Adjusting a Magnatec 950 converter

Gjac wrote:
Isn't the PD another brand of a smart charger? or are you saying the Wizard will float a constant charge to pump more amps in once the PD say full?

PD will charge a low battery at 14.4 volts for up to four hours then drop to 13.6 volts to finish the charge over a couple days before PD drops to 13.2 float/storage mode. Every day the PD also hits the battery at 14.4 volts for 15 minutes. The voltage never shuts off like many smart chargers. PD never says full and shuts down as it provides continuous power.

smkettner wrote:

Gjac wrote:
I don't think these smart chargers ever fully charge the batteries because I notice I get a few more days of dry camping when I float for a couple of days with the old Magnatec after B&D says full. I would just like to have it float a little higher.

You are correct.

Even better is a multistage converter.
Get a Progressive Dynamics with Wizard or IOTA with IQ controller.

Isn't the PD another brand of a smart charger? or are you saying the Wizard will float a constant charge to pump more amps in once the PD say full?

Thanks Chris, I always thought that a lot less amps were being pumped in. I like the converter it is 20 years old and still works. I don't keep it plugged in but I don't believe 13 v should boil my batteries.

Gjac wrote:
With nothing else on except converter/ charger,how many amps would actually go into my 2 6v GC batteries at 50% SOC at 13v? at 13.5 v?

Good question- I think I have a current/load graph around here for that, but they spec it at 12 volts full load (50 amps), 14.1 volts no load (zero amps) so my guess is that at 13 volts you might get ~25 amps and by 13.5 volts it would be just a few amps.

FWIW, this is near identical to one I lived with for years- never had any issues while on the road, then would get home and boil my battery dry :( The only way I had to kill it was to have a pipe break and pump 55 gallons of water (the first 6 gallons were hot) over it. Noticed it was real quiet, then noticed the light getting dimmer and dimmer :)

With nothing else on except converter/ charger,how many amps would actually go into my 2 6v GC batteries at 50% SOC at 13v? at 13.5 v?

Gjac wrote:
My understanding is that 50 amp output goes to the house for the 2 A/C's, MW etc. but only 8 amps are available to the charge the battery. Am I not understanding this correctly?

You are confusing the two electrical systems in the RV. The converter can supply up to 50A to the 12V system, which can get divided between charging the battery and any 12V loads, and this happens automatically by the basic laws of circuit analysis. If more than 50A are required, the voltage in the 12V electrical system will drop somewhat as the battery supplies the excess power.

The converter requires up to about 8A at 120VAC to produce its 12V output, the exact input requirements naturally depending on how much power it is outputting at the time. Other AC appliances (microwave, air conditioner, etc.) also use power, up to the limits of the shore input or generator or whatever. If you do try to exceed those limits a circuit breaker will trip somewhere...or, at least, we certainly hope one will trip.

The converter can in theory supply all 50A of its output to charge the battery. At a nominal operating voltage of around 13.5V, however, much of the time that will not be happening, as the charge rate (for a given battery and state of charge) depends upon the voltage supplied to it.

Gjac wrote:

westend wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:

westend wrote:
The table in the owner's manual lists an amperage output of 8 amps. If that is all you can push to a discharged battery, it will be a long time to fully charge a battery. For float charging or maintaining, it may work well..

You are looking at AC input amps. Output is 50 amps.

You're absolutely correct. I need a brush up course on reading comprehension. Sorry about the misinformation.

My understanding is that 50 amps goes to the house for the 2 A/C's, MW etc. but only 8 amps are available to the charge the battery. Am I not understanding this correctly?

All 50 amps of DC output are available for charging, but the voltage isn't high enough to do a great job of charging- I see they spec it at 14.1 volts at no load, but under charging load voltage is lower.

westend wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:

westend wrote:
The table in the owner's manual lists an amperage output of 8 amps. If that is all you can push to a discharged battery, it will be a long time to fully charge a battery. For float charging or maintaining, it may work well..

You are looking at AC input amps. Output is 50 amps.

You're absolutely correct. I need a brush up course on reading comprehension. Sorry about the misinformation.

My understanding is that 50 amp output goes to the house for the 2 A/C's, MW etc. but only 8 amps are available to the charge the battery. Am I not understanding this correctly?

Chris Bryant wrote:

westend wrote:
The table in the owner's manual lists an amperage output of 8 amps. If that is all you can push to a discharged battery, it will be a long time to fully charge a battery. For float charging or maintaining, it may work well..

You are looking at AC input amps. Output is 50 amps.

You're absolutely correct. I need a brush up course on reading comprehension. Sorry about the misinformation.

westend wrote:
The table in the owner's manual lists an amperage output of 8 amps. If that is all you can push to a discharged battery, it will be a long time to fully charge a battery. For float charging or maintaining, it may work well..

You are looking at AC input amps. Output is 50 amps.