Hey Guys im a little confused on how to wire up my PD9260 power converter. Can someone help me?I was looking at installing a basic DC Fuse board, like marine or automotive application and there is no spot for ground...do I need this?I would get a 12v DC terminal block and have the batteries positive lead connected with an inline 60 amp fuse, than connect the new converters positive lead to the block. Than run a wire from there to the DC fuse block. From there I was planning on using another terminal block and connect the charge converters negative lead to the negative lead of the battery. However, I noticed that my current old allanson converter charger's negative wire is not going direct to the battery but to a ground location in the engine bay, does this matter? I was planning on using the same spot and just running new 4 awG wire. Also there is a 10 AWG ground wire going to the frame of the motorhome under, is this fine for the PD9260's chassy ground?

There should be two grounds. They are not the same.One is a safety ground for the 120 volt AC system that connects to the metal housing of the converter.The second one is the negative for the 12 volts DC output from the converter.See page 6 of installation manual

enblethen wrote:There should be two grounds. They are not the same.One is a safety ground for the 120 volt AC system that connects to the metal housing of the converter.The second one is the negative for the 12 volts DC output from the converter.See page 6 of installation manualIt looks like the battery's positive is hooked up to a solenoid (assuming an isolator from the starting battery), can I just plug the negative output directly into the battery or does it need to go through the solenoid?I understand they are not the same…my old converter now has a chassy ground for the 120V side to the chassy but the output negative terminal appears to not be connect to the house battery in any way it appears to be connected to a ground point in the engine chassy…is this normal? I know a lot of people messed with the wiring in this unit before me.

The positive would normally pass through a battery disconnect relay.The converter could be connected directly to the frame as well as the negative from the battery. The frame of the rig would act as the negative path rather then a wire.

It's OK for the converter negative output to be connected to the frame (chassis ground), or for it to be connected to the negative battery terminal which, of course, is also connected to chassis ground. If the battery is a long distance away, a nearby solid chassis ground saves on wire and may well be a lower impedance current path. My converter is wired with the negative output going to chassis ground, in fact.The converter's chassis bonding lug must be connected directly to a chassis ground. This is a safety connection, not a current carrying connection. The instruction manual for the converter covers this pretty clearly. (This is needed to carry ground return current in the event of a converter or wiring fault, rather than having the full 60A converter output going through the AC input ground wire which is in no way sized to handle that current.)

Somewhat confused here on what you are trying to do...Your motorhome should a 120VAC/12VDC Power Distribution Center somewhere were all of the 120VAC Circuit breakers and 12VDC Circuit Fuses are located.This Distribution Center usually has a Converter/Charger unit installed in the bottom compartment.This is basic RV TRAILER Wiring Configuration that is most likly the same for the Motorhone with a few exceptions...I usually don't respond to the Motorhome post but it seems to me you are going off into left field by saying you want to get the PD9260C Converter/charger unit and then start talking you just want to add a few 12VDC fused item to it...I need a little more info with model numbers to understand what you are replacing maybe...I've never heard of an ALLANSON Converter...What is the year and Model of your Motorhome... Does it have a 120VAC/12VDC Power Distribution Panel where all of the 120VAC Breakers and 12VDC ATV fuses are located...This is something the Power Converter feeds along with the Battery connected to the same lugs on the Distribution Panel. Then the Converter supplies 12VDC to the Power Distribution Panel when you are connected to shore power or running off generator and the the 12VDC from Battery is also present at this same connection to provide 12VDC to the Distribution Panel. When connected to shore power then the Converter is also a charger now and keeps your battery charged.Note the 12VDC side of the Power Distribution panel powers up all of your 12VDC item including the ceiling lamps etc...I just can't think why you want to install the PD9260C 60AMP Converter/Charger unit and only want to connect it to a couple of DC items and a battery???If you remove the old ALLANSON Converter/Charger unit your 12VDC side of the Power Distribution Center will not work unless the PD9260C converter unit is connected to its DC Power connection points???? The Power Distribution Center is already connected to your frame grounds on the 12VDC side where needed.Just confused what you are doing here...Roy Ken

Help Wiring New Converter to Motorhome | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

kuziwk
Explorer
Apr 19, 2016
Well I'm. In the process of installing more gel batteries with a 30 amp switch and 30 amp fuse. My intent is to disconnect the batteries when driving or when plugged into 120 than flip the switch when parked to allow the solar panel charger that is already hooked up to maintain them. I also bought a gel battery charger which is a smaller unit which I can use to charge the starting battery should I need it. I'm connecting the batteries in pararel with 10 awg wire and lugs, with an 8awg grounded to the frame. I have another 10 awg running about 3.5ft to the dc distribution panel with a switch and a fuse in between. I will hookup two additional gel batteries in the rear of a the motorhome on a hitch mounted box with 6 awg for the power and you awg grounded to the frame. Will the 10 awg spade suffice for up to 30 amps?
DrewE
Explorer II
Apr 17, 2016
The two outputs on the converter are in parallel. You could hook another battery up there, but it's not ideal; preferable is to interconnect them at the batteries themselves in a balanced manner, and if you can have them both next to each other it's less wire and hassle to boot.

No idea how to set it for a gel cell battery, but their tech support should be able to help you there if that is indeed an option.

It's very common for the chassis starting battery to not be charged by the converter. If you want it charged, there are a few options: you can get a separate trickle charger/maintainer for it (but many of them cannot be left hooked up when driving), or you can get any of several little gizmos to charge it from the converter. One good option there is the Trik-L-Start, which is inexpensive, easy to hook up, and works reliably and effectively. (It's basically a DC powered trickle charger for the starting battery that diverts a few amps of charging current to it when the starting battery is low and the house system has a voltage over about 13 volts, indicating charging is going on.)

It's hard to give much of a general rule for charging the house battery from the alternator, as there are a large number of variables in the wiring, the isolator designs, and the alternator's capacity, among other things. It should be better than a trickle charge, though; it's not too much to hope for a halfway decent day's drive to pretty well recharge the house batteries. However, you can't really know for sure without making some measurements.
kuziwk
Explorer
Apr 17, 2016
So I got everything hooked up...everything seems ok for an hour or two. I left the fridge running on 12v just now and will check in the morning hopefully no fuses blown or anything. When I add additional batteries can I just install another fuse and hook them up to the second 12v output on the pd9260? I'm assuming the two positive outputs are bridged? Also how can I switch this to a gel charger? I was told I could with re arranging a jumper internally. I noticed that the voltage has shown that the starting battery does not charge, is that normal? Oh and one last question, how fast does the alternator typically charge the house battery?
kuziwk
Explorer
Apr 14, 2016
RoyB wrote:
Does your ceiling lights come on when you are not connected to shore power... Every one of those 12VDC connections I showed earlier haas to come from a ATC FUSE somemwhere. You must have a separate 12VDC fuse panel somewhere. I also don't see the circuit breaker as well. I bet they are in the same location the 12VDC fuse panel is located where ever that is...

You have to have one of those some where. Your RV is not that old...

SO you are saying those four FUSE HOPLDERs is all of your 12VDC Fuse protection???

Give us the model of your trailer I'd like to see this to haha...

If you have rewire for a modern 120VAC and 12VDC Power Distribution Panel it is going to take long... PD sells one of those as well which looks similar to the WFCO 8900 series I showed picture of above...

Roy Ken

Yeah it's a 1986 glendale sterling motorhome and I'm unable to locate any other fuse panel...there are 4 fuses on there that are 15 amp and there is a schedule on the panel that says air conditioner, fridge, lights and pump and what not. I would figure that all the lights are Daisy chained together. I can't imagine there being any other fuse panel as I've checked every panel or spot accessible. The picture does not show the 120 volt breakers but they are there and the there is a dedicated 15 amp for the converter which goes to.its transformer.
enblethen
Nomad
Apr 14, 2016
I would get a fuse holder like this.
Fuse panel
RoyB
Explorer II
Apr 14, 2016
oops double post
RoyB
Explorer II
Apr 14, 2016
Does your ceiling lights come on when you are not connected to shore power... Every one of those 12VDC connections I showed earlier haas to come from a ATC FUSE somemwhere. You must have a separate 12VDC fuse panel somewhere. I also don't see the circuit breaker as well. I bet they are in the same location the 12VDC fuse panel is located where ever that is...

You have to have one of those some where. Your RV is not that old...

SO you are saying those four FUSE HOPLDERs is all of your 12VDC Fuse protection???

Give us the model of your trailer I'd like to see this to haha...

If you have rewire for a modern 120VAC and 12VDC Power Distribution Panel it is going to take long... PD sells one of those as well which looks similar to the WFCO 8900 series I showed picture of above...

Roy Ken
kuziwk
Explorer
Apr 14, 2016
kuziwk wrote:
enblethen wrote:
The positive would normally pass through a battery disconnect relay.
The converter could be connected directly to the frame as well as the negative from the battery. The frame of the rig would act as the negative path rather then a wire.

Now that I think about it this is connected to what I thought was the battery isolator but I just googled a battery disconnect relay and sure enough I beleive that's where the positive from the charger and battery connect to. They are both on the same post of the relay...than the negative is on one of the other posts

This is the unit I have

http://www.google.ca/search?q=allanson+converter&prmd=niv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO6_u9g4_MAhVW9mMKHTYmDOoQ_AUICCgC&biw=412&bih=603&dpr=3.5#imgrc=bW7t-lEX8OggaM%3A

This is why I need a 12 volt dc fuse board. Also in the picture it does not show the 120 volt breakers but they are on the left
kuziwk
Explorer
Apr 14, 2016
enblethen wrote:
The positive would normally pass through a battery disconnect relay.
The converter could be connected directly to the frame as well as the negative from the battery. The frame of the rig would act as the negative path rather then a wire.

Now that I think about it this is connected to what I thought was the battery isolator but I just googled a battery disconnect relay and sure enough I beleive that's where the positive from the charger and battery connect to. They are both on the same post of the relay...than the negative is on one of the other posts
RoyB
Explorer II
Apr 14, 2016
Kuziwk - It is pretty simple to just wire in a converter/charger unit to your existing Power Distribution Panel...

This is what the WFCO 8900 series Power Distribution Panel look like and all you do is connect the 120VAC Breaker to the PD9260C and the three DC OUTPUT wire to the Positive - Negative - GROUND lugs on the 12VDC Side of the Power Distribution Panel.

The top large BLACK cable is the NEGATIVE converter cable cable the next lug down is a heavy RED cable connection which is the POSITIVE converter cable connection. The Bottom large RED cable is the Battery cable connection...

So you connect the 120VAC wiring to the PD9260C and the three 12VDC cables to the Power Distribution panel. That is all you have to do. Hopefully the PD9260C will fit in the bottom compartment where you old converter chassis is located...

Here is another view of a WFCO 8900 series Power Distribution Frame with the converter/charger unit in the bottom compartment.

You can see the RED Positive cable and WHITE NEGATIVE cable coming from the converter unit in the bottom compartment. The white in this case connects to the top NEGATIVE lug on the 12VDC side. The RED connects to the middle lug connections. The bottom connection will go to the battery bank. The large WHITE heavy cable on the TOP NEGATIVE goes to the frame ground or NEGATIVE BATTERY connection.

Your power distributionpanel should be very similar to this but I live in the Trailer workld and things sometimes are laid out different than the motorhomes...

There are many items there that needs your 12VDC as you can see from the block diagram I showed above...

My PD9260C came with it own 120VAC Plug cord and I elected to not mount mine inside the Power Distribution Panel but rather get it closer to my battery bank where cable lengths are a big deal for me and OFF-ROAD operations. I plugged my PD9260C directly into a 120VAC Receptacle that was wired into a blank circuit breaker spot. The just connected the 12VDC cable and frame ground and that was all that was necessary to get it working. My problem was the WF8945 converter/charger originally being used would never go into 14.4VDC Charge mode that I needed it to do. Since the WF-8956 Converter/charger is still a working unit I just left it in place. Now I can use either one by flipping the correct 120VAC circuit breaker...

Just make note all those 12VDC items you see in the above block diagram I sent earlier are required to be powered up on 12VDC and it does this from the 12VDC side ATC fuse panels...

I take it you want to replace the old Allanson converter which is a single mode converter/charger unit...

Here is a diagram on how I used the WFCO Power Distribution Center and my battery connections. Might give you some ideas of what I am discussing above here... Of course I am wired here using the WF8945 Converter/charger in the bottom compartment and the PD9260C standone some 10 feet away from the Power Distribution Panel close to my my battery bank switches...

Roy Ken