power converters, and beyond.....

[dstr_59]

So, as I've been looking into developing my dry camping ability, I have noticed that battery charging has come to revolve around having a good converter/charger.
I keep hearing about pitiful chargers that don't perform well.
my trailer which came to me second hand w/ a nice folder containing the manual for Every component installed (lucky me!). so I went to digging, and found that I have a parallax 7300. it also states (in the manual)that the entire output can be routed through to the charger if necessary. sounds good to me. but then again, I had a battery rupture, due to my own negligence.
seeing as how this component seems such a critical factor....
how am I sitting? is it the first thing to upgrade, or am I good 2 go,and start building battery capacity. my field recharge capacity is a Honda eu2000i. right now I have two class 24 12v batteries. I found, after my last trip out that one battery was a boat anchor(10,5v, bad cell) which explained my unsatisfactory battery life.
thanks,
sandy

[JiminDenver]

We have used our Parallax 7300 while boondocking, a few hours a day on the generator kept us going but the resting voltage in the morning was a 10th of a volt or more lower than had the battery been fully charged at home or using our solar.

We did it that way for up to two weeks at a time that season. No inverter so at times there was additional run time for cooking and such. A few times we were able to get the A/C started once the batteries had charged for a while. The 95 Ah grp 27 marine battery was steady at 12.4v every morning after running the LEDs and furnace over night. Fully charged it would be 12.5v and with solar 12.57v.

Had our needs stayed small like that some solar to finish the job after the generator run would have been great. A different converter would be better but on a small scale the solar will make up the difference. A few hours with the 45a converter and a 100w panel would whittle away at the last 10% all day. Some charge like this daily, I'd do it if we got caught in a extended cloudy period.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Finding a bridge, green skin dye plus a nearby cactus isn't easy. Neither is explaining that huge fuses are in inverters to protect the circuit from catastrophic short circuits which will cause a major fire without them interrupting current. To each their own. Now I'd better go and start practicing scaring the granddaughters.

[time2roll]

[tpi]

You just don't know what you don't know yet enough to understand Mex's reply (which was right on)

Just want to add to this-his posts are well worth reading. It is well worth kicking back and reading this forum for months and even years. There's always something to be learned here.

[dstr_59]

thanks again all.
RoyB, my question for you is, what is with those humongous fuses in your system?
is that just how much that inverter can suck out of a set of batteries before the inverter goes POOF! or vice versa if the charging side of the inv. goes bonkers?
after tracing and labeling all the wires in my batt compartment, I'm ready for that pair of 6v's. however my set up is a pair of 8ga wires off the batt(s) to two separate circuit protectors, 0ne just for the slide, and one for everything else(40 amp fuses). batteries are in the front, power conv. is mid-ships. too far(I think) to re-wire w/4ga. think that some day it will be an inverter/charger alongside or on top of the battery box. it will b close, and in the main cargo compartment so plenty of room for cooling air. will have to investigate disabling that charger in the existing converter at that time. will also e putting in those batt switches so I can maintain batteries better in the mean time.

[BFL13]

dstr_59 wrote:
Maybe it would be a good idea though to ask posters how long they intend to boondock and their perception of "roughing it". Otherwise offering suggestions is pure guesswork and a pure waste of time and server storage JMHO

To Mr mexico wanderer. thank you senor troll. now back to your cactus and your siesta. yours is the only true waste I've found in this thread.
as for the rest of you, THANK YOU very much for your contributions(!) after my "o-p" I found the tutorial about living on the 12v side. it clarified the conv/chrg issue for me. but I still appreciate the intel on other peoples setups and diagrams there of. I see at least a hundred bucks in led lights forthcoming. before overhauling my d.c. system, I am in the process of identifying some extraneous wiring in the compartment. making progress. but there's a couple of tough ones still to go. then a couple of g.c. batteries.
thanks again

You just don't know what you don't know yet enough to understand Mex's reply (which was right on)

EG, check out "progressive capacity loss from successive 50-90s" as it relates to how long you can go before finding shore power for a couple days to do a "recovery"

Also, how it works if you take a week or two to get down to 50% just the once, and then try to do a recovery.

[dstr_59]

Maybe it would be a good idea though to ask posters how long they intend to boondock and their perception of "roughing it". Otherwise offering suggestions is pure guesswork and a pure waste of time and server storage JMHO

To Mr mexico wanderer. thank you senor troll. now back to your cactus and your siesta. yours is the only true waste I've found in this thread.
as for the rest of you, THANK YOU very much for your contributions(!) after my "o-p" I found the tutorial about living on the 12v side. it clarified the conv/chrg issue for me. but I still appreciate the intel on other peoples setups and diagrams there of. I see at least a hundred bucks in led lights forthcoming. before overhauling my d.c. system, I am in the process of identifying some extraneous wiring in the compartment. making progress. but there's a couple of tough ones still to go. then a couple of g.c. batteries.
thanks again

[westend]

Ductape wrote:
Re Mex; Depends on whether we are asking for their preference in fish or showing how fish are caught.

Perch or Grouper, sometimes relevance aids....

First thing noted is that you have group 24 batteries and one is failing/failed. I wouldn't bother replacing with the same. Group 24, especially a Marine Hybrid. It is way down the pecking order in capacity for anyone going off-grid. The best bang-for-the-buck I've found is 2 X 6V GC2's from Sam's Club or Costco. I bought a pair two years ago for $190 out the door with tax and core charge included. Pricing remains similar. That will give you 205-240 amp hours of capacity, a good amount for an RV'er with typical power needs. If you invert the 12 V to 120 V (very useful) and have a wife that needs to use hair dryers, curling irons, and brews coffee through a Keurig, you will need even more capacity.

I use solar for 99% of my battery charging. I also invert to 120V for running a 120 V fridge and entertainment devices (TV, stereo, disc players). Solar does a better job of charging my batteries then I can, manually. I believe it's also better than any converter/charger.

I still have the original Progressive Dynamics PD-708 30 amp converter in the rig. The adder circuit board charger-modification tells me that the 708 is at least 44 yrs. old. If I was buying another, it would be from Progressive.

[Ductape]

Re Mex; Depends on whether we are asking for their preference in fish or showing how fish are caught.

[wa8yxm]

Parallex 7300 is a SINGLE STAGE (Float) charger, though the entire output can go into the batteries odds are it never will cause it does not have a BULK mode.

7300T is a two stage Timed charger, When you first plug in it goes to BULK for a specific period of time. This one will charge faster.

Recommendation is upgrade.

My Favorite is the Progressive Dynamics Wizard converters... In your case I would go with a 9200 (Optional dongle is optional) and keep the 7300 in place just in cuss (In case the 9200 fails) just disconnect, label and tape off it's power lead (just the black wire) use the same breaker (With a new Romex) to power the 9200.

The 7300 is a major improvement on what it replaced.. but it's still single stage.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Generator Run Time

The Path To Poverty And Heartache

Heartache if a person boondocks for weeks at a time in a heavy forest where sunlight for solar voltaics is not an issue.

There are fewer tasks I like less than driving 70 miles to purchase $3.30 gallon fuel. What am I saying? Seventy miles @ 15 mpg roughly 4.5 gallons - fourteen or so more dollars.

It all comes down to how long of time a person boondocks. Weekends are one thing, several weeks another and for excursions longer than that it's a different universe.

On my way down to the store and WiFi right now. Perhaps my stuff for the BORG has finally arrived.

Maybe it would be a good idea though to ask posters how long they intend to boondock and their perception of "roughing it". Otherwise offering suggestions is pure guesswork and a pure waste of time and server storage JMHO

[Ductape]

If you have the budget for it, AGM batteries have higher charge acceptance and can shorten your generator run time.

[Bobbo]

I yanked my Parallax/Magnajunk 7345 and got a real converter in 2011. Would do it again.

It was working as well as that piece of junk could. I gave it to another member on RV.NET who liked his, but it had died. All he had to do was pay the shipping.

[BFL13]

The 7300 is a good converter for when on shore power (is switch-mode so does not need a battery as a filter like the old 6300) but as said above is a single stage at 13.8v, so is not good for fast charging off a generator.

You can leave the 7300 in place and get a second converter as a deck-mount that is good for fast charging. If you do decide to replace the 7300 in place, then you might also face a wiring issue where it is too far from the batteries on long thin wire. Your deck-mount can go close to the batts on short fat wire.

The 7300 in our 5er is 13 years old and going strong. I chose a 100a PowerMax deck mount to go up front for fast charging. BTW, you have to limit your charger amp size to what your generator can handle. I use a Honda 3000. (2800VA)

The Honda 2000 is really 1600VA so anything over about 60 amps DC that is not power-factor corrected will be a problem.