WFCO - Fan Running Continuously

[YC1]

Any compartment lights you may have left on? The old type bulbs can pull 2.5 amps.

The manual says the unit has a variable speed fan.

The manual does not appear to state if you need a battery online for it to work optimally.

Without a battery connected it might be putting out the max voltage because of the no load situation. That is, not seeing the battery load so it is trying to charge a virtually dead battery.

I am not that familiar with the Converter and the manual I found was just four poor pages.

Installing a battery designed for parameters outside of a lead acid may create different issues. Again, I don't have enough information but my years of experience make me feel there could be problems with compatibility.

Removing fuses will tell you if there is something on that you have not noticed. Those darn cabinet lights are real nightmares at times.

You might consider using some lead acid battery temporarily to see if things change a bit. A lawn tractor battery would be fine or just borrow one out of a vehicle for the test.

[Souljourner]

Originally Posted by YC1

Any compartment lights you may have left on? The old type bulbs can pull 2.5 amps.

The manual says the unit has a variable speed fan.

The manual does not appear to state if you need a battery online for it to work optimally.

Without a battery connected it might be putting out the max voltage because of the no load situation. That is, not seeing the battery load so it is trying to charge a virtually dead battery.

I am not that familiar with the Converter and the manual I found was just four poor pages.

Installing a battery designed for parameters outside of a lead acid may create different issues. Again, I don't have enough information but my years of experience make me feel there could be problems with compatibility.

Removing fuses will tell you if there is something on that you have not noticed. Those darn cabinet lights are real nightmares at times.

You might consider using some lead acid battery temporarily to see if things change a bit. A lawn tractor battery would be fine or just borrow one out of a vehicle for the test.

Thank you for your troubleshooting efforts. I’m going to do some more troubleshooting over the weekend. I’m intrigued by the idea of the converter trying to charge a battery that is not in need of charging. Currently, the lithium battery is in place but the battery switch is turned off.

As part of my trouble shooting I’m going to follow your suggestion and put the old lead acid battery back in place and then see what happens when I turn on all the LED lights. I’ll also pull the fuses as O-B suggested to see if I’m missing something.

Will post my results.

[Old-Biscuit]

Fan is Current Based.....microprocessor controls the speed vs a thermostat

WF-8735 model converters provide 35 Amp DC output, and a highly reliable nominal 13.6 VDC with or without a battery.

[Bill Gail]

First , what is the Amp rating on your converter ?

lSecond , as mentioned earlier , not all converters are equal in capacity or quality.

The fact you currently don't have a battery in the system , and I suspect a low amperage converter , could be the reason the fan runs .

Some converters need a battery to balance the load .

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by Bill Gail

First , what is the Amp rating on your converter ?

lSecond , as mentioned earlier , not all converters are equal in capacity or quality.

The fact you currently don't have a battery in the system , and I suspect a low amperage converter , could be the reason the fan runs .

Some converters need a battery to balance the load .

OP has posted he has a WFCO WF-8735
8700 Series do NOT need battery to properly function
*Converters haven't needed battery for years.....decades
35A (475W) rated converter

[Souljourner]

Thanks to the helpful suggestions and doing some detective work, I believe I discovered the reason for my converter fan running for lengthy periods of time. I had initially posted that the only draw on my electric system causing the converter fan to run were 8 LED lights. Although that seemed to be true, after really paying attention I began to notice that the converter fan was coming on when the propane heater fan first started to blow, I just couldn't hear it until after the heater fan stopped blowing. When that happens, if I turn off some LED lights, the converter fan will stop blowing immediately once the heater fan is also off. If I leave the LED lights on after the heater fan goes off, the converter fan will eventually stop blowing on its own.

Since I hadn't made the connection between the heater fan triggering the converter fan I thought it was only in response to my LED lights. I assume the draw of the heater fan is triggering the converter fan to do its job, and it's doing what it's supposed to be doing?

[Old-Biscuit]

HEATER is DC....so YES that increases the DC Load


Your converter is working like it should...so is its Fan