Practical advice needed Magne Tek 6345 option Q

My 10 year old Parallax/Magnetek 7445 converter started making unusual noises and I replaced it last month with a Progressive Dynamics PD9245. Hopefully I won't have to add water as often now.

brianstrange wrote:
I am literally taking this out 5-6 trips per year, mostly dry camping. Is it safe to say that slow charging it with my car charger before a trip, and using the car alternator to juice it back up while away from home is all I need? or will that plan hurt the battery?

Lot's to learn here for you. You might want to check out the "Tech Issues" forum to get lots of excellent advice on batteries and dry camping.

But as far as your questions:

1. Batteries will last longer and work better if they are kept fully charged when in storage. Using a battery maintainer, solar panel or plugged in with a 3 stage converter is best.

2. Charging the trailer battery from the tow vehicle is usually not very effective. Some charging does occur (assuming your tow vehicle is set up to charge the trailer battery) but it is done very slowly usually. Yes it should be enough to maintain a charged battery while driving.

3. Yes, slow charging with your car charger should charge it well, but it might take 2 or 3 days to charge depending on the charger and the state of the batteries.

Check out the "Tech Issues" forum and ask questions there. Lots of friendly advice there, especially about batteries and charging.

Ed

gotsmart wrote:
The PD4645 is an upgrade/replacement for a Magnatek 6345 converter that the OP may want to consider. It is well reviewed on Amazon.

http://www.bestconverter.com/4600-series-Upgrade-Kits_c_133.html

This is the best advice you can possibly get. Follow it and you won't ever be sorry. I went with the PD4655, but I have more batteries to charge than you do.

I have replaced my last two Magnatecs with Progressive Dynamics with the Charge Wizard and the difference is like night and day. Batteries last years and years now versus about one season before they boil dry if you don't constantly stay on top of them. I got mine from Best Converter and the service was top notch each time.

What I do is charge it with my 3 stage car charger until it says full. Then plug in the converter and float charge for about 3 days before camping. That extra charge from the converter seems to give me another couple of days of battery power. I don't believe that the "smart chargers" ever fully charge the batteries. My Magnetec will float at 13.2 v. When you return home or to a FHU campsite recharge with the car charger. Alternator driving does very little to recharge compared to the 40 amp car charger.

I am literally taking this out 5-6 trips per year, mostly dry camping. Is it safe to say that slow charging it with my car charger before a trip, and using the car alternator to juice it back up while away from home is all I need? or will that plan hurt the battery?

The Magnetek converter is a single stage converter. That is, it puts out a constant 13.8 volts, This is too low to charge a discharged battery fast, but is too high to maintain a fully charged battery.

The PD9245, that has been suggested, is a 3 stage converter. It starts out charging a discharged battery at 14.4v. After the battery is partially charged the voltage is reduced to 13.6v, and then later when the battery is fully charged it drops down to 13.2v to maintain the battery. I'm quoting the numbers from memory so I may be off a bit but you get the idea.

The PD9245 would be my choice.

Edit: just noticed I left a lot of "1"s off.

brianstrange wrote:
Battery was bulging and old when I bought the RV. I know this converter is prone to issues, so I'm looking for cost effective solutions, based on how I will use this RV. Perhaps leaving the battery disconnected while on shore power etc...

According to the manual that Magnatek converter requires the battery to be connected.
It is perfectly usable if you check the battery levels once a month.

brianstrange wrote:
Battery was bulging and old when I bought the RV. I know this converter is prone to issues, so I'm looking for cost effective solutions, based on how I will use this RV. Perhaps leaving the battery disconnected while on shore power etc...

I have read a lot of posts on how the Magnetech converters are battery boilers also. Consequently my first set of Trogan 6 v batteries only lasted 4 years due to undercharging. I though that my Magnetech 950 put out 50 amps which it does to run the MH but only puts out 5 amps to charge the battery. I don't know how 5 amps boils and or shortens the life of a battery. A cost effective solution is to buy a portable 3 stage car 40 amp charger to recharge your batteries with the genset while camping with no hookups, then float the batteries with your Mangnetech when you get home. When in storage I disconnect from shore power and use the battery disconnect to remove any parasitic loads on the batteries. My second set of Sam's club batteries are going on 8 years old and can camp for a week and still be at 50% SOC. Hope this helps.

The PD4645 is an upgrade/replacement for a Magnatek 6345 converter that the OP may want to consider. It is well reviewed on Amazon.

http://www.bestconverter.com/4600-series-Upgrade-Kits_c_133.html