Replace the WFCO with an IOTA w/smart charger
I am contemplating replacing the WFCO Converter/Charger model WF-9855 in our 2011 Lance model 1985. In storage in my shop is an IOTA DLS45 with smart charger that I purchased new and only used it for...
Forum Discussion
BurbMan wrote:
There is a ton of reading on this over in the Tech Issues forum, I did a lot of research before going the route that I did. The WFCO is supposed to be a 3 stage charger, but the testing done by more than a few folks revealed that the WFCO almost never goes into "boost" mode at 14.4v. Maybe the newer WFCOs perform differently.
When we go to the beach we boondock for a week at a time and gen hours are limited, so recharging is important. I found with the WFCO that the batteries would never quite fully charge...every day I lost a little capacity until I left at the end of the week and they were at 30%.
The IOTA is also a good unit and should work fine. Sound Guy is correct, you either need to mount the unit close to the batteries OR increase the wire size to the batteries, otherwise you won't realize any benefits over the WFCO unit.
Sounds like the perfect use case for solar, for the same money as a new converter you could buy a few hundred watts of solar and reduce your generator usage by a massive amount (if not eliminate it most years).
