Anyone ever have a very annoying hum coming from thier converter? Problem started about a year ago. Changed battery's(one was getting bad) and installed new 50 amp converter. Did'nt change a thing. Almost wish it was under the little women's bed, not mine. Trailer is plugged into 120 volts all the time as we don't get to travel that often. Have thought about putting a timer on it.

By Carl Rodgers on Saturday, March 11, 2000 - 11:25 pm:

Paul, How about a 1 inch or two inch fiberglass blanket under your bed or around the converter box ,not the converter itself, but the wood housing under your bed Might just quiet it down. Carl Rodgers

By Paul Kearney on Sunday, March 12, 2000 - 01:36 am:

Good idea Carl. I still have a sheet of 3/4" insulboard left from the house remodel. Forgot it was in the rafters out in the garage. Still think I'm gonna put a timer on it tho. Should'nt hurt anything for it to be off for about 6-7 hours at night. Or even longer. Batt's will last longer too.

By Doug Reynolds on Wednesday, March 29, 2000 - 11:19 am:

The humming can be annoying especially when my bed is right over the converter access area. LOLO
I have had the converter rebuilt, but still rarely use it anymore. It will fry your batteries as it charges them relentlessly and never shuts off. I have 5 solar panels on the roof now, and a 1500 watt Trace inverter, with charger, and trickle charger built in. My last bank of 10 batteries, deep cycle, lasted 4 years, before I replaced them. Not because they were bad, but because I felt it was long overdue. You are better off getting a trickle charger for your batteries. Replacing them if they are more than 3 years old, and wiring your converter up to an inside switch. If you have been using your converter for a long time, I can almost guarantee your batteries are ruined. With a switch, you can flip it on only when you don't want to pull the power out of your batteries, thus getting the power from your converter instead. Most the new rigs have switches installed!
PS... Again this site is wonderful. When the Silver Streak factory closed a few years back, I was devastated to not be able to pick up the phone and ask questions! I don't know what I would have done without them!! They were a wealth of information, and very nice, and had just about every part that had ever been installed on a Silver Streak, (even storm windows!!) which I should have ordered when I had the chance!! A sad, sad, day when they finally folded! Rolf and his co-workers will be sorely missed!!!

By David Lyall on Sunday, May 27, 2001 - 03:25 pm:

My converter is humming. I've had the trailer for less than a month now, and am living in it. A new voluntary homeless person I am.

You ( Doug ) say that the converter is not a 'smart' charger? I have a Sears battery charger that turns itself down to trickle level when the battery gets full.

What does 'wiring the converter up to a switch' mean? Taking the battery out of the 12 volt circuitry? That will work? I guess I could detach the battery terminals and see if there is DC current when the converter is humming.

By Doug aka: AZSilverstreaker on Sunday, September 16, 2001 - 04:02 pm:

What I meant was, that since the converters "overcharge" and fry the batteries, I would install a switch, (a/c light switch) where the converter plugs into the compartment, (trailer a/c), (preferably running it to an inside wall with a monitor red light) This way like newer models of RV's you can turn off the converter except when it is needed, thus monitoring how long it is on each time. The converter will continue to deliver 12 volt whether it is plugged into A/C or not.

By AZ Silver Streaker on Sunday, September 16, 2001 - 04:06 pm:

P.S. The converter does not "hum" when it is not connected to A/C. The humming is caused by the converter converting the A/C to 12 Volt. If your batteries are fully charged and in good shape, you don't need the converter on, except when charging and using an unusually high amperage of 12 volt power.

By David Lyall on Tuesday, September 18, 2001 - 12:31 am:

I have been researching this 12 volt power situation and have decided to trash the 'converter' and put in a marine charger.
I got a book from "Ample Power" at Real Goods and found that some Marine supply places carry these chargers which actually charge, and DO NOT overcharge.
Kul.

By maddog636 on Saturday, December 07, 2002 - 04:37 pm:

I have recently purchased a 1971 31 foot silver streak Rocket deluxe it is in fair condition not great but not poor . I notice the hum when u turn the car radio that is mounted in on the more things u turn on (as for lights ) the worse the hum gets if any one could help me I would appreciate it

By Richard on Monday, December 09, 2002 - 09:51 am:

Do you have a good battery installed? The power convertor doesn't have any filter capacitors and relies on the battery for this function.

Richard

By Mark A. York on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - 01:22 pm:

They hum. Insulate the box with reflectex.

By Al G. on Monday, October 09, 2006 - 09:01 pm:

The "linear" converter, also sometimes known as a "power pack," like for model trains, does not regulate its output. It is called "linear" because its output voltage is directly influenced by the input voltage. It is also affected by the load on the output.
Example: Linear converter at 120 volts, constant load. Output, say, 13.8 VDC.
Line (input or "shore") voltage fluctuates to 123 VAC. The output voltage, assuming the same load, goes to 14.145 VDC. This is approaching the maximum for "12" volt batteries = 14.6 VDC.
Even worse, if the batteries are fully charged, the converter keeps on pumping excess voltage, and therefore current, into the batteries, sizzling the water out of the electrolyte. Once the electrolyte level goes below the tops of the plates in the cells, or just one cell, the battery begins being destroyed. As you may know, one bad cell in a battery ruins the whole battery.
We used to be able to get away with this when batteries had caps on the cells. As the electrolyte level dropped from overcharging, if the owner added (hopefully, distilled or at least reverse-osmosis filtered) water to keep the level correct, disaster was postponed. But with "maintenance-free" (acutally more like "maintenance-proof") batteries we cannot replace lost water. Only water is lost, not acid, unless the boiling gets so severe that acid droplets are blown out the vent, which will happen as the electrolyte level goes down between the battery plates.
The linear converter is also rough on the sophisticated electronic circuits, especially solid-state, used in many modern RVs. The linear converter does not filter the "ripple" left from rectification of alternating current. This ripple is the result of bringing the part of the AC sine wave below the zero voltage line up above the line, resulting in 120 pulses of DC per second from 0 to +13 or more volts.

A much better source of DC for the RV is the electronic converter. It operates by changing the frequency of the AC from 60 Hz (cycles per second)to a high frequency (like 100 KHz), then transforming the 120 VAC to around 13-14 VAC, then rectifying it to DC. This shows on an oscilloscope as ripple, but the ripple "humps" are so close together that to modern RV electronics it is virtually the same as pure DC that is produced by the batteries. Also there is filtering that makes it even smoother.

A well designed and constructed electronic converter closely regulates voltage and battery charge state to prevent overcharging the batteries.

If you are considering upgrading your Silver Streak to automatic refrigerator, water heater, climate control system for A/C-heat pump/furnace, satellite, and other modern electronics, don't try to economize by keeping the old battery-roasting, transistor-blasting linear converter. It's pushing modern electronics to subject them to 6 volts ripple.

The "in-between" converter, the ferroresonant, which has a separate battery charger that is regulated to properly charge and maintain the batteries, has a much smoother output and is autoregulating for voltage. Unfortunately, the ferroresonant is a real "buzzer."