Hi everybody I’m new here hope you can help me I ave a motorhome Fleetwood soutwind 206 and my house battery won’t charge I tested tehe charger and it’s bad so the charger is a WFCO 9875 it’s a 75A so the thing I want to know can I put a 30A instead of the 75A
thank you for your answer
When my WFCO 100amp converter croaked towards the end of the warranty period (2 years) WFCO replaced the unit no charge (I installed) While I was waiting for the unit, I used a 15A auto charger to run the RV - didn't have any problems (I was docked). The replacement unit has been running just fine for the last 12 years.
you can also switch brands and go to a Power dynamics charger, I don't know if I would step down the charge amperage though. what I would do is make sure what ever you buy has a good Li mode, not auto detect either. that way in the future if you decide to go to LiFePO4 batteries it is easy or if you sell it, it is a selling feature.
Agreed, WFCO are pretty well established to be junk.
Most of the newer units have a lithium mode, so it should be no cost to get one that can handle lithium or lead acid and when you replace the batteries, lithium makes a lot of sense. Lighter and for the same amp-hr rating, they have double the usable amp-hr because you can safely drag them very low. Lead-acid don't like to be below 50% charge.
75amp charger is overkill for almost all situations. It can also be a hassle if you are on a 30amp shore power pedestal. If it decides to max out, it's going to pull 1000-1100w. If the aircon is pulling 1500w, that doesn't leave a lot of room for other misc loads before you start popping breakers (30amp is 3600w peak but only 2800w continuous load).
Even if you have a massive 400amp-hr battery bank and it's dead, one overnight with a 35amp charger will have them full by morning. So unless you regularly drain the battery bank and want to fast charge with a generator, not rally any benefit to the big charger.
When our 55amp WFCO failed, we switched to a 35amp powermax and have been satisfied. Nothing 12v DC that runs for more than a few seconds pulls anything close to 35amp, so if you are running the stabilizers/slides, it pulls the excess amps off the batteries and within a few minutes, the charger has replaced it. For lighter continuous loads like the lights, I've never seen more than 10amps (usually 5-7).
and see I would keep the 75 amp capability if I could, just for that faster charging ability.
Yup, it will just take 60% longer to charge the batteries the same amount.
But unless you are boondocking and charging a big battery bank from near dead, does it matter?
If in a campground, for a single overnight, you typically will have 14-18hr of charging from the pedestal. 14hr at 30amp is 420amp-hr replaced.
Ok thank you I will try it
Try what?
