Pulled the trigger on my 12V system

[nadkaw1957]

About 6 weeks ago, I noticed (with my inexpensive 12V meter mounted in the face of the kitchen counter) that my converter wasn't charging above 12.5V when plugged in to shore power (it had always been 13.8 volts). I did extensive research online and in this forum and replaced it with a Progressive Dynamics PD4655 upgrade for my Parallax converter from bestconverter.com. For anyone considering it, they are a great company; very attentive and quick.

Then I thought, I need to keep a better eye on things, so I bought a Victron BMV-700 Battery Monitor. It lets me see the charge rate of the converter, what percentage of power I have left in the batteries and a whole lot more that I don't even use (yet).

Finally, I took a look at my pair of three year old group 24 batteries, which, by the way, were NOT a matched pair, having purchased the second one after I bought the trailer, and me not knowing they SHOULD be matched. After reading all the information on the forum regarding true deep cycle batteries and 6V in series vs. 12V in parallel, I made my way to Costco and bought 2 of their golf cart batteries.

We had our first trip out after all of the changes this past weekend and what a difference. My 12V batteries barely lasted a night and I would have to charge them for several hours the next day. We would have to run the generator to watch TV until about 9pm to make it through the night.

With my new system, we watched about 4 hours or so of TV with our 19" flatscreen and DirecTV DVR receiver, ran the overhead fan (for white noise) and the furnace all night, and I still had 83% of my charge left this morning. Fired up the Yamaha EF3000iSEB and it was back to 100% in about an hour.
Sorry this is so long - just excited to share.

[BFL13]

Nobody told the OP he screwed up. Just that he needs to do a bit more in order to keep enjoying his upgrade.

Guy falls off a twenty storey building's roof and is heard to say, on passing the tenth floor, "So far, so good!"

[Gdetrailer]

smkettner wrote:
nadkaw1957, Don't let these responses discourage you. The system you installed will serve in excellent fashion for many years to come. No further upgrade is needed.

Correct.

While I do have a great deal of respect for Mex and a few others who are total off grid "geeks" when it comes to feeding batteries sometimes folks forget that not everyone uses their setup in the same fashion..

The PD converters for the most part will do perfectly fine for many people. Not everyone lives off grid year round or boondocks for weeks on end or are weekend warriors and heck even a full week or two off grid is not going to "kill" the life of your batteries..

I am perfectly pleased with with my PD9160 with the charge wizard pendant along with my one pair of Sams GC2 batteries.. I go camping two weeks out of the year and the trailer sits parked in my yard connected to shore power the rest of the year.

While I don't generally boondock, I do overnight or "wallydock" if you will. My batteries MUST stay in top condition since I have a 10 cu ft residential fridge which runs off an inverter and the GC batts while traveling and overnighting..

So far my single pair of GC batts have managed to supply plenty of power to run the fridge several, hrs of incadescent lights and a 30K BTU furnace overnight and STILL have power left in the morning.

The batteries are now going on EIGHT YEARS so don't let the battery techno geeks get you bummed..

As you discovered, you have improved your system and it works for your usage, that IS what counts.

Use and enjoy the fruits of your upgrade! 🙂

[mena661]

Hell, I wonder why I even help anyone here myself. My setup works, why should I care about anyone elses?

[nadkaw1957]

Thanks, smkettner. I'm not discouraged - I'm far ahead of what I had before and I'm happy with my decisions. It does make me wonder, after being a member of this forum for 4 years, why ANYone shares their changes/improvements/accomplishments. There are ALWAYS "you shoulda done this" or "you could do it better this way" responses out there. Always someone smarter, savvier, more informed... That's life. For me, I made some improvements and I'm happy with them. Sometimes a horse just isn't thirsty.

[time2roll]

nadkaw1957, Don't let these responses discourage you. The system you installed will serve in excellent fashion for many years to come. No further upgrade is needed.

[NinerBikes]

Anecdotal evidence indicates that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

Beginning to think that Murica is now the land of halfazzed on everything, in the name of corporate profit.

I feel so unloved and worthless around here, my words fall on deaf ears and closed minds. Yet I hear numerous echo's... of other voices... what does it mean, echo'd sentiment in the tech section?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

@rjxj - the PD converter does a 15 minute equalization cycle at 14.4V every 21 hours.

This is damned near useless for many applications. 14.4 volts is NORMAL AUTOMOTIVE ALTERNATOR CHARGE RATE 24/7.

"Chips" need to discern proportionate current degradation during the charge cycle then revert to float ONLY after meeting the percentage limit.

Use the "miracle" does-all" gizmo for a month. Then let it do-it-thing. Full charge then float for a few minutes.

Then verify specific gravity readings in all cells. With a hydrometer.

This is especially important for batteries that get used heavily.

I am working on a design that incorporates a 12 volt weekly cycle timer and a 15 amp MEANWELL 15 volt charger for top charging. If folks respond interested I'll continue the project. It will have links and a how-to-do-it article.

Yes this can be done with a solar system, and a cycle timer as well.

I need to call Wes, an engineer at an unspecified major battery OEM. See if the ratio of overcharged warranteed batteries to sulfated warranteed batteries has changed. Something tells me the ratio has tilted dramatically toward the sulfation side.

[BFL13]

You did everything right except believe the Victron when you say the batts got to 100% after an hour of recharge. If you don't take the above advice and charge those 6s to 15.x volts every so often, they will sulfate and you will be back in the soup.

BTW that "equalize" the converter does is not the same thing as a real equalize/top charge/full charge so don't be fooled by that.

It seems a 14.4v converter cannot ever meet the specs required to handle 6v batts, but people do get some years from them even so. It is hard to get the truth on that from anecdotal posts on this forum where you can't check the batteries yourself to be sure everyone is speaking the same language.

You can look after 6s properly for sure using the VEC1093DBD for the 15v tasks as well as the converter for normal tasks.

[BFL13]

You did everything right except believe the Victron when you say the batts got to 100% after an hour of recharge. If you don't take the above advice and charge those 6s to 15.x volts every so often, they will sulfate and you will be back in the soup.

BTW that "equalize" the converter does is not the same thing as a real equalize/top charge/full charge so don't be fooled by that.

It seems a 14.4v converter cannot ever meet the specs required to handle 6v batts, but people do get some years from them even so. It is hard to get the truth on that from anecdotal posts on this forum where you can't check the batteries yourself to be sure everyone is speaking the same language.

You can look after 6s properly for sure using the VEC1093DBD for the 15v tasks as well as the converter for normal tasks.

[nadkaw1957]

@sjturbo - I bought an inexpensive Stanley 500W inverter from Lowes. It's a MSW, but my DVR and TV run just fine with it.

@rjxj - the PD converter does a 15 minute equalization cycle at 14.4V every 21 hours.

@NinerBikes - I guess I'm not that concerned to mess with SG's... I keep the trailer plugged into shore power at home at all times. If we watch TV during the day, the generator is usually running - it may be for several hours at a stretch. The point of my post was the improvement I achieved with the new converter and batteries and my ability to be more aware of where my power supply stands at any given time.

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments - let's get camping!

[NinerBikes]

Getting your GC-2 batteries back to 100% charge in an hour sounds impressive. I'd want to see the specific gravity of each battery cell, when you bought it, when you arrived at camp after driving to camp, and first thing in the morning after all the TV, heater, Dish TV and converter activity, then after your recharge with the generator, for an hour.

You are looking for 1.275 for your specific gravity, or better, for 100% state of charge. You might want to confirm that with a good Freas #1 Hydrometer reading. I suspect that if you are under 1.275, you are not fully charged. Generators and3or 4 stage charge convertors are pretty good at getting you charged to 90% charge in an hour, but it takes a long long time with a generator to get that last 10% to get to fully charged. Generators are not good, efficiency, fuel or time wise at getting in that last 10% state of charge.

You need that last 10% charged and in those batteries, before putting the batteries away for storage, or doing a 16V equalize cycle every 10 -14 days of camping off the grid.

Or, you get a solar panel and a good adjustable charge controller for it, to top you off to full 100%, after the generator, first thing in the morning. Solar panel has all day to get it topped off, but keep in mind, your system, just running the CO meter and propane fridge, burns .75 to 1 amp an hour, every hour. Have to account for that too, charging with solar.

[azrving]

You also need to consider equalization.

[azrving]

You may get even better performance from it if you need a wire upgrade. Mine was 6 gauge and it went from the converter at the curb side to the drivers side, towards the rear about 8 feet and then back to the curb side 8 feet to the battery box. I shortened it up by going down the curb side with number 4 gauge. It lost about .5 in voltage drop. The lug on the converter is made to accept 4 gauge but you can use 2 gauge and knock another 2/100 or so off the voltage drop. 2 gauge wont fit in the lug but some have mentioned that they make an adapter that would make it work. That may be splitting hairs but I would surely run 4 gauge from the converter to the batteries. If you have a newer rig you may already have it.

[azrving]

You would be even more geeked if you had a real battery charger that took your batteries to 15.5 or so. I have the same PD 4655 and its a good converter but my Quick Charge battery charger makes the PD sit in the back seat.
I understand that many on here also like the Black and Decker $150.00 charger.
http://www.quickcharge.com/on-board-chargers-standard.html