuses) feels warm -- don't know if it's unusually warm. It's not warm on the left, where the AC breakers are.

He's been using the trailer for a couple years without much trouble. So seems unlikely that lighting or other wiring was a problem from the start.

I'm wondering if the problem is the 13 year-old converter. 

Looking at the 12 V fuse labels: #1 is not labeled, #2 is labeled "pump", #3 is labeled "app" (appliances, prob). #6 is labeled "battery." The battery has been disconnected for a couple years. #4 is labeled "front" and #5 is labeled "back."

I did basic diagnostics -- here's what I found.

When all blue fuses (on the right) are pulled, the lights come on dim, which also happens if only number four is pulled. 

With Fuse No 4 out, the lights are dim, don't see a flicker. 

With only fuses number one and number four in, you get BRIGHT lights with a flicker. 

With only fuses number one, two and four in we get bright lights with a flicker. 

If only fuse number one is in, we get dim lights.

With fuse number one in, I put in fuse number two. No change. Dim lights. Then I put in fuse number three. Still Dim lights.

 
With fuses number 1, 2, 3 and 4 in, there are BRIGHT lights. Some flickering, not too much at first. Pretty steady, normal. Then, not long after, got flickering, after turning on another light.  Eventually power drains it seems.

Then I put in the last blue fuse, fuse number five. At first, it looked bright. Then I turned the fan on and three lights shut off.

Next I tried with just fuses two and four installed. Bright lights. No flickering at first.  Couldn't get flickering to happen. But, if I then put three sets of lights on, after a little while they start to flicker.

I turned on the lights with all fuses in.. Then I turned on the fan, and the lights went out.

Seems like the converter's only able to supply a certain amount of power...

Then another experiment:

I pulled fuses 4 and 5, lights came on. But they are dim, as if #4 alone had been pulled.

When I pull all fuses except #4, the lights still flicker, but they are brighter (they are brighter when any fuse but #4 is pulled.)

Another experiment: (Pardon repetition)

When pulling the 12V fuses, pulling #4 and #5 has an effect. Pulling #4, which is labeled "front", makes the lights get dimmer.  Fan still worked (seemed like at low power). Pulling #5 makes the fan not work at all. The lights are not dimmed by pulling only #5.

Red status indicator light goes on next to fuses #4 and #5, when they are a) pulled, and b) when the light or fan they're connected to is also turned on.

We get light flickering when any one of the fuses is pulled, including 1-3.

Circuit #4 seems especially bad. (Why would pulling its fuse dim the lights?).

The lights flicker regularly. Even if no fuse is pulled, the lights flicker. They flicker without any fuse being pulled, they also flicker when fuse 1, fuse 2, or fuse 3 is pulled. The interesting thing is when fuse 4 is pulled, the lights dim quite a bit. Otherwise the lights do the same thing (flicker) no matter which fuse is pulled, OR if no fuse is pulled at all.

If the shore power feeds A/C current to the converter, and the converter stores up DC -- but the converter is faulty, maybe it starts to lose power. And we get flickering.

But why, if that's true, with some fuses in and not others, do we get dim lights to start with? Is something strange going on especially in the #4 circuit?

I guess water from a roof leak into the circuitry of the converter could affect things, but it seems unlikely water has gotten in -- we haven’t seen sign of that, or of rodents in the area.  Could water in the ceiling even cause these symptoms?

The roof has had a couple issues. We've had a good tarp on it for a year. During this drought/dry season, the tarp comes off, tho' we did have some rain a couple nights this summer. But there has been no visible water or leak inside the trailer, no noticeable leak, so not sure that's related. And the timing of the rain doesn't sync with the timing of the problem. Good to keep in mind.

The first time I looked at this, a plug was not fully plugged into shore power -- plugging it in all the way might have helped somewhat, don't know.

Would really like to know what folks think could be going on.  My guess: failed converter, but this is my 1st real experience w/ KZ electrical.

Thanks a million in advance!