I have to say I just came back from boondocking.. Weekend trip only..New camperWfco 8955 converter280 watts solar20 amp mppt1100 watt inverter2800 watt kohler inverter gen ( Runs A/c on eco mode) Runs a/c and 1300 watt micro at same time. ( A/C compresser already started..)Batts fully charged when I left off solar..Im a heavy use guy. Had two tv's running, used toaster oven, coffee maker etc.. All off inverter.First night no big deal as solar got back most of the power I lost..Woke up sat to 12.3 volts batts. I have 3 - 75 ah batts in parrellel. @ on camper and third is under hood of tow vehicle. It has a second batt for camper package and solely runs off 7 pin. Starting batt not affected.So I used maybe 100 AH. GuestimateWas hot sat so I ran gen to run a/c and charge batts. Ran 3 hours. Sun only available for 3 hours of so as I was in the woods.. maybe 15 amp at times.wfco did not and would not go in bulk mode. I even tried to trick it and put a load on inverter. Gen on , then flip converter charging breaker. Nope.. 13.6 charging.. ( No 14.4.. Never seen it).When trying to trick it, it seems like it may be going into bulk mode but the wfco kicks on and off every 10-15 seconds. I think its going off on amp overload with that 900 watt draw on inverter..Says the bulk mode should kick on when it sees 13.2 volts at wfco terminals. Problem as soon as you hit the breaker it jumps to 13.4 volts.. Seems like it will never see said 13.2 volts..With that said with 3 hour gen run time batts looked charges @ 12.8 volts after I turned everything off. I thought I may have overcharged...Anyway next morning batts were 11.8 volts... I dont know what happened as we hardly used much stuff as the day before after I turned off gen and put solar away..Disappointing..Im trying to run tests now to see how to get this f ing thing in bulk mode..So disappointing in this new campers converter..But they say online this thing cranks in the amps others cant at 13.6 volts..I dont have an amp probe...

OK so dummy me left a heater on the inverter trying to run down batts for test.. I forgot about it.. Batts down to like 11.5 volts.. The inverter actually went off on low volts..Anyway I plugged into 120v and flipped converter on..Converter kicked on and off trying to charge battery..Started on/off quickly but slowly stayed on longer and longer.. Finally stayed on when batts reached 12.7 at batt terminals..Im monitoring now... Its on now and doesnt go off anymore..I dont think it when in bulk mode whether as converter terminals read 13.6..Hydrometer read 1150 on my ez red..These are good well maintained batts. No bad cells..

Generally you need voltage to sag below 13.2 volts AT THE CONVERTER to see bulk mode.Not an easy task the way most RVs are wired. Much easier to just replace.BTDT

time2roll wrote:Generally you need voltage to sag below 13.2 volts AT THE CONVERTER to see bulk mode.Not an easy task the way most RVs are wired. Much easier to just replace.BTDTNot sure I understand.If dry camping/generator off voltage quickly drops below 13.2 VDC. Heck, 12.8 is a fully charged 12 VDC battery at rest.

Throw it in the lake. Each day that you dont do a complete charge will just make the next days worse, especially with group batteries. I'd find one that can do 14.8

Plug in your WFCO and have a voltmeter right on the WFCO output wires. You will probably see 13.6 volts even if your battery has just popped up to 12.8. WFCO sees 13.6 and all is good, no boost.This is not a resting issue.

wfco possibly issues Bulk mode..Charge abilitys?

lawrosa
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
The wfco is good and goes into float mode and all that but never in bulk is the downfall.. I will call the vender to see what they say before I upgrade..

I have #6 wire running less then 15 ft from converter to batts..

So the hydrometer testing reads fair 1215 on the hydrometer after being 24 hours plugged in..

Thats what? 60-70% charged? Sheesh!!! Imaging running a genertator...

wfco still reads 13.6. So I put out my 280 watt panel and plugged a load into my inverter to drop the voltage to 12.9 so the mppt would kick into bulk mode.

So I am in bulk mode charging @ 14.7 volts @ 15 amps or so..

Wfoco has been on 24 hours almost and batts not nearly even charged 100%.

I read the charts and I guess I can say if my hyrometer gets near 1200 im 50%
azrving
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
If you were to leave it on long enough which means DAYS it probably would bring the gravity up. That's why wfco does work for some if they are sitting plugged in. When it comes down to running on a generator or solar you want the best charging and least voltage drop possible. 380 watts of solar isn't bad but it all depends on how much energy you consume. Some people will do a morning generator run while making breakfast and using a hair dryer etc and then let the solar do the longer easier amps. Various people will make all sorts of silly comments like oh your solar doesn't work or solar cant work blah blah blah but a generator with good charging equipment is a very effective way to provide the heavy amps that the battery will accept during the first part of the charge. Other than that you need a whole poo load of solar watts to give the 40, 50 or 60 amps that the battery may take early on.

Start eyeballing that roof space for your next upgrades. You can never have too much solar. :)

Batteries = bank account
Use = your overnight consumption
Charging = your income - loads and battery internal resistance and wiring losses

Can your account carry you overnight or through enough time to keep from starting genny or running for shore power?

Can your income meet the daily load + inefficiency + fill the battery?

If not, quit spending so much or earn more. All problems go away when you throw enough fists full of money at them.

Oh yes, the true audit of your account is the hydrometer
azrving
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
Also when thinking about any of these converters they all do have one thing in common. Water and electricity are alike in that the voltage is the force that exerted on the end of the pipe. Amperage is the diameter of the pipe. 14.8 or 14.4 will fill the bucket sooner that 13.6. The bucket will get full with all of them but some take longer than others. The voltage drop from small wire or poor connections is "leakage" in the pipe. The pipe could have terrible leaks but still fill the bucket if given enough time.
lawrosa
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
rjxj wrote:
If you were to leave it on long enough which means DAYS it probably would bring the gravity up. That's why wfco does work for some if they are sitting plugged in. When it comes down to running on a generator or solar you want the best charging and least voltage drop possible. 380 watts of solar isn't bad but it all depends on how much energy you consume. Some people will do a morning generator run while making breakfast and using a hair dryer etc and then let the solar do the longer easier amps. Various people will make all sorts of silly comments like oh your solar doesn't work or solar cant work blah blah blah but a generator with good charging equipment is a very effective way to provide the heavy amps that the battery will accept during the first part of the charge. Other than that you need a whole poo load of solar watts to give the 40, 50 or 60 amps that the battery may take early on.

Start eyeballing that roof space for your next upgrades. You can never have too much solar. :)

Batteries = bank account
Use = your overnight consumption
Charging = your income - loads and battery internal resistance and wiring losses

Can your account carry you overnight or through enough time to keep from starting genny or running for shore power?

Can your income meet the daily load + inefficiency + fill the battery?

If not, quit spending so much or earn more. All problems go away when you throw enough fists full of money at them.

Oh yes, the true audit of your account is the hydrometer

Nice reply... Thanks..

My solar can keep up what I have now as long as I have the sun.. Where I was the weekend did not give me enough..

Im a 150 watt use 10 hours a day guy.. Rough estimate. Thats about 10 amps an hours or 100 ah a day..

This was my first time at this campsite and I didnt know how sun would play out.. We were in the shade but had beems of sun coming through in patches of area I tried to follow..

It wasnt enough..

So I relied on running the gen the next morning.. I was running the a/c so I was hoping to get a charge for the batts. It gets real cooler at night so no a/c was needed.

But as I said the day we were leaving the batts were down say 12v? 11.8 maybe?

If we were staying longer we would not have made it without running the gen longer.. All day? As solar was not cutting it..

I was getting some 15 amps from the solar but for only about 3 hours a day..So really putting in 5 amps becuase I was using 10 or so..

I really need a converter I can get to go into bulk mode. I can upgrade the wire at a later date if needed.

Ill be happy if I can get 30-40 amps in off gen for 2-3 hours...

The wfco I think fails in this area..
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 25, 2017
Need to mount that solar on the roof to operate full time.
Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Sep 25, 2017
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

That is not from being in bulk mode, it is from failure to move to float mode, or failure of the converter entirely.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Best converter has awesome service. Yes a WFCO will go into bulk mode and stay there and I think they do so at more than 14.4 volts. How do I know? I have had two of them boil off all the electrolyte ruining the batts in the process.

Fair enough.....lets just say it was from being a cheap pile of junk lol?
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
azrving
Explorer
Sep 25, 2017
Mex could you stomp that trash down into the can so I can throw in the plastic tilt knobs that broke and cut my thumb and the claw hammer that broke off a claw while I was simply using it as a hammer and the new broken plastic water spigot on my Berkey filter and the broken 2 month old compartment latch and the 3 month old broken phone holder and the broken week old phone charger cord and.......
PaulJ2
Explorer
Sep 26, 2017
The WFCO would likely go into boost mode if it was located at/on the battery. Not 10 ft or more from the battery with #6-8 wire in between.
What happens is the instant power is applied the voltage at it's own terminals jumps past the 13.2V cut off and sets to normal 13.6 mode.
The way to correct this is to have a small wire from the battery to the converter circuitry to "sense" the actual battery voltage. This costs more money of course and can have it's down side because of this:--You would have to make sure all connections for the 12V things come from the battery only. This is because voltage at the converter could be 16-17 volts allowing for the drop with the small wiring in most rv's. This could be damage or death for many things in the RV so they build the WFCO for "average" use.
As has been said, If you spend most of your time at a power post don't worry about it, it works ok. If you boon dock a lot with a generator update the converter with a PD or like unit.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 26, 2017
WFCO factory length red and white cables with soldered ring terminals. Battery at 12,2 volts. Connected cheese grater 100-amp load tester. Drew battery down to 10.8 volts, released button and simultaneously flipped switch for WFCO.

13.6 volts.

A couple of times starting at 12.2 volts the WFCO went to 14.4 volts for a couple of minutes.

The unit provided great amusement. Then one day it hiked its skirt and went "poof". The next thing it knew it lay on the work bench getting a hysterical-rectum-ee, The 5/16" thick, heat stink was lobotomized. A near finless block of aluminum pretty much describes the mentality of this failed childbirth.