upgrading power converter
My power converter has apparently bit the dust, lights flickering for past couple of years now no charge to batteries... Anyhoo, we do a lot of dry camping, where we need to daily boost the batteries...
Forum Discussion
Edit: I think I would want to rewire my RV to draw the 12v off the battery instead of off the converter. Then you could raise the charging voltage to anything as long as the battery voltage didn't get too high."
Not really--the 12v now comes off the battery lugs of the DC panel to which both the battery and converter are connected.
what you mean is you want to charge the batteries with a charger while the battery disconnect switch is open, so the high charging voltage does not get to your DC panel. Meanwhile you can run the rig's 12v from the converter.
You don't need to do that to protect the 12v systems unless you go over 15.4v, the fridge's limit. No worries at 14.8v at all.
the advantage though is you now have no draw from the batteries at the same time you are trying to charge them. they charge from "net" amps. If you have a 60 amp charger and are drawing 8 amps, then you are charging at 52 amps not 60.
When charging from generator, I plug the rig into the gen and run on converter, open the disconnect switch to isolate the battery bank, then charge the bank with charger(s) also plugged into the Honda gen.
Only problem is remember to turn the stupid converter off afterwards, so when you plug the rig back into the inverter, the next time you use the inverter the stupid converter doesn't come on :(
Not really--the 12v now comes off the battery lugs of the DC panel to which both the battery and converter are connected.
what you mean is you want to charge the batteries with a charger while the battery disconnect switch is open, so the high charging voltage does not get to your DC panel. Meanwhile you can run the rig's 12v from the converter.
You don't need to do that to protect the 12v systems unless you go over 15.4v, the fridge's limit. No worries at 14.8v at all.
the advantage though is you now have no draw from the batteries at the same time you are trying to charge them. they charge from "net" amps. If you have a 60 amp charger and are drawing 8 amps, then you are charging at 52 amps not 60.
When charging from generator, I plug the rig into the gen and run on converter, open the disconnect switch to isolate the battery bank, then charge the bank with charger(s) also plugged into the Honda gen.
Only problem is remember to turn the stupid converter off afterwards, so when you plug the rig back into the inverter, the next time you use the inverter the stupid converter doesn't come on :(
