Power Center/Converter Recommendations

Hi,

Good charging while trundling down the road may need beefing up the wire.

If the existing inverter runs the Television without "noisy" then jut continue to use it.

I thought one of your posts talked of speaking to a wfco representative who convinced you 3 stage charging was a goal worth having.

Thanks everyone for your well considered and realistic opinions.

pianotuna: actually, I don't think it says anywhere that I actually "wanted a 3 stage converter". What I prefer most is the simplicity of a combined unit found in a "power center" and even that was unstated. So I apologize if I came across unclear to you either here or on this original post.

Install of Power Center

With my very small camper, and with how fully I'm packing it with goodies, I prefer the combination for all that stuff in a power center.

And as I said, this WFCO 35 seems to have pretty good reviews where I've found them, and the other gentleman stating it's the 55 Amp with the problem. Perhaps your experience or specific knowledge or understanding is with the 55 Amp? And even if not, I'm not at all certain a two stage charger would be that detrimental to me, especially in cost savings and considering the assembly of all the other components. The main things I need are a Normal, and a Trickle.

At any rate, Lil Queeny doesn't, and won't, have a generator. Solar likely eventually, but only after we get into using her and determining if it is really necessary for our needs. Almost 100% of our charging will occur everyday as we get on the road and run down to the next place, (we're antsy sorts my friend, always on the go).

And again, we have very limited electrical use. Potentially a very small microwave or coffee maker, but used only when we find a place to plug in. Otherwise, we do right fine on the propane stove and oven and the camp coffee (actually a percolator). No furnace, very likely no AC, and if we do get an AC, again, only when we plug in, unless someday I find a magic inverter that will run those things on a maximum of two group 31s, which is huge for a small truck camper.

Even on our evening lights, we tend to turn off those bright whites and turn on a dimmed amber whenever possible.

Our biggest electric draw is my 15" Laptop (maybe someday a 17") and a new Visio 24" TV that draws 60 watts. I'll have to get a pure sine inverter, but for test purposes, the TV runs off my existing TT modified sine wave inverter (cheapo 750 watt I think, mainly used for charging device batteries) without even kicking on the fan; the laptop always kicks on its fan but I haven't tried it since that got a new battery.

Speaking of the tv, I'm posting its installation today over in "Galley & Greatroom".

Again, thanks to all for the nice opinions, and pianotuna for your concerns and all your past contributions. :)

Hi,

The OP wanted a 3 stage converter. The WFCO is only going to be satisfactory if almost all camping is done with shore power.

He has some options. He can replace the wfco. He can go solar.

You might actually do OK with the 35 amp WFCO. It is really the 55+ amp that is problematic. Keep the battery connection short and use #4 wire. Hopefully you have two or more batteries as that will help the boost function. You do not really need boost mode unless you are wanting a fast charge to minimize generator time. Honda 1000 should drive the 35a WFCO just fine.

If you aren't going to be charging your batteries from a generator, the time it takes to get a reasonable charge is likely of only secondary importance at best. The WFCO may not be the very best available, and others better for at least some situations, but it may well be perfectly adequate for your needs and a good overall tradeoff in terms of size and convenience of installation. I don't see any real reason to avoid it particularly since you have already bought it if you aren't planning to go off the grid for long periods of time—and even if you are, a solar setup would likely be of at least as much value as replacing it with some other unit.

WFCO isn't the BEST one, but it is a good one. I had a PD fail on the road two or three years ago and could only get a WFCO. I stuck it in and its been doing fine ever since. Go ahead with the WFCO. It will be just fine. If down the road you wish to change (I did not say upgrade) to another brand of converter, quite a few have the same physical dimensions and fit in the bottom half of the load center with some mounting holes and wiring to modify.