BFL13
Victoria, BC
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So before you had a pos wire to the battery and neg to frame, but now you have a fatter pos wire to the battery and also a fat neg wire to the battery but no neg to frame?
If connecting another (like the old one) ground wire doesn't work, a suspect might be the way the two new wires act together to make radio interference. Like they say for inverter DC input wires, that they should be twisted together or lie against each other to stop that.
So a possible fix would be to just use the new pos wire to the battery and a fatter ground wire to the frame, making the frame the neg path again. This might or might not reduce the amps you get for charging. If it does, you can get some of those back by doubling the pos path using the new neg wire you put in as a second pos wire, joining with the pos terminals of the first pos wire at each end. That would be safe because the #4 as a single can take the amps if the other became disconnected.
That doubling will reduce the resistance of the pos path, and with the fatter ground wire to frame, you will have maybe as good overall resistance as you have now with the two new wires as pos and neg.
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vermilye
Oswego, NY, USA
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You might try grounding the case of the converter. Required by NEC - Article 551.20(C). Their reason is for safety, however a good connection between the converter case & the vehicle frame may reduce RFI.
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yankee camper
Rhode Island
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Tried the jumper cable thing...no real help
Grounded the converter chassis to frame ...no help
Yes the battery is grounded to the frame,doubled up ground wire...no help
I'm stumped,the reception gets marginally better when I unplug from shore power but not by much.
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BFL13
Victoria, BC
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Try disconnecting the new neg wire converter- battery and just have the converter to frame neg. That would show if there is anything going on between those two new wires.
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Salvo
California
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The converter and new cable are most likely OK. They are not the problem. The key is that you notice little improvement when changing from converter to battery power.
I would check stereo power input. Use voltmeter.
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smkettner
Southern California
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Is the reception poor (weak) or is there interferance like a buzz or static?
I would double check the antenna connection closely.
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yankee camper
Rhode Island
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Well to reiterate what I've probably already said:
a) grounded converter chassis to trailer frame
b) ran new battery ground wire to frame - 6agw
c) checked antenna plug...OK
d) relocated antenna (by 6 inches)
Bottom line reception is a LITTLE bit better than before ...but still nowhere as good as it was before the converter/wire upgrade. While no expert by far I believe it has something to do with the AC/Converter because it does improve ever so slightly when not on shore power. Oh ya if this gives anybody another clue when on shore power and I'm walking around the area of the antenna my body acts as a 250 lb.antenna making reception better and worse depending where I am in relation to the antenna.I guess I have to live with the trade off of a converter that is way more efficient than the stock Magnetek and listening to the radio. Hey I've always got cds.
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vermilye
Oswego, NY, USA
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2 more things to check - if you are using an antenna amplifier, make sure it still has both hot & ground. Same for the wiring going to the stereo. Also worth checking that you didn't disconnect the antenna during the converter installation. It sure sounds more like a problem with the stereo rather than the converter...
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yankee camper
Rhode Island
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Vermilye- no amplified antenna and did not disconnect the antenna during converter install. Just out of curiosity why would that matter? Maybe I'll bump into you this fall, I make my annual pilgrimage to the Salmon and Oswego River the week before Columbus Day every year,been doing it for about 24 years now!Thanks for all the help and suggestions from everybody so far.
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Hiking Hunter
Warrior, Alabama, usually
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Your radio is getting power. Any RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) that would be caused by a bad ground at the converter or a "dirty" converter would most likely be heard as a buzz (off station and possibly on station). But your complaint is "poor reception", not an interference. So, I'm wondering if we are chasing down the wrong rabbit trail.
You said you rechecked and verified the antenna connection; that's where I would have looked next. And, you have eliminated a lot of other possibilities.
Are you working on the camper in a metal building? And are you comparing the reception to what you had before when it was out of the building? Just a thought...
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