CONVERTER LIFE

[cekkk]

After four years my converter died. Considering we lived in it for four winters, if that matters, is that to be expected?

Also, the new one is being installed today. Did I miss an opportunity to upgrade to a 3-stage, or do today's converters include that feature? Search engines give me both answers, or just want to talk about battery life or MH engine life, etc.

[KJINTF]

Rich

What about the failed PD9100 of yours?

Your failed PD is working great alongside a few also working great WFCO's here at the shop.

[RJsfishin]

Why did I know that the old conv was a wfco ?
Because it is the only one that fails regularly.
And why did my worst fear come true.... that the new conv would be a wfco too.
Because many are those out there that have their own financial gain in mind, and couldn't care less about their customer/consumer.

RJsfishin wrote:
Cekkk Quote:
Or did I misunderstand your post?
-----------------------------------
Not sure.
But hopefully you will end up w/ a good converter such as a PD, or equivalent, one that has true 3-4 stage charging, and one that you have manual control over the charging stages, which is useful for those times when you are just a little smarter than the charger is :W

[cekkk]

Bobbo, thanks. I've save that link.

[Bobbo]

cekkk wrote:
Picked up our TT with new wfco. I have the old wfco as well. Tech said almost everybody is using wfco

Translation, "we have a bunch in stock we need to sell"

cekkk wrote:
and they will wear out. As I understand it, if you are plugged in to shore power the converter is always running.

This is true. Unless you turn off the breaker to the converter, it is always running when on shore power.

cekkk wrote:
Thanks for all the input. This definitely looks like something I could have done for myself.

Not a hard job. When, not if, this WFCO dies, call Randy at http://www.bestconverter.com/. He will not steer you wrong. And I bet a dollar to a donut that he WON'T recommend a WFCO.

[pnichols]

Our RV has had it's current Parallax 7345 single stage converter in it for at least 8 years of non-full-time camping use and 24/7 coach battery float use while the RV is in storage in the back yard. The original Parallax 7345 converter that came in the RV died in a couple of years of intermittent non-full-time camping use and 24/7 float use while the RV was in storage in the back yard - probably just a normal statistical early failure for it.

Our current converter seems to cool itself very effectively with variable length on/off cycles of it's quiet internal fan in all kinds of temperatures and with all kinds of electrical loads that we place on it. I see no reason for early failure of them other than the random type of early failure that we experienced. Every once in a while even the best complex equipment will suffer from statistical early failure.

[cekkk]

Picked up our TT with new wfco. I have the old wfco as well. Tech said almost everybody is using wfco and they will wear out. As I understand it, if you are plugged in to shore power the converter is always running.

Thanks for all the input. This definitely looks like something I could have done for myself.

[ken_burke]

cekkk wrote:
After four years my converter died. Considering we lived in it for four winters, if that matters, is that to be expected?

Also, the new one is being installed today. Did I miss an opportunity to upgrade to a 3-stage, or do today's converters include that feature? Search engines give me both answers, or just want to talk about battery life or MH engine life, etc.

Yes, converters don't last forever. I don't know what setup you have, but I change out our converter. Ours is really easy to do. It costs me $150 for the converter and zero for the installation.
ken

[KJINTF]

PM sent

[ron64gc]

KJINTF wrote:
Yes I've opened up and repaired several of them

Schematics and parts lists are available for all of the converters

KJINTF I contacted John at WFCO and he could not help me with parts list and schematics. Against company policy. If you could point me in the right directions to obtain these would be greatly appreciated.

[landyacht318]

One might be surprised at the amount of Dust that can build up on fan blades and heatsinks, and how quickly it can build up.

I recently opened up my 11.5 month old MeanWell rsp-500-15 to which I added a 60 and 80MM fan to which run whenever it is on. The fan blades dirtied many a Qtip, and the internal heatsink also had collected a bunch of dust.

My compressor fridge now pulls filtered air through the condenser. The filter gets ugly fast, and the fan blades and condenser fins still accumulate some very fine dust, but once a year cleaning is fine, whereas at 6 months without a filter and the dust build up was performance degrading, and rather disgusting:



My Meanwell now has additional large finned heatsinks on the casing adjacent to the transistors, in addition to the 2 extra fans. This was done not only to extend its life, but to keep the very loud high rpm 40MM fan provided by MeanWell, from cycling and off when providing just 6 amps.

Now that loud fan only comes on after ~15 minutes at 40 amps, and shuts off when amps taper to ~34.

I kept the large Wfco finned heatsink when my Neighbor's unit failed @ about 3.5 years, and I replaced it with an Iota DLS-45 for his 2 wally world dc-27's

[ron64gc]

KJINTF many thanks for the pointers on converter. I googled for diagrams and parts but was unable to come with anything. I just noticed a chip inside top of cover with heat shrink on lead but for the life of me I cannot find or figure out where it was connected.Have done quite a bit of electronic work over the years but have done very little in the last few years. Again many thanks for the reply and pointers. I'll have to see if I can dig out and dust off some old test equipment I used to have lying around if it still works.

[KJINTF]

Yes I've opened up and repaired several of them

Those large ceramic resisters are simply bleeders for the input stage filter caps. They do get a bit warm and are placed near some temperature sensitive components - an easy fix

Happy to pay shipping costs to get your defective WFCO here - always collecting them and can always use more spare parts

Schematics and parts lists are available for all of the converters

Yes they do make a great bench supply

Get your ESR meter (NOT a standard cap value meter but a proper ESR meter) and check the caps - sure bet one or more has gone south

[ron64gc]

KJINTF wrote:
Excessive heat is a problem

Most of them produced after say 2009 should last 10 plus years
As several others have already stated we need a make and model to better answer your question

I have had a hundred or more converters apart for repairs - Internal heat build up is number 1 as far as failure causes.

Have you opened up any 9865 WFCO's? I just replaced one with a PD. Opened up the 9865 and powered up. No fuses or anything noticeable blown but vertical 10 watt resistors heat up to over 170 degrees. Output sinks and rises with load. Thought it might be fixed and used for bench supply but there is no info to be found on these units.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

In OPEN AIR exposed. My new-to me WifCo 55-amp converter gets hotter than a fopcorn-part when it is working. No cover. Charger chassis with it's --- hanging out for all to see. I've measured 177F on those vertical ceramic resistors and I had to insulate the nearby capacitors AND add a 2nd even stronger fan. What were these people thinking of? Add a cover and stick it inside a compartment and oh my god. I guess the manufacturers just don't care or they are completely stupid.