WFCO 8875 converter

The failure to go into Boost is not the same kind of failure as a board component burning out when it shouldn't of course.

Nevertheless, that Boost issue is a major complaint from people using WFCOs. The Boost issue is all about the WFCO's design using that 13.2v "trigger".

The WFCO needs to "see" 13.2 or less at its own terminals (not at the battery) when its 120v power is turned on in order to go into Boost.

A battery will "spike" in voltage as soon as the charger starts up and that spike will be higher with a higher initial current from the charger. You also have voltage drop between the battery bank and the charger, amount depending on the wire length, gauge, and the current amps in relation to the battery bank in AH.

Problem is, a 55 amp charger on say 220AH of battery at 50% SOC 12.2v will spike the voltage seen at the charger to above 13.2v in the usual RV set-ups.

time2roll has often suggested swapping your 55 amp for a 35 amp if you have 220AH so the spike will be less, with a chance of getting under the 13.2v trigger on start-up. Or add two more batteries.

Another way is to move the 55 amper closer to the battery bank to reduce voltage drop on the wires, and use fatter wires, so the converter will see under 13.2 at its end of the wires perhaps.

The OP's older WFCO has that jack for a booster pendant so if it all worked he would be better off for getting Boost than with a newer WFCO model when they stopped offering the pendant and just have the 13.2v trigger.

cavie wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
It seems my converter has decided to die. Anyone know if it has internal breakers or fuses?
I just found the problem a few minutes ago and can't trouble shoot for a couple of days.
If I have to replace would you go with another WFCO or a Powermax? 8875's have been discontinued.

It has a 15 amp 120 volt circuit breaker in the power panel. The convert will not be on the GFI circuit. There also are Two 30 or 40 amp 12 volt reverse polarity fuses on the converter. There is also an inline reset-able fuse within 6' of the battery.

The WFCO converter on my Fleetwood product did not have it's own circuit breaker. It simply plugged into an outlet. I'm not even sure that outlet went through a breaker, aside from the main breakers for the whole RV. I've never seen this inline fuse either, and I've combed through this trailer thoroughly over the years.

WFCO's are notorious for never going into bulk (14.4v) charging mode---even with very discharged batteries. This doubles, triples your charge times. Last two TT's had WFCO's. First thing I did was swap 'em out for Progressive Dynamic converters.

Bird Freak wrote:
It seems my converter has decided to die. Anyone know if it has internal breakers or fuses?
I just found the problem a few minutes ago and can't trouble shoot for a couple of days.
If I have to replace would you go with another WFCO or a Powermax? 8875's have been discontinued.

It has a 15 amp 120 volt circuit breaker in the power panel. The convert will not be on the GFI circuit. There also are Two 30 or 40 amp 12 volt reverse polarity fuses on the converter. There is also an inline reset-able fuse within 6' of the battery.

PowerMax over WFCO any day of the week. Doubt you need more than 45 to 60 amps unless you have a monster battery or big 12v loads like tank heaters.

I like the PowerMax units. Been using them for eight years now.
WFCO's have a bad rep on this forum for failures. Don't have one, so can't confirm.

Where are you seeing no converter voltage? If not right at the converter, the fault might be downstream from there closer to the batteries.

That 8875 deck mount does have a couple of fuses on the output end that you can check. That model also had a jack for a remote voltage stage switch. If you have been using that, try the converter without the remote in the jack. Should do 13.6v only, but that might be all you need.

Make sure it has 120v input to the receptacle it is plugged into. Plug something else in there to see if it works. If not, is that receptacle on a GFCI circuit? Outside receptacle wet in the rain popped the GFCI? Or the circuit breaker for that receptacle on the AC panel? Is the converter the only 120v thing that doesn't work?