What charger should I use?

Thanks for the responses guys. The rig I currently have is a weekender. I pull a trailer behind my motor home out into the desert with my motor-glider, dirt bike, and other toys. I spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday flying and riding till I have to go home again. When it gets cold I run the heater some. Between the heater, lights, laptop and cell phone charging, and other normal use, my battery (single) was not getting me through the night. Now hopefully with a bank of three batteries I can get through a night or two without having to run the generator.

I will save the Solar and golf cart batteries set-up for my next rig. It will be a full-timing rig that I will use 365 days a year so I will get much more use out of it. I think that for now I will just keep the Parallex charger that the rig came with. If the charge time to 90% on the battery bank takes too long then I may replace it. I printed out a copy of the owner's manual which does not specify voltage but does suggest that the 45 amp charger is at least a 2 stage rather than a single stage. I will have to hook up a VOM and test that.

As long as your fabricating a battery tray, I would suggest to make it with slides. I've forgotten who on the Forum built a tray like this but it was well done.

If you're a serious boondocker, there is too much good about 6V GC2 batteries to ignore. They have the same case footprint as grp 24 batteries, just higher in dimension. I would use 4 of them if I had the space. Sam's Club or Costco sells them for about $80/pc. The 6V's are reliable and have thicker plates which results in better longevity and friendlier with deep discharge cycles.

Another thing hard to ignore is solar charging. Once set up right, it is virtually maintenance free and a user doesn't have to run the genset as frequently or at all, depending on application and use. Storage issues for the batteries are also non-existent. A user doesn't have to remove them or use a charger to maintain them, the solar takes care of it.

Best of luck with your new 12V system. There's nothing like having a good supply of power with you.

I recommend going with a Power Max Boondocker charger/controller. The PowerMax Boondocker is a 4 stage charger. A 4 stage charger will re-charge the batteries quicker and will be kinder to fully charged batteries.
Best Convertor is a good company.

RJsfishin wrote:
Don't get anything w/ the WFCO name on it, no matter what Randy says !! And don't buy anything w/o a manual override of the charging stages, and don't get anything over 45 amps if you ever thinking of charging w/ a 1000 watt Honda. A PD 9245 will still charge your batteries much faster than what you have now, and will run fine on a small genset, and you don't have to change wiring.

/\ Verified recently at 5000 feet elevation, this is a good working combination for a Honda Eu1000i, for others, though the OP might want look into an Iota, which seem to work better with Onan gen sets. My WFCO 8955 has been given it's pink slip. The PD 9245 with Charge Wizard replaced it, mounted as close to the batteries as possible, with proper heavy 6 or 8 gauge wire will get the job done.

Don't get anything w/ the WFCO name on it, no matter what Randy says !! And don't buy anything w/o a manual override of the charging stages, and don't get anything over 45 amps if you ever thinking of charging w/ a 1000 watt Honda. A PD 9245 will still charge your batteries much faster than what you have now, and will run fine on a small genset, and you don't have to change wiring.

Group 24 is 75 amp hours 3 of them would be 225 amp hours

GC-2 Golf car batteries are 220-230, Two of the 230 amp DEKA's will cost you 350 dolars (roughly) less you get a discount (if you belong to Sam's or costco they sell cheaper ones) they fig in the same tray as a G-24 but need a bit more headroom,

But you get 3 batteries for the price of two.

How do I know the price... I just replaced my twin Interstates which are about 9 yhears old and deceased with a pair of brand new DEKA's this very noon. HEAVY lead that is.

Hi,

If you are an avid boondocker consider adding some solar to the mix. If you add enough, the only time you may run the genny is for air conditioning.

I am working towards being able to run my air via solar, but that probably won't happen this year.

The 75amp PowerMax does not need a 20amp circuit because it has PowerFactor correction while a PD does not.

Yes the Magnetek is hard wired on a 15amp circuit, probably sharing its circuit breaker with another circuit such as the receptacles.

Based on their specs, the PowerMax and PD are about equal in caring for batteries on a long term float but you should still check the battery water once in a while.

I don't know which Onans are which for that clean power issue that affects PDs.

If you do go up to 75amps from 55 from the same converter location as now, you might have to change to fatter wires from the battery to the Dc fuse panel battery lugs and change to a higher amp battery fuse too, so the wire can take the higher amps

Randy can advise on any problems installing either model you choose if you get him on the phone.

The genset is an ONAN 4000 or 4100 (can't remember) whisper quiet model. I have not checked the circuit feeding the charger/controller; it is hardwired. If I understand you correctly I can upgrade to a 75 amp charger only if it is a 20 amp circuit.

My reason for wanting to upgrade the charger is two-fold. One is to reduce the run time while charging. The other is to allow me to leave the unit plugged in all winter. I keep the batteries up so that I can shovel a path to the door and run the genny once a month. The batteries should last much longer with a smart charger than the stock unit won't they?

The Ultra is a WFCO converter which has "issues" You would do much better with PowerMax unit or one of the others like a PD.

Amps size charger for the three 24s depends on how long you want to run the gen and also how big the gen is to run that many amps of a charger. You could go to a 75amper on that size of bank.

Going from a 55 amper to a 75 amper will save only about 12 minutes doing a 50-90SOC recharge but the 55 amper needs a 15a/120v circuit while the 75 or bigger needs a 20a circuit(except the PowerMax 75 on up which have PF correction so still can run on a 15a.)

I would look closely at the PowerMax 75 amper lower portion replacement for the magnetek. Another choice Randy has is to take out the whole power centre and replace with that PowerMax that has a 60 amper in it. Lots of rewiring that way for the fuse panel though.

PD units have their own fan base. :) However if you have one of those MSW Onans, you might find the PD does not put out its full amps. Be ok if you are using clean power like from a Honda inverter gen.