PD Vs. WFCO

Problem with WFCO is they very very very seldom ever go into the bulk charging mode. So.... your almost or always stuck in the absorption mode for charging which is very very slow on a discharged battery.

Starting with the #8 wire if it is of any length the WFCO will likely never go into bulk mode.

14.4V is good but the 4 hours of bulk charging is not. The time should adjust to the battery charge level. A charged or partially battery should quickly enter absorb or float mode with reduced amps and voltage and stablize at a float voltage of 13.4V.

The actual mfg battery specs may vary slightly from the above.

I've owned 3 WFCO converters over the years and have never seen anything but 13.6V out of them. Smart they are not.

I think #4 wire is the max the connectors in the WFCO power center will accept. Might even try the wire first and give the WFCO a test before you go PD. If voltage into a low battery stops at 13.6 the WFCO is a fail.

A WFCO can be compared to today's political climate. In a word "Don't Go There".

ktmrfs wrote:
Problem with WFCO is they very very very seldom ever go into the bulk charging mode. So.... your almost or always stuck in the absorption mode for charging which is very very slow on a discharged battery.

Starting with the #8 wire if it is of any length the WFCO will likely never go into bulk mode.

Well,
the #8 wire is the first to go. It will be replaced by #2 since I have the belly(coroplast)down.

CA Traveler wrote:
14.4V is good but the 4 hours of bulk charging is not. The time should adjust to the battery charge level. A charged or partially battery should quickly enter absorb or float mode with reduced amps and voltage and stablize at a float voltage of 13.4V.

The actual mfg battery specs may vary slightly from the above.

I agree with your thought on the 4hrs vs, just charge 'til it's done or at least 80% on bulk.

time2roll wrote:
I think #4 wire is the max the connectors in the WFCO power center will accept. Might even try the wire first and give the WFCO a test before you go PD. If voltage into a low battery stops at 13.6 the WFCO is a fail.

This is my thought as well. I'll go the wire route first since the wire is going in no matter what. I figured the #2 isn't going into the converter so I'll use a lug and reduce it to whatever size will fit into the receptacle on the converter.

My vote is to immediately replace the WFCO with the PD at the same time as the wire is replaced. As has been mentioned, the WFCO generally never goes above 13.6v.

Bobbo wrote:
My vote is to immediately replace the WFCO with the PD at the same time as the wire is replaced. As has been mentioned, the WFCO generally never goes above 13.6v.

when I replaced my WFCO with a PD I kept the old WFCO unit. Friend had a 5th wheel with a WFCO, which of course would go to boost charge. So, I put a plug on the WFCO, took a few feet of #4 welding cable with studs on one end, connected the WFCO to his house batteries (two GC2) discharged to about 50%. Turned on the WFCO to see if it would go to boost. NOPE, tried and tried. so, he swapped out his WFCO in the trailer with the long run of #6 wire, plugged in the PD batteries charging in boost mode at 45A.

Just don't trust the WFCO to go into boost mode charging. Many times I've seen campers in our boondock locations running a generator all day with a WFCO and complaining they couldn't get through the night on the battery. Wonder why we only charged for an hour or two. Took my handy clamp on hall effect current meter and showed the WFCO was only charging at 10A or so and the draw in the trailer was a few amps, so really not charging at all, just running out of gas.

WFCO good point, you'll probably never run the battery low on water. But you' easily destroy a good battery prematurely by never getting it fully charged. 13.6V will never get the battery charged.