Xantrex Truecharge2 Reliability?
Hello all, New member here with a 2015 Rockwood 2306 that we picked up June of 2018. We're upgrading from the terrible group 24 battery to a set of two Trojan T-105 batteries. I'm looking for a sui...
Forum Discussion
Wow, thanks for the info!
What interesting is that BFL13 said they used to make one with an external pot. And if you go on their website they sell a more expensive model with a build in digital voltmeter, the ADJ series which they list under "battery chargers" instead of "power converters". If they had retained the external pot and put it on the model with the digital voltmeter it'd be just about perfect!
Your suggestion of a power supply brought me back to an earlier idea I had, before the TrueCharge2 idea. At work, we have some beefy CC/CV power supplies. One of those would be perfect for manual charging. If you have time you could dial back the amps to whatever you like and it'll adjust the voltage to hold those amps, then when it reaches 14.82 or whatever it would start dialing back the amps. Built-in voltage and current displays make it easy to monitor things. Problem is, one with enough current output is expensive. A CV power supply can do almost the same thing, as you outlined, you're just controlling the max current by the voltage in steps instead of having that automated.
Do you actually get a full 40 amps from the Meanwell RSP-500-15? I ask as it's only rated for 33.4 A. Very well could be power limited output I suppose. 500 W at 12 volts would be 42 A, whereas 500 W at 14.7 volts is 34 A. Does this sound like what you see? Oh, there is is. "Overload, 105-130%. Protechtion type: CC limiting, recovers automatically."
Reason I ask is because while that is cheaper than the powermax, it's also lower power. 500 rated watts at 14.82 volts is 33.7 A (though it looks like as long as it stays cool it can output 130%, or 43.8 A. The PowerMax 60 A model is 875 W, or 59 A at 14.82 V. So I guess it really depends how fast I want to be able to charge, given the Maxwell 500 W model is $92 + shipping and the PowerMax is $123 with free shipping.
If you do 65 A into an AGM and 6 years and 1300 deep cycles then doing that or more into 225 Ah of flooded lead acid seems like not an issue in the slightest, in which case the PowerMax wins out with a better $/A ratio, though I'd have to solder in a trimpot whereas the Maxwell has external screw terminals for that. Hmm...
The OTC4619 hydrometer was the one I had seen on Amazon and planned to buy, as it looked like a quality tool and not the cheap floating plastic dial or worse yet balls. I didn't figure you needed to check SG each charge, if you know your current you can end charge when that drops sufficiently low, and basically only check SG to see if an equalization is needed.
10 turn pot is a great idea.
I need to sit down and draw up a schematic of how I want to wire this all up. I've mentioned this before, but I think I'd want to put the charger (PowerMax or Maxwell) into the front right outdoor storage compartment on our TT. This makes it easy to access for charging while I'm outside the camper, and allows adding a door inside the camper in case I needed to charge from a generator but didn't want to go outside to adjust things. It's also as close as I can get to the tounge without mounting the charger in an external box. I'd just drill a hole in the floor to run battery cables through. I want to set up disconnect switches so I have flexibility. My current thoughts on that is that the camper OEM converter powers all DC loads when connected to shore power, and is isolated from the batteries. The batteries would be connected to DC loads while setting up camp before connecting shore power, and while driving so they can operate the fridge while stopped and of course the brakes should the TT become separated from the TV. I'd then like the ability to disconnect the OEM and power the DC loads via the newly installed battery charger/converter as well. This would not be normal operation (otherwise I'd just remove the OEM converter), basically it's allowing a backup. Just bought a full set of heating pads and wires so we can use our water during winter camping, and that will put about a 40 A DC draw on the converter if all three tanks and freshwater plumbing heaters are activated. Hence my reasoning for keeping OEM for regular DC loads, since winter camping will really work out the converter, but setting up switches and wiring so I can feed in whatever charger/supply I purchase for battery charging to act as the converter if the OEM one dies in the middle of a winter camping trip.
Anyhow, I need to eat some breakfast finally (got up late today), have a second cup of coffee, and head off to the camper to install those heating pads. They need to be installed at 50 °F and above for the adhesive to properly stick. Supposed to be 55 and sunny today, so I need to get it done before the weather gets colder and I no longer can install the pads.
Thanks for the ideas! I'll keep floating this around in my head a bit more. Plan would be to buy the batteries/box/wires/crimp tool/charger/switches early November.
What interesting is that BFL13 said they used to make one with an external pot. And if you go on their website they sell a more expensive model with a build in digital voltmeter, the ADJ series which they list under "battery chargers" instead of "power converters". If they had retained the external pot and put it on the model with the digital voltmeter it'd be just about perfect!
Your suggestion of a power supply brought me back to an earlier idea I had, before the TrueCharge2 idea. At work, we have some beefy CC/CV power supplies. One of those would be perfect for manual charging. If you have time you could dial back the amps to whatever you like and it'll adjust the voltage to hold those amps, then when it reaches 14.82 or whatever it would start dialing back the amps. Built-in voltage and current displays make it easy to monitor things. Problem is, one with enough current output is expensive. A CV power supply can do almost the same thing, as you outlined, you're just controlling the max current by the voltage in steps instead of having that automated.
Do you actually get a full 40 amps from the Meanwell RSP-500-15? I ask as it's only rated for 33.4 A. Very well could be power limited output I suppose. 500 W at 12 volts would be 42 A, whereas 500 W at 14.7 volts is 34 A. Does this sound like what you see? Oh, there is is. "Overload, 105-130%. Protechtion type: CC limiting, recovers automatically."
Reason I ask is because while that is cheaper than the powermax, it's also lower power. 500 rated watts at 14.82 volts is 33.7 A (though it looks like as long as it stays cool it can output 130%, or 43.8 A. The PowerMax 60 A model is 875 W, or 59 A at 14.82 V. So I guess it really depends how fast I want to be able to charge, given the Maxwell 500 W model is $92 + shipping and the PowerMax is $123 with free shipping.
If you do 65 A into an AGM and 6 years and 1300 deep cycles then doing that or more into 225 Ah of flooded lead acid seems like not an issue in the slightest, in which case the PowerMax wins out with a better $/A ratio, though I'd have to solder in a trimpot whereas the Maxwell has external screw terminals for that. Hmm...
The OTC4619 hydrometer was the one I had seen on Amazon and planned to buy, as it looked like a quality tool and not the cheap floating plastic dial or worse yet balls. I didn't figure you needed to check SG each charge, if you know your current you can end charge when that drops sufficiently low, and basically only check SG to see if an equalization is needed.
10 turn pot is a great idea.
I need to sit down and draw up a schematic of how I want to wire this all up. I've mentioned this before, but I think I'd want to put the charger (PowerMax or Maxwell) into the front right outdoor storage compartment on our TT. This makes it easy to access for charging while I'm outside the camper, and allows adding a door inside the camper in case I needed to charge from a generator but didn't want to go outside to adjust things. It's also as close as I can get to the tounge without mounting the charger in an external box. I'd just drill a hole in the floor to run battery cables through. I want to set up disconnect switches so I have flexibility. My current thoughts on that is that the camper OEM converter powers all DC loads when connected to shore power, and is isolated from the batteries. The batteries would be connected to DC loads while setting up camp before connecting shore power, and while driving so they can operate the fridge while stopped and of course the brakes should the TT become separated from the TV. I'd then like the ability to disconnect the OEM and power the DC loads via the newly installed battery charger/converter as well. This would not be normal operation (otherwise I'd just remove the OEM converter), basically it's allowing a backup. Just bought a full set of heating pads and wires so we can use our water during winter camping, and that will put about a 40 A DC draw on the converter if all three tanks and freshwater plumbing heaters are activated. Hence my reasoning for keeping OEM for regular DC loads, since winter camping will really work out the converter, but setting up switches and wiring so I can feed in whatever charger/supply I purchase for battery charging to act as the converter if the OEM one dies in the middle of a winter camping trip.
Anyhow, I need to eat some breakfast finally (got up late today), have a second cup of coffee, and head off to the camper to install those heating pads. They need to be installed at 50 °F and above for the adhesive to properly stick. Supposed to be 55 and sunny today, so I need to get it done before the weather gets colder and I no longer can install the pads.
Thanks for the ideas! I'll keep floating this around in my head a bit more. Plan would be to buy the batteries/box/wires/crimp tool/charger/switches early November.
