LED bowout

[Casey Freswick]

Two led lights exploded last night. Any ideas? They are literally in pieces.

[BrucePerens]

Remove all jewelry before doing this. Don't be alone if possible.

Wires fallen on to your roof? It's a long-shot, but worth looking.

Was the converter plugged into mains power at the time? If so, unplug it and leave it that way until you figure this out. It's a safety issue. Check the outlet too.

Could you have done anything that might have reversed the battery polarity? Note that black is positive, unlike usual 12V wiring. Tantalum capacitors go off like a gunshot when reversed.

Is the battery disconnected or its fuse blown? That would do it on some converters because they are unfiltered without the battery.

Open the bottom of the converter, look, and smell. Check that it's still unplugged first.

Plug the converter back in and measure the voltage on your "12 volt" circuits where the lamps blew. Start with the meter on a 130V+ AC scale. If that reads very low, test with a 17V+ DC scale. Be careful, there could be dangerous voltage. Have a friend around to unplug the converter just in case something goes wrong or you find a voltage that doesn't belong. If you get no voltage at all, the fuse has blown and you will need to check other 12V circuits.

[Casey Freswick]

1. Before I saw this post I checked the voltage on light sockets. It was 13-14 volts. I think that is normal.
2. However, thought I heard unusually loud noice from converter. Now no noise. Not sure what that means.
3. Both lights were in the back section. Both blew out one right after the other.
4. Just turned off the shore electric.
5. Will check the converter more closely.
6. Front lights were used all morning with no problems.

[Bill]

Casey -

I think Bruce is homing in on it. The converter's output voltage spiked for a moment to a level that the LEDs couldn't tolerate. This doesn't necessarily mean that there is a fault or failure in the converter, just old design.

About two weeks ago, in post #14 in this thread
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=18690
I mentioned problems with the use of LED lights with the Magnetek/Parallax converter (which was installed in TMs in the 2003 era). The M/P converter has two outputs, one of which is unregulated and has some very high voltage spikes. This output was used for, among other things, the lighting circuits throughout the trailer. That was OK, because at the time, lights were always incandescents, and incandescents are quite tolerant of this treatment. However, LEDs are much less tolerant, and fail catastrophically. What you may be seeing is the result of a momentary spike in the shore power voltage causing a momentary spike in the unregulated output voltage, and the LEDs couldn't take it.

Since you have been using LEDs with some success, and apparently are still using them, the simplest solution may be to simply replace the LEDs, realizing that the same thing may happen again. Or you could spend $100 or a bit more to replace the converter. The alternative is to go back to incandescent lights.

Bill

[Larryjb]

This is a good head's up for those with LED's. I'll definitely have to keep this in mind if it happens to me.

[Casey Freswick]

If I get a new converter are their options available that tie into my hoped for in the future solar panels?

[Bill]

I'll let those with more experience give you a definitive reply, but I believe that the converter and the solar setup are separate and independent.

Bill

[oldstick]

Originally Posted by Bill

Casey -

I think Bruce is homing in on it. The converter's output voltage spiked for a moment to a level that the LEDs couldn't tolerate. This doesn't necessarily mean that there is a fault or failure in the converter, just old design.

About two weeks ago, in post #14 in this thread
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=18690
I mentioned problems with the use of LED lights with the Magnetek/Parallax converter (which was installed in TMs in the 2003 era). The M/P converter has two outputs, one of which is unregulated and has some very high voltage spikes. This output was used for, among other things, the lighting circuits throughout the trailer. That was OK, because at the time, lights were always incandescents, and incandescents are quite tolerant of this treatment. However, LEDs are much less tolerant, and fail catastrophically. What you may be seeing is the result of a momentary spike in the shore power voltage causing a momentary spike in the unregulated output voltage, and the LEDs couldn't take it.

Since you have been using LEDs with some success, and apparently are still using them, the simplest solution may be to simply replace the LEDs, realizing that the same thing may happen again. Or you could spend $100 or a bit more to replace the converter. The alternative is to go back to incandescent lights.

Bill

I agree. I can't prove it, but based on Bill's input to the thread he mentioned above, the same converter probably contributed to an early demise of my fairly new battery, due to the unregulated nature of it's charging output.

[BrucePerens]

Probably time to replace that converter.

There isn't a converter that will fit in the space by the shower that has any solar facility. I'm not sure that there is any converter with built-in solar that's cost-effective. The solar controller hooks up to the battery and provides its own 12V charger, but this doesn't interfere with the 12V charger in the converter, even if both of them are multi-stage. I put a voltage monitor on mine, and haven't seen any problems.

[Casey Freswick]

Thanks,

That sounds like it might be right. Will check items in the near future. Threw all my incandescent bulbs away a week ago.