Does Generator wattage size effect battery charge time?
If I plug a RV shore power cable to a generator and let the onboard converter/distribution panel charge the batteries, is the generator size irrelevant to charge rate/time?
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16 Replies
- Five years is worth the upgrade. Easy self install if at all handy.
brianosaur wrote:
Retirement is about 5 years away and the TT we have will be replaced with a more semi-full time bigger rig when boondocking will be more prevalent.
Six years ago, we traded in our Winnebago and bought an Airstream. I had a new Progressive Dynamics converter/charger waiting in the garage before I even brought the new trailer home. It was never plugged in the first time at my house with the original converter/charger. (But it came with a Magnatek/Parallax converter/charger which is even worse than a WFCO.)- Solved the question whether it’s the generator or not.
If you don’t want to mess with the converter, just bring a normal battery charger with you if there may be times where you cAnt get the wfco to perform.
Btw it’s 100% how ours acted on our last trailer. 2 prev TCs had PD converters. This one I’d have to run the genny for hours on end to get enough charge in the batteries to keep the simple stuff powered up overnight.
Every man should have a decent battery charger felt maybe the dude with the dead Ram batteries thread here. He prolly wouldn’t now how to hook it up.
And for occasional use it’s not difficult or prohibitive to just supplement with a real battery charger. Bobbo wrote:
WFCO converter/chargers are KNOWN to not get to 14.4v. Replace it. There are several good ones. I, personally, prefer the Progressive Dynamics PD4655V. It should be a direct drop-in replacement.
Yeah, I hv read here for a while that WFCO is the bottom of the barrel for panels. However, I dont camp all that often with out shore power. Just a handful of nights a year on the beach, as we are mostly weekend warriors with local park having power;and a then full week or so traveling in the summer with full hookups.
I have debated the upgrade and if it is worth for me.
Retirement is about 5 years away and the TT we have will be replaced with a more semi-full time bigger rig when boondocking will be more prevalent.- Ok if you have a very small generator the converter will overload it and either trip the breaker or stall the engine
If that does not happen then the converter is in full control of the charge.
As someone said.... Well let me give you experience.
I used a Generac 1000 Rated 1000 watts Traditional generator but fully enclosed. Actually put out close to 1200 watts without talling (had a 10 amp breaker and I'd trip it from time to time when I used it to power an electric chain saw).
Converter was a Progressive 9180+Wizard. That's the largest PD makes
Ran it no problem. brianosaur wrote:
It is a WFCO WF8955PEC
The manual has some weird statement saying it reaches 14.4v but a multimeter will only show 13.6v
WFCO converter/chargers are KNOWN to not get to 14.4v. Replace it. There are several good ones. I, personally, prefer the Progressive Dynamics PD4655V. It should be a direct drop-in replacement. Go to bestconverter.com. Better yet, call and talk to Randy.brianosaur wrote:
That is a bunch of BS to hold the claim all is fine when the converter has a poor design that simply fails to work as expected.time2roll wrote:
No mention of the converter brand... however if the battery voltage never gets to 14.2+ volts it will be a slow charge to 100%. Could take 8+ hours from low to near full charging at a common 13.6 volts.
It is a WFCO WF8955PEC
The manual has some weird statement saying it reaches 14.4v but a multimeter will only show 13.6v
“If the output current reaches its maximum (normally caused by a discharged battery),
this will cause the converter to go into Bulk Mode, which means the target output voltage
will change to 14.4 VDC and a timer will start. Although the converter is outputting 14.4
VDC, you will not be able to read that on a voltmeter due to the voltage-current
relationship.“
If the WFCO was in boost mode (14.40v) the voltage would steadily climb from 13.6 to 14.2+ in an hour or less. In virtually all RV installations the WFCO fails to work as expected.
Really need a replacement to minimize generator run time. Most any 20+ amp portable charger will also work well if there is already one in the garage someplace.
https://powermaxconverters.com/product/pm3-mba/
https://www.bestconverter.com/PD-4655L-MBA-WildKat-55-Amp-Main-Board-Assembly-for-WFCO-8955time2roll wrote:
No mention of the converter brand... however if the battery voltage never gets to 14.2+ volts it will be a slow charge to 100%. Could take 8+ hours from low to near full charging at a common 13.6 volts.
It is a WFCO WF8955PEC
The manual has some weird statement saying it reaches 14.4v but a multimeter will only show 13.6v
“If the output current reaches its maximum (normally caused by a discharged battery),
this will cause the converter to go into Bulk Mode, which means the target output voltage
will change to 14.4 VDC and a timer will start. Although the converter is outputting 14.4
VDC, you will not be able to read that on a voltmeter due to the voltage-current
relationship.“- It is irrelevant. As long as the gen is big enough to run the converter it wont matter if the gen is 2000 watts or 15000+.
- May need 20% to 30% additional apparent power as most converters have poor power factor.
Either listed generator will run the converter alone just fine.
No mention of the converter brand... however if the battery voltage never gets to 14.2+ volts it will be a slow charge to 100%. Could take 8+ hours from low to near full charging at a common 13.6 volts. Monitor the battery voltage to know what the system is actually doing when a fast charge is expected.
