Question about electrical box inside project RV

Chris Bryant wrote:
Yeah- those pushmatic breakers are really expensive, if you can even find them.

I replaced my entire Pushmatic electrical panel with a Square D, breakers included, for the cost of a couple of replacement Pushmatic breakers.

The company went out of business years ago, so any still in service are ancient. Electricians don't want to see them, and I gather that some insurance companies insist that they be replaced.

Yeah- those pushmatic breakers are really expensive, if you can even find them.

I would recommend a replacement for that assembly and take the old one to a scrap yard.

If you start looking at converters (Check out Progressive Dynamics site) you will find some where the 120 volt distribution panel, 12 volt panel and converter are all one assembly.. Well the PDI products are top of the line

But the older ones that used glass cartridge (AG3 mostly) fuses,, Well they are the BOTTOM of the line.. So since you are doing the full upgrade, spend the money on upgrading your converter. the upgrade will pay for itself after a year or two when you do NOT need to replace boiled dry batteries.

https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/power-centers/

And pick one

The sight of the junk Pushmatic breakers alone tells me this thing is hopelessly obsolete.

Update.

Hay Wizz, check out time2roll's post and op's reply to him.

you need a charging system for the batteries besides the engine

so keep it, or replace it with a new one

but trowing it out and not replacing it, is a bad idea

Find out why that one circuit has a piece of copper wire instead of a fuse so it doesn't burn to the ground. Maybe they didn't have a fuse or maybe something else is wrong.

Strip out the contents and keep the box for under chassis duty. Use Rust-O-Leum black bed liner paint from Wal Mart as a cosmetic makeover. The transformer can serve as a base for an old fashioned transformer type battery charger. I love them to convert as gifts to friends down here. They don't blow up after a week...

Gdetrailer, thanks for the detailed response. That's what I was looking for. I figured it was obsolete and the old box alone probably dragged down 2 MPG just because of how heavy it is, lol. And yeah I assume the newer converters use solid state switching technology or something like that, resulting in a much smoother, better-regulated output. Much more preferable. I'll disassemble this one for scrap parts.

time2roll wrote:
I would replace the whole box.

http://www.bestconverter.com/PD4045-45-Amp-Inteli-Power-Mighty-Mini-Power-Center

X2!

The reason to replace is the one you have is a much older technology charging system. In RVs that is called a "converter" but it is combined with 120V breakers on one side and 12V fuses on the other.

120V and 12V sides are separated for safety.

It is basically like the old school portable battery charger your Dad or Granddad would have used.

It is unregulated and requires a battery to be connected to filter and regulate the output voltage.

In addition, the output voltage tends to be a bit on the high side and will boil your battery dry.

New converters are multi stage which helps to reduce water usage of the battery, much kinder way to take care of your battery!