Help! AC to DC converter problem

[JSK76]

I have an old camper power supply for my wheel house that converts 110 AC to 12v DC. I have been working on the house lately and I have it plugged in to 110 AC. last week I heard a loud pop sound from the DC powered, car stereo and the it turned off. When I turned it back on the stereo lights up but has no sound, so I bought a new one and installed it today.

All was well for about 2 minutes and POP, and the stereo turned off. Now, I thought I ruined the new one also, but I switched the power supply converter over to DC (I also have a 12 volt battery hooked up)and turned the stereo on and every thing still works. I think what the pop sound was a capacitor blowing up in the stereo. Also the inline fuses were still good.

I will be running a generator this winter so I will be running of AC power when on the ice and I need to get this fixed. The power supply runs all my 12v lights and fan just fine, but it is out of a 1970's camper and maybe it's just not suitable for todays high tech devices, although I did check the voltage with a digital meter before hooking up the second stereo and the voltage was a very steady 11.7 volts.

Is there any kind of filter I could put inline to make sure this never happens again or do they make a small very stable AC to DC converter I could hook up of the AC coming in just for the stereo.

[RebelSS]

JSK76:Kinda confused here. Did you get the 11.6 V reading direct off of the converter? If I understand right, your voltage reading is constant, no surge (because you did not blow your in-line fuses) and when you switch over to straight DC for the stereo you're OK...doesn't make sense..Did you have a good ground on the stereo? Do you have another feed from the "Other" side of the stereo that could be giving you reverse "bump" in power? I'm stumped...converters are pretty cheap..I guess I'd try a new one. (Radio Shack is cheap)A 30 YO converter is just waiting to go...Is it really worth it? Depending on your inline fuse size, a power surge can instantly fry all your stuff.Hope this helps..let me know!

[JSK76]

On a RV style converter it has a switch for if you have a AC power hook ups or if you need to run off a battery. I was having the problems when using the AC converted to DC power and that was the power I was getting 11.7 volts from. grounds are good. I have done many car sound system installs and have a good basic understanding of electricity but this one has me stumped.

I just was thinking back to reading something here last year about LED lights not having enough resistance. It's like taking a wire from positive and hooking it up directly to the negative. I cant remember if I heard the "pop" when I turn my LED's on or not. When the first stereo "popped" I had the LED's on and I was hooking the positive wire up for the stereo and the lights in the house went dim and it popped, the 1 amp fuse was still good then too.

[RebelSS]

Boy, you've got me by the b@!**s If you're running that low an amperage of a fuse, don't blow it, and your lights still dim, you obvioulsy have some kind of power draw.I give up....hope you find the problem!!!

[JSK76]

I think I will go to Radio shack and try to find a power supply. I will need a good one because this stereo is a radio, CD and a DVD player with a 3.6" LCD TV screen. I also run the sound from my satellite receiver through it and the DVD gets sent to a bigger 17" LCD screen.

[Mainehazmt]

If I was you Id invest in a new power converter I bought one off HSO-Classifieds pretty cheap for one of the Inteli-power Electronic Power Converter 45 amp version it has the advantage of 3 stage charging of the house batteries and provides clean dc power it would be much better than the old converters and wont kill the TV! plus it works from about 80 volts to 130 vts of power safely (Not sure of the exact #) thus long runs of extention cord or poor quality of elec (normally found in campgrounds) and surging from generators wont hurt it

[JSK76]

I picked up a 3 amp "switching" power supply at Radio Shack for about $60.00 I didn't think a 3 amp would do the job but it does it very well and I got rid of the hum I had coming threw the speakers as well. The rest of my electronic like the TV and satellite will be running of the clean and stable AC power from my Honda EU1000i. For the non sensitive electrical stuff like the lights and fan, the camper power supply converting the generators AC over to DC will be just fine.

[bassislife]

I run the 45 AMP Power Converter in my fish house and its nice to know that while you have the generator running the power most of the day, it's still charging my batteries for the nighttime.

Fish House supply has them for $160 bucks.