Stand alone battery charger recommendations

You gotta gitcha to a doctor somehow if the starter fluid works...

and don't forget to take that Rorschach panel along...

God has spoken again, time for the worshipers to gather give praise.

These threads string out so much that "Out Of Context" should be a forum anthem. One moment it's chatter about the needs and wants of a Power Pedestal Princess, the next it's hard-core generator boondocking.

A "RV'ING TODAY" lifestyle where a rig goes from pedestal to pedestal can use just about any modern multistage "converte" successfully. And a lot of Folks RV this way. But leave the receptacle behind and thungs start to change fast. From costume ball hilarity to US Navy Seal Hell Week.

Some folks simply do not care how long their batteries last. Others play camp at A Wal Mart parking lot and then boast "I never do anything to these batteries and they work just fine. What is the BIG DEAL?" you betcha. Great service out of a damaged battery that ran the lights four hours and has 44% of the original capacity. I remember forty years ago parking a car at the Sahara Tahoe. Walked inside. It was winter and nearly deserted. I wandered to the dollar slot machines. Looked them over. Chose one on the end. Slipped the coin in and yanked the handle. BAR-BAR-BAR. I took thex150 dollars and left in a big hurry. Now a person could say that was blind stupid luck or Sahara Tahoe's slot machines -must be loose-.

So ot is with converters and batteries. But when someone really tries but cannot recharge the batteries in his rig with any converter on the market is the BS detector. He knows his furnace run-time is being short changed he is holding a battery hydrometer that proves the batteries are nowhere near full yet the seventy-nine cent chip inside his miracle converter is screaming FULL! FULL! I SAY DON'T BUG ME BUSTER READ THE LIGHTS OR THE CRAWLING DOT MATRIX MESSAGE!"

For some folks the magic converter never is wrong. Now whom I ask you does not have a firm grip on reality? This is where a realistic band-aid had been missing until the Megawatt came along. It has it's place in the scheme of things. If somone came to me today and said "I"ll give a hundred thousand dollars forca hand's off battery converter thar really charges to completely full" I would have to say "No thank you". I would stand a better chance finding a one -shot slot machine.

full Mosey, is there a Bota Bag in your wife's Christmas stocking this year?

full_mosey wrote:

..........The problem is that this portable charger has a low WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor) as is sits on the floor where her wine table goes......

HTH;
John

No need for the table! Train DW to do it the Australian way. Wine in plastic bag inside cardboard box that can be hanged from a hook on the ceiling. Stand under it and open the valve, mouth open. Too easy! :)

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
/Looking for recommendations for best charger under $150, preferably $100.

The regressive dynamics converter under 100 dollars. My 65 dollar Megawatt would kick it's ass in a full charging time-contest. FREE STANDING Does the regressive dynamics come with a tripod

For HTH John's Sake :)

Is that the S-400-12 and what is the Power Factor(PFC)?

My WFCO 8735 in the trailer went toes up on our trip to the PNW. I got an automatic HF #60581 50/10/2 charger in Port Angeles, WA for $50 that helped us finish our trip.

It has an unusual regimen. It runs up to 14.6xV then switches to an on-off mode and cycles between 12.9x and 14.3x at 4-5A. My K-A-W says the PF is 0.78. The bank is 110AH of 5yr old Optima AGMs.

The problem is that this portable charger has a low WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor) as is sits on the floor where her wine table goes.

I'm looking to replace the WFCO with a PD 4045.

HTH;
John

landyacht318 wrote:
Egad Jim, now Pnichols will crawl out and blast us with another smug round of his parallax and his AGMS and how well it works and this that and the other thing. He's likely already typing another round of this, hoping someone eventually agrees with him and calls him the all wise all knowing battery cycler.

Right you are on the crawling part ... we just finished with staining around 1000 sq. ft. of deck today with another ~250 to go in the morning ... never again.

I just hope my magic wisdom works a 2nd time around. I sure don't want to wreck the $600+ worth of new Fullrivers I just installed in the rig. Maybe I was just lucky with our original set of AGMs.

I'm about to find out on the Fullrivers during a 8-10 week RV trip to the Northeastern U.S. in a few weeks. As I understand it, they don't tolerate generators much in their woods ... of course there's not much solar in their woods, either. Boy is that a drycamper's conundrum. :h and ;)

OBVIOUSLY

You do not follow' my posts and remember what I say. THE WHIFFCO MAKES A GREAT FIXED VOLTAGE POWER SUPPLY.

A Megawatt makes a SUPER stand alone battery charger. Let me clarify this for you...

A stand alone battery charger today is like a stand-alone battery charger of 70 years ago. it is manually controlled.

A Megawatt 36-amp unit will charge batteries faster than a 55 amp smart charger when set to 14.8 volts and coupled to a generator. I would call an hour of excess generator run time excessive to a fault.

You need to, yourself, with your very fingers, experiment with converter and Megawatt charge times. Using other people's opinions or deducing misapplication of converter or charger to intended use or results is er, not especially intelligent.

I never said the Wifco makes an ideal charger. I never said the Wifco makes an ideal converter. What I do and did say the Mega will do things Fartchargers can only dream of doing.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
/Looking for recommendations for best charger under $150, preferably $100.

The regressive dynamics converter under 100 dollars. My 65 dollar Megawatt would kick it's ass in a full charging time-contest. FREE STANDING Does the regressive dynamics come with a tripod

For HTH John's Sake :)

Not sure why you are putting down the Progressive Dynamics converter when it actually works very well for RV use, has a great following, and very few complaints.

OTOH your WFCO seems to get praise while they are frequently a disaster in charging or maintaining an RV battery. Many complaints and failures.

Megawatt might have its place but I disagree that it is a good replacement for a converter. Fixed voltage charging is just not well suited for RV use as described by the OP.

Egad Jim, now Pnichols will crawl out and blast us with another smug round of his parallax and his AGMS and how well it works and this that and the other thing. He's likely already typing another round of this, hoping someone eventually agrees with him and calls him the all wise all knowing battery cycler.