Hoping to solicit a bit of advice from the gurus here. I recently installed a PD 9260 and it seems to do a much better job charging my (2) Trojan T105 batteries. The only issue is, the converter itself seems to stay quite warm, even when in float mode. I expected it to act like this when charging, but it it normal to stay very warm to the touch when in float mode? This would indicate power usage constantly, which is a bit unexpected. I do have the pendant, which is off except for a blink every 10 seconds or so when in float.Thanks for any advice you can give,

If it's also running a of lights, fridge heater, etc. then it will be a bit warmer. Is the fan coming on?

If the critter is sealed tight into a compartment, that is without question bad juju.

The converter is supplying 12v power to the RV in addition to charging the battery. If you can measure the current being drawn from the converter and the current drawn by the converter, that will give you a better idea of what is going on.As Mex said, ventilation is important.

I can only offer a broad generality: My 9160A runs hotter than I would have expected it to when it doesn't have any load. Not hot enough to run the fan, but the heatsink is certainly "pretty warm". The converter has internal resistors that always carry a load. This is in a closed compartment that's about 7 cubic feet.

Thank you all for the quick advice! To clarify, the PD is in a large compartment with ventilation, and the 'warm' temperature is with the trailer at rest, no lights on, no load, after the trailer has been on float for several days. The fan is not on when at rest, but the heatsink and converter are always warm to the touch. Wouldn't a warm condition 24/7 indicate a moderate amount of continous power usage ?

Progressive Dynamics 9260 possible issue | Good Sam Community

24 Replies

tenbear
Explorer
Sep 15, 2014
bigfootford wrote:
If your battery minder does not go into boost mode every day or so I would not use it for storage.

Jim

The Battery Minder uses full-time automatic high frequency pulse desulfation. I have no idea how effective this is.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Sep 15, 2014
kincade wrote:
Ok, after running the trailer on my Kill A Watt for 2 days, here are the draws I see:

Wattage fluctuates between 16.5 and 17.9W
.29 A
.47 PF
34.7 V/A
at. $.11/KW, it's costing me about 16.38/yr to maintain the batteries. Not a huge expense, but it might be worth using the battery minder during the winter to cut down on electrical usage.

When I put a larger appliance on, the PF goes up to .99 (fridge, etc).

Thanks for all the advice in this thread, I sincerely appreciate it!

So our Progressive Dynamics are quite close at idle/float.

Watts vary between 15-20
Amps varried a bit... .19 - .26

If your battery minder does not go into boost mode every day or so I would not use it for storage.

Jim
kincade
Explorer
Sep 15, 2014
Ok, after running the trailer on my Kill A Watt for 2 days, here are the draws I see:

Wattage fluctuates between 16.5 and 17.9W
.29 A
.47 PF
34.7 V/A
at. $.11/KW, it's costing me about 16.38/yr to maintain the batteries. Not a huge expense, but it might be worth using the battery minder during the winter to cut down on electrical usage.

When I put a larger appliance on, the PF goes up to .99 (fridge, etc).

Thanks for all the advice in this thread, I sincerely appreciate it!
Wayne_Dohnal
Explorer
Sep 13, 2014
More info for comparison. My 9160A with zero load on the output draws 10 watts from the power line. With a 1 amp load, the AC power draw goes up to 25 watts, 13.6 into the battery and 11.4 going up as heat from the converter. After pushing that 1 amp for a few hours, the converter case and heat sink are at about 90 degrees, with the compartment temp at 70 degrees (measured with an infrared "point and shoot" thermometer).
bigfootford
Nomad II
Sep 12, 2014
To verify that my KWmeter is working I did a standalone test with a 60 watt bulb.

.48 amps

57.9 watts

119.8vac

So the math for a bulb is .48X119.8 is 57.5 watts... Thats close enough to say the meter is working pretty good.

Interesting that the PD plays a bit with the readings of the KWmeter.

Jim
bigfootford
Nomad II
Sep 12, 2014
kincade wrote:
Thanks again for all of the great information - it sounds like this has sparked a great conversation. I'll put my kill a watt on mine this weekend and report back on the consumption (which I probably should have done first).

Bigfoot - doesn't a 20 watt continuous pull sound high for a converter that shouldn't be working or charging?

There is always a trickle charge at 13.2 sleep mode... from the PD.

I see about .05 dc amps going into the batteries...

Jim
bigfootford
Nomad II
Sep 12, 2014
Salvo wrote:
I'm trying to understand your measurement: 0.3amps/20 W.

Are both measurements from the Kill-A-Watt?

0.3A * 120V = 36W; not 20W.

Is the difference in wattage due to the power factor? Is the power factor 20W/36W = 0.55 (at no load)?

What does the electric company charge you; 20W or 36W rate?

bigfootford wrote:

Only thing running is my CO and LP sensors...

.3 amps/20watts...=480watts a day. So every 2 days or so a Kw is used.

I took the national average for KWH charge which is about $.122 and rounded it to .12.
My average is about .13.

The PF reading on my Kwmeter reads in the .56- .58 range.

Reconnected the meter and let things set a bit..

Watts vary between 15-20
Voltage varries a bit 117-120...
Amps varried a bit... .19 - .26

The source of AC is from the main to our pool pumps, then 10 ga for 40 ft and a 20ft 12 ga extension. So this is not a perfect source of AC...

Jim
Salvo
Explorer
Sep 12, 2014
I'm trying to understand your measurement: 0.3amps/20 W.

Are both measurements from the Kill-A-Watt?

0.3A * 120V = 36W; not 20W.

Is the difference in wattage due to the power factor? Is the power factor 20W/36W = 0.55 (at no load)?

What does the electric company charge you; 20W or 36W rate?

bigfootford wrote:

Only thing running is my CO and LP sensors...

.3 amps/20watts...=480watts a day. So every 2 days or so a Kw is used.
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 12, 2014
20w at idle would seem low to me. But I have never measured.

.3a x 120v = 36 watts.... how does that reconcile?
kincade
Explorer
Sep 12, 2014
Thanks again for all of the great information - it sounds like this has sparked a great conversation. I'll put my kill a watt on mine this weekend and report back on the consumption (which I probably should have done first).

Bigfoot - doesn't a 20 watt continuous pull sound high for a converter that shouldn't be working or charging?