Was wondering if I should install a hard-wired surge protector? I have a PD 9270 converter in my coach and upon looking up info on the unit...it states this:

PD9270
70 Amp RV Converter/Charger

The PD9270, 70 amp power converter is designed to provide reliable filtered DC power to all recreational vehicle 12-volt lighting and appliance circuits. The PD9270 converter also provides safe and rapid recharging of RV batteries. Built-in features such as electronic current limiting, reverse battery protection, high voltage protection, low voltage operation, and over temperature shut down ensure long term reliability. The built-in Charge Wizard is a microprocessor-controlled system that constantly monitors the battery voltage and ensures a rapid; yet, safe, recharge.

So, when it says high voltage protection / low voltage operation, would this negate the need for other surge protection

The reason I ask is that I plan to travel in Mexico this winter and high/low electrical protection is a definite!!!

Thanks for any input, Neil

Interesting you should ask this question at this point.

I just fried a PD 9270. This was from the DC side of the coach.

I too, then, ask the same question of how to protect these devices in the event of an AC surge or a catastrophic DC surge.

This "surge" caused the PD 9720 to put-out a continuous 49.0 amps. Pretty certain this is what fried a number of other electronic components down-stream.

I understand how an AC surge would occur,i.e., park power fluctuations, but how can you get a DC surge? And aren't these surge protectors designed to prevent AC surge problems only? Don't think I've ever seen one for DC surge.
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Medic37:
I just fried a PD 9270. This was from the DC side of the coach.

I too, then, ask the same question of how to protect these devices in the event of an AC surge or a catastrophic DC surge.

This "surge" caused the PD 9720 to put-out a continuous 49.0 amps. Pretty certain this is what fried a number of other electronic components down-stream.

Found these images in the upload site. Pretty certain they go here.

Thanks Bill for posting these photos ...they are even in order!

As I had explained earlier, I experienced a catastrophic DC failure in my Regency.

I had been working-with cleaning and replacing the Golf Cart Batteries following winter storage.

I was working-on a better way to secure the GC batteries. They were secure, but probably not *tightened-down* the way they should be.

I was going to move the BUS 10 miles from my rental house to my home and complete the job.

During that 10 mile, highway transit [during rush hour], traffic in front of me did a quick stop and I kinda had to nail the brakes.

About a mile down the road, following this heavy braking incident, I could smell that, all-too-familiar-smell, of frying resistors.

I quickly pulled-over, only to find the positive battery post of ONE of the GC batteries in a neatly, molten and smoldering pile.

There was also burning resistor smell coming from the area of the water heater. Water heater board was fried.

I shut off the main power switch and disconnected the battery cables from the house batteries and continued home.

Lesson to be learned and it has been spoken here and on many other RV blogs many times - "Always be certain that your batteries are solidly secure, your battery cables are intact and your connections are clean and solid" ...or serious damage WILL OCCUR!

I ordered a new PD 9270. This was a re-manufactured one with a 1 year warranty from Progressive Dynamics. 100 bucks plus shipping and you have to send them the fried-one.

In Photo #1, you can see the 2 PD 9270's side-by-side. The bottom one [original] putting-out 49.0 volts ...WRONG!

Photo #2 shows a close-up of the original PD 9270 @ 49.0 volts.

Photo #3 is the replacement 9270 in BOOST MODE. In Boost Mode the unit puts out 14.4 volts [14.33 in this case]and will recharge your house batteries up to 90% as quickly as it can. The LED on the remote pendant will stay full-on during this mode.

Photo #4 is the replacement 9270 in NORMAL MODE. In Normal Mode the unit puts out 13.6 volts [13.52 volts in this case] and will recharge your batteries in a "normal" time frame. The LED on the remote pendant will blink rapidly during this mode.

Photo #5 is the replacement 9270 in STORAGE MODE. This is when the batteries are fully charged & maintaining that charge. The LED on the remote pendant will blink slowly during this mode.

The Progressive Dynamics line of Converter /Chargers will cycle into BOOST MODE every 21 hours as a DESULFATION MODE. This is a 15 minute boost to knock all the gremlins off the plates to help make the batteries last longer [other's can explain this process much better].

The Remote Pendant, PD92201 is a remote "Dongle" that allows-you to cycle thru the the unit's modes manually. So if you think your charger should be in a mode other than what it's "computer" has chosen, you can change this mode by depressing the button on the pendant. This also allows-you to monitor and control the battery status from inside the coach.

Some had asked what the word "Dongle" meant: Currently refers to a small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer for some type of remote access ...just another word for pendant.

So there is a bit of repetitive information on Progressive Dynamics Converter / Chargers. I know this information has been previously posted, but I thought I would add a few photos that related to my most recent instance of OPERATOR ERROR!

This might also help to answer Jim's question as-to how you can get a DC surge. My answer is: "I'm not really sure", but somehow, that shorted-out GC Battery messed-up the PD 9270 and caused-it to have a 49.0 volt output ...this can't be a good thing.

...and by-the-way, the Golf Cart Battery was also replaced. The positive terminal was molten-melted and the top of the battery was cracked...

***more to come***

I was trying to imagine what the heck had happened to mess you up that much. I should have called when I was so close and us just visiting would have thrown the fates off and you wouldn't have been in that spot to hit the brakes hard and.................................. You could have made Goshen!!

I asked about the dongle. I could have looked it up just never heard it before!

You going to have everything ready for next month?

I contacted Dometic today and they think it's the board [fridge failure] ...it was not a "strong" answer from their Tech Support person, but I guess that's what I'm thinking too.

Will order a Dinosaur P-711 board and we will see.

Otherwise, my plan is to head to DL early on the morning of 31 July. I typically leave shortly after midnight on Saturday, as my last shift ends at 2300 and I like to get the heck out-of-there!

Will be thinking Renaissance Festival on the way home.

Was in Geneva last weekend with the Hippies ...it was pretty low-key.

quote:

Originally posted by Medic37:
Will order a Dinosaur P-711 board and we will see.

My Uncle replaced Dometic Board 3 times and now the Dinosaur Board has been in there 8 years. Good Choice.

Mac, you had to have a direct short circuit (+ to -) on the GC battery to cause the terminal to melt. If you only have two GC batteries, then I guess you could have had a short on your 12 VDC system some where BUT it had to have been very close to the batteries or you would have had fried cables.

Why the converter failed is anybody's guess but the type of short circuit that would melt a terminal off a battery, that should have been obvious where the root cause was. Other things in the immediate area should have shown some sort of over current/heat/burning.

It was not the converter that failed first or caused the battery terminal to melt, it was an after the fact failure. Of course once the battery was effectively off line (the post melted and connection was broken) and the converter (now damaged) was subjected to the shorted condition, then by putting out a much higher unregulated voltage, the balance of your 12 VDC system in the coach suffered major damage.

No circuit protector in the world would protect against this type of surge or condition.

We need to find out what caused the battery terminal to over heat and fail, THAT is the root cause and needs to be addressed.

quote:

Originally posted by Medic37:
I contacted Dometic today and they think it's the board [fridge failure] ...it was not a "strong" answer from their Tech Support person, but I guess that's what I'm thinking too.

Based on the photo numbers - these must be yours too.

quote:

Originally posted by Medic37:
Will order a Dinosaur P-711 board and we will see.

I didn't know that it actually said "Dinosaur" on it - I thought you were referring to "stone age" technology.

Now I know.

Yes Bill... These are my photos and can go here.

This is the information from the Atwood Water Heater in my coach, regarding critical failure:


ATWOOD
P/N MPD91731
Mark 10-12-2-5.5-5.5-E310


Photo #1 shows the nomenclature tag on the original PC board cover.

Photo #2 shows the original Atwood board and you can see the melt-down of resistors. The original boards had no fuses or other form of protection, thus, a high voltage incident would allow this to happen.

Photo #3 shows a close-up view of the Atwood China Syndrome.

Photo #4 is the new PC Board. This is a replacement board made by Dinosaur electronics. You can cross-reference the numbers from the data tag.

This board is a UIB L w/spark-plug type connector.

You can also purchase a clear cover [as opposed to the original black cover], so that you can see the LED indicator inside, thus, monitoring the "status" of the water heater.

These are generically built boards that fit a number or water heater applications.

My water heater is now working just fine!

The Dinosaur Electronics Board also has a 5 amp protection fuse!

Ed...

The root cause is where the worst of the OPERATOR ERROR comes-in.

Sounds-like this is more of a problem for Golf Cart owners, as I have read things such as this on numerous blogs.

Since my House Batteries were not properly secured [they were tight, but obviously, not tight enough], this allowed for ONE of the batteries to slide forward and inch or two when I goosed the brakes.

In turn, this loosened the connection on the positive terminal of the inboard GC battery, where the short jumper goes from (+) to (-), battery to battery.

This caused a loose connection situation, thus, the arc welding began. The only physical damage in the battery area was to the (+) battery terminal, mounting hardware and the one end of the jumper.

So, basically, this was a LOOSE CONNECTION SCENARIO with some huge AMPS involved.

If anyone has any questions about battery mounting, loose connections, broken cable ends, too many connections at one terminal or dirty and corroded battery cable connectors or terminals; then they should get to work on securing those problems, as there is no myth as to what WILL happen [eventually]...

Fridge is next -and- I think the control sensor on my water pump might have failed. I have it "jumped" and am just turning the water pump switch on and off manually upon demand. The pump is under warranty, so I will just exchange-it.

...this is more fun than a goat rodeo!

Soooooooo.....getting back to my original post.....do you think that this converter is ample protection, or........should a voltage regulator and surge protector be installed for computers, modems,fridge board etc., to be completely safe?

Thanx, Neil

Gosh, it sounds like the batteries caused the converter problem which in turn caused the problems with the various dc appliances. Wouldn't some kind of fuse protection from the converter do the job? I've read and looked at various ac surge protectors but never seen one for the dc side. Looked it up and found some stuff used in computer systems to prevent lightening strikes from damaging things.