Measuring V loss during charging
I know that a discharged battery can pull down the voltage at the charger. I was trying to measure voltage loss in my converter wiring, switches, etc. The two 105 AH batteries were 12.13v prior to ...
Forum Discussion
For the deck mount 55amper IMO the PD with Charge Wizard would be a better choice than the modified PM3 in this case.
The mod-PM3 cannot be used as a converter after you modify it, so no redundancy there for the WFCO on shore power.
The PD will do fewer amps than the PM3 but this will not affect charging times all that much between say steady 55 amps (PM3) and tapering from 50-45 amps (PD) during the 50-75% SOC zone before Absorption starts at 75% (55amps on 220AH)
The PD may also do fewer amps with the Onan as input, but depends which Onan and how much that makes things any worse than 50-45 is anyway is hard to say.
Absorption is better with mod-PM3 at 14.8v (say) than the PD's 14.4 but the intent here is to stop the charge at some point and finish up on solar so Absorption time is moot. If solar is clouded over, you will only be doing 50-90s anyway on generator until you get shore power or solar again. So the time available for the PM3 to be advantageous in Absorption is again short.
The 55 amp Iota will stay at 55 amps like the PM to get to 75% and is still a converter, but it costs more and drops to 14.2 for Absorption with no way to boost that voltage (The IQ4 has no boost button like the Charge Wizard does)
If you were looking at a 100 amper for the deck mount, then the comparison changes to favour the mod PM3 more. Now the charging rate is high so the Bulk stage is shorter and there is longer at Absorption where the 14.8 over 14.4 advantage has time to take effect. The Onan can run the non-PF version, but with 100ampers you can compare a PF corrected PM3 (15a, 120, 14 needed) with the non- PFC PD or Iota (20a, 120, 12 needed)
The mod-PM3 cannot be used as a converter after you modify it, so no redundancy there for the WFCO on shore power.
The PD will do fewer amps than the PM3 but this will not affect charging times all that much between say steady 55 amps (PM3) and tapering from 50-45 amps (PD) during the 50-75% SOC zone before Absorption starts at 75% (55amps on 220AH)
The PD may also do fewer amps with the Onan as input, but depends which Onan and how much that makes things any worse than 50-45 is anyway is hard to say.
Absorption is better with mod-PM3 at 14.8v (say) than the PD's 14.4 but the intent here is to stop the charge at some point and finish up on solar so Absorption time is moot. If solar is clouded over, you will only be doing 50-90s anyway on generator until you get shore power or solar again. So the time available for the PM3 to be advantageous in Absorption is again short.
The 55 amp Iota will stay at 55 amps like the PM to get to 75% and is still a converter, but it costs more and drops to 14.2 for Absorption with no way to boost that voltage (The IQ4 has no boost button like the Charge Wizard does)
If you were looking at a 100 amper for the deck mount, then the comparison changes to favour the mod PM3 more. Now the charging rate is high so the Bulk stage is shorter and there is longer at Absorption where the 14.8 over 14.4 advantage has time to take effect. The Onan can run the non-PF version, but with 100ampers you can compare a PF corrected PM3 (15a, 120, 14 needed) with the non- PFC PD or Iota (20a, 120, 12 needed)
