Converter Noise

[tarheel]

Just back from a month trip and on a couple of occasions while laying in bed, the converter under the bed on my 07 Tourmaster began making a humming noise. At first I couldn't determine the location of the noise, but I determined it was coming from under the bed. Over a 30 day period I only heard it 2 or 3 times. Could it be a fan that I had not previously noticed or do I have a problem. Any suggestions?

[03heritagerider]

Your converter/inverter is probably in an outside compartment. Mine is in the compartment under the head of our bed. When I plug into shore power, I can hear a slight hum when the charger kicks in, but I don't seem to be able to hear it inside (but then again, hearing isn't what it used to be :wink: ) You may be hearing the charger cycling on and off.

Under the bed (on mine) is the transfer switch, which switches between shore power, generator power and converter/inverter power. I've heard a click when the switch engages.

Were you connected to shore power or boondocking?

I've heard a hum coming from the plug in the bathroom near the sink when boondocking, but only when something is plugged in, like the hair dryer.

[tarheel]

My Tourmaster has both a converter and an inverter. My converter is under the bed along with my transfer switch. My inverter is in an outside front compartment. The noise is definitely coming from my converter. I was connected to shore power when I began hearing the humming noise. On one occasion, it made a noise and then stopped. All of my 12V items that run off the converter were functioning as they should.

[nemo45]

Here's what happened to me. We had a storm and a power spike while camping at a campground in northern WI. The next night while laying in bed we heard a humming noise and smelled smoke coming from under the bed. It was from the converter. We had moved to our home campground and had rolled up and unrolled our electric cord to do this. What had happened during the spike was the contact for the common in the drum for the electric cord got fried and would not allow the contact to touch the copper strip to the common on the drum. So it dropped the common. When this happened you get 220V going to anything that is on. Consequently, the starter capacitor for the rear a/c, the converter and the inverter all got fried. These were all on when the power spike occurred. MY remedy was to remove the power drum and replace it with a junction box. It may be a little more inconvenient to have to roll up the electric cord by hand, but I'll never have to worry about this happening again. Because it was caused by a power spike my insurance paid for the replacement of all of those components less my deductible. I replaced the inverter and converter myself so the insurance company paid me for that, taking care of the deductible. Something like this may have happened to you.

[RayChez1]

Nemo, you need to get a Progressive Surge Protector for your coach. You are lucky you still had extended insurance.

[nemo45]

Ray, that's the first thing I did after it happened. And, it wasn't extended insurance. Because there was a lightning storm that night Progressive paid for it all, including damage to my awning from the heavy down pour. I guess I was pretty lucky.

[tarheel]

Don-
I don't think I had any surge or lightning that caused damage because of my Progressive 50A protector. It hasn't failed me yet. I thought maybe there might be a cooling fan on the converter that was making noise, but I don't know. I'll just keep an eye and ear on it and see what might happen before I decide to have it worked on or replaced.
Dick