Do I need a better converter?

mooky stinks wrote:
Ok I’ll try to give some more info. They are regular lead acid. First night they were 100% because it had been parked in my driveway plugged in for 2 weeks. I was charging for 2 hrs in the morning and 3 hrs in the evening. I did periodically shut the converter off to run a microwave but that was very limited. Probably 15 minutes total per day. I’ll have to look but I know I have a WFCO 8930/50. Trailer is 50 amp. There is a breaker that says converter. Am I right in thinking it is a separate unit?

Searched the number and that's the distribution panel, not the converter...but it says it's compatible with 55, 65 or 75 amp converters, so worst case, you should have 55amps.

With 5hrs of charging, that pretty much rules out my thought on not giving it enough time. That should definitely get it up into the mid-80% range if things are working properly.

I have a POS WFCO convertor installed in my camper as well. It never goes higher than 13.6V. Not the best for quick generator charging. We are generally plugged into shore power so it's not much of an issue.

I bought a used IOTA DLS45 45A convertor and installed jumper cables onto it to connect to my battery for generator charging when needed. With the IQ4 dongle installed it bulk charges at 14.7V then drops to 14.4V absorption charge.

Just found the converter. It’s a WFCO 9855.

Do you have a voltmeter?
Let your battery drain to about 60%, hook up your generator to charge your battery as you did before and measure the battery voltage as its charging. You may find it never goes above 13.6V

Two 100's 45-60 amps for the converter (no more) and the two best are Progressive Dynamics To models (or 3) 4600 replaces the "Guts" of a combination fuse/breaker/converter assembly... 9200 is the effectively the same in a "Stand alone" box. 9100 WITH optional Charge Wizard.. again effectively the same (What I had)

IOTA with IQ4 Both are 3-stage PLUS converters.

Alternative would be a small. say 1,000 watt inverter/charger Or even a 2 thousand but that's stretching 200 amp hours of batteries less they are LiFePO4.

Batteries.. Two 100 amp hour. if lead acid that's either Group 27 or 29.
You might consider going to GC-2 (Six volt when you buy 'em but put a pair in series so you have -{6v}+-{6v}+12 volts and they become around 220 amp hours at 12 volts and DEEP CYCLE too boot.

page 2: recharging.. a good 3-stage or 3-stage plus starts at around 14.6 (Slight variation) and pushes close to maximum out. if the batteries are really hungry the output voltage may be reduced to hold the amps to max. That is BULK mode. Then comes Absorption.. This is still about the same 14.6 but amps may go down. way down like less than 10.. Eventually when the converter feels the batteries are "Full up" it will switch to about 13.6 (Float)

The + on a 3-stage plus is equlization. back to the 14-15 volt range either automatic (Charge Wizard) or under manual control (most inverters) this may or may not be of benefit. Some argument.

mooky stinks wrote:
Ok I’ll try to give some more info. They are regular lead acid. First night they were 100% because it had been parked in my driveway plugged in for 2 weeks. I was charging for 2 hrs in the morning and 3 hrs in the evening. I did periodically shut the converter off to run a microwave but that was very limited. Probably 15 minutes total per day. I’ll have to look but I know I have a WFCO 8930/50. Trailer is 50 amp. There is a breaker that says converter. Am I right in thinking it is a separate unit?

A WFCO will seldom exceed about 10-15A charging current and seldom go above about 13.6V. almost never go to bulk mode. So with only 10ish charging amps you (a) never get fully charged and (b) seldom in 3 hours or so will do much for the battery and (c) even if left on for days it will NOT get the battery fully charged. That takes a charging voltage of about 14.6V for a while.

BTW your problem is pretty typical of campers I know that had WFCO chargers and could not get the batteries replenished with a generator in reasonable time.