Help with converter and battery charging...

While I have you guys on here, when filling the battery with distilled water do I fill it to the bottom where the water touches the plastic inlets or should it be just below them and not touching?

mbopp wrote:
From what I've heard the WFCO's don't go into bulk or fast charge mode easily. And a 35 amp charger won't charge dual batteries very fast.

My old HTT had a single-stage Elixir converter that wasn't good at charging my batteries (dual G27's.) I bought a deck-mount Iota 55-amp converter from Randy and mounted it in the front pass-through. I drilled a hole in the floor and ran the charging cables (all 3' of them) to the batteries. The Iota was powered by an extension cord plugged into my Honda 2000.
I traded the HTT but kept the Iota. It'll go in the front pass through again but I tapped into a bedroom outlet and ran a 115V line with a switched outlet into the pass through. The Iota will get screwed to the pass through ceiling to save floor space (and keep it from getting beat up.)
I had a local car stereo shop make cables for me. $1 / ft for very flexible 8-ga cable and $1 each for gold plated ring connectors crimped on.
The new TT just got refitted with LED lighting, and I put an on-off switch on the radio / DVD player so the current draw is ZERO when the unit is "off." My only full-time load now is 100ma for the propane detector.
The Iota is hard wired to the batteries but I have a disconnect switch between the batteries and trailer 12V circuits. When I'm on generator the full output of the Iota will go to the batteries and the factory WFCO converter will power the rest of the TT. WFCO's don't need a battery to supply clean 12V power.

I recently upgraded my TT and I kept the IOTA DLS45 (45amp) Series M with the IOTA Smart Charger IQ4 from my previous trailer and was hoping to use it somewhere, sometime. The new TT has a WF8955 (55amp) and dual G27's currently. I was thinking of swapping out the WF8955 and installing the DLS45 but when I read your post there seems to be a better use for the DLS45 without removing the WF8955. Could you share what is the best way for me to accomplish similar results to what you have ?. My Honda EU2000i is what I use to charge my batteries when boondocking.
Thanks

When the battery is low (<50% charge) give it a go with your voltmeter handy.

If voltage steadily climbs to 14.2+ volts you are good to go. 35a is plenty for two batteries.

Those marine batteries should be able to take quite a fast charge. A good 60 amp converter or portable charger (or whatever size your genset will happily run) will do wonders for your charging time.

Jim

From what I've heard the WFCO's don't go into bulk or fast charge mode easily. And a 35 amp charger won't charge dual batteries very fast.

My old HTT had a single-stage Elixir converter that wasn't good at charging my batteries (dual G27's.) I bought a deck-mount Iota 55-amp converter from Randy and mounted it in the front pass-through. I drilled a hole in the floor and ran the charging cables (all 3' of them) to the batteries. The Iota was powered by an extension cord plugged into my Honda 2000.
I traded the HTT but kept the Iota. It'll go in the front pass through again but I tapped into a bedroom outlet and ran a 115V line with a switched outlet into the pass through. The Iota will get screwed to the pass through ceiling to save floor space (and keep it from getting beat up.)
I had a local car stereo shop make cables for me. $1 / ft for very flexible 8-ga cable and $1 each for gold plated ring connectors crimped on.
The new TT just got refitted with LED lighting, and I put an on-off switch on the radio / DVD player so the current draw is ZERO when the unit is "off." My only full-time load now is 100ma for the propane detector.
The Iota is hard wired to the batteries but I have a disconnect switch between the batteries and trailer 12V circuits. When I'm on generator the full output of the Iota will go to the batteries and the factory WFCO converter will power the rest of the TT. WFCO's don't need a battery to supply clean 12V power.

OregonTRX4 wrote:
I have two of these. Would like to upgrade to two 6v someday.

Or ... upgrade to a couple of these 12V true deep cycle (not Marine/Starting) Interstate batteries instead:

http://www.interstatebatteries.com/cs_eStore/content/product_info/specs/MKT0030-01_DCM0100L_09_CLS.pdf

I wouldnt mind having the charger. I need one around the house anyways.

I have two of these. Would like to upgrade to two 6v someday.
Capacity 84 Ah
Rating 1008 Whr
CCA 550
Cell 6 cells

What batteries do you have and how far do you draw them down? A bigger converter or charger will certainly charge faster and use less gasoline than that unit, assuming your batteries can accept more amps. Even if you were at say a 40 amp limit, other chargers will keep the amps up longer than the one you have (I have the same brand).

Jim

Thats a 35a converter. Your Honda EU2000i will drive a 60a converter. There are a number of good converters that would speed up your recharging process. I would suggest you talk to Randy at Bestconverters.com for advice on what would be best. A bigger converter would be a lot more tidy than fooling with portable chargers.

Jim