Trick the WFCO converter into not entering 14.4v?

pianotuna wrote:
red31,

the OP is using the wfco without a battery.

so! A dead battery (after wfco tried 14.4/max) would keep the wfco in bulk for 4 hrs, if no or good battery wfco goes to 13.6v since the load doesn't draw the voltage too low.

wfco troubleshooting without a batt = 13.6v

pianotuna wrote:
Power is related to square of the voltage.

14.4 x 14.4 = 207.36

13.6 x 13.6 = 184.96

So less than 11% change in "real" power. I'd not worry about it at all.

What the Musical Fish said... My Progressive Dymanmics 9180 + wizard does that too. I have standard lights that are 15 years old. LED"s at around 5 to 14 and a rather expensive radio that all eat the power and no issues.

And the Motor home is a Workhorse Chevy motor and alternator. Chevy's run HOT Voltage wise (over 14 volts) the only thing that seems to be bothered by that is my power distribution strip (A West Mountain Radio Anderson Power Pole 12 position distribution panel 40 amp total) that feeds several radios and such... It complains about high voltage when the turn signals click off So I disconnected the noise maker.

No damage just an annoying beep.

Almost 9pm and still at 14.4v. So thats 3.5 hours so far.

Im hoping its because there is no battery attached like Bfl mentioned? I dont think it was staying at 14.4 this long before. But to clarify i never monitor voltage. Few days ago i heard my blower click into high gear. So i flipped the switch on my voltage readout and now im watching it all the time. Made sense i heard the blower go faster, made me remember how my converter goes into 14v mode.

Im watching what it does. Will hook up an old 12v trailer battery and see if anything changes.

wopachop wrote:
Thanks everyone i need to reread everything to understand it better. Going to monitor the 14.4 charge. I noticed it at 5:30 pm and its now 7 and still going.

Defective, replace the WFCO. See my link above.

My WFCO did this a decade ago while camped and nearly ruined the battery before I noticed.

Switch WIFFLE off

Switch a genuine power supply on

Megawatt 400.cleaner more stable output.

wfco getting to 14.4V, say it isn't so

Thanks everyone i need to reread everything to understand it better. Going to monitor the 14.4 charge. I noticed it at 5:30 pm and its now 7 and still going.

Maybe i can figure out the timing and rig it so that the 14v happens at 3am.

I normally flip the 50a breaker to my trailer. Then cycle my genny. Would say i do that around noonish. So maybe if i kill power to the trailer at 8pm that could adjust what im seeing now to happen 8 hours later.

14v must reek havoc on unregulated LEDs. I got way into them years ago. 14.4v is way too high for something like the RGB color changing. I went wacky and used to measure amp draw for all that stuff. Even handmade my own rv LEDs. Running CREE leds and meanwell drivers. They are badass no joke.

time2roll wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
Yes, the PM3s didn't but the PM4s do.

I believe the OP needs this replacement assuming OP has the 8900 series WFCO with the integral converter down in the lower slot of the distribution panel.

https://powermaxconverters.com/product/pm3-mba/

I asked Errin at PMX about that unit being an LK and he admitted that when installed you can't get at the adjustable controls like you can with the regular deck mount units through the two holes in the side.

He wasn't worried about that--it is just how they come with the same guts as the deck mount. I was saying there was no point in changing it from a PM3 to an LK if you can't get at the controls. So that one will be "stuck" in the regular three-stage mode same as the old version.

It could still work for this OP. I think the three-stage mode in these LKs does 14.6 every time at first, but only for 30 minutes then does 13.6. Read the user's manual to confirm.

To get 13.6 straight, and use that unit, you could set it to single voltage and make that 13.6 before installing it. Then it will do that whenever it is turned on and stay at that.

BFL13 wrote:
Yes, the PM3s didn't but the PM4s do.

I believe the OP needs this replacement assuming OP has the 8900 series WFCO with the integral converter down in the lower slot of the distribution panel.

https://powermaxconverters.com/product/pm3-mba/

pianotuna wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
I believe that you have the one WFCO converter that ever went into 14.4 mode. :D

As there is no battery involved there is nothing to hold the voltage down. With a battery the voltage won't be 14.4.

I suppose any bigger load would do that adds enough resistance.

The WFCO chooses whether to go to 14.4 when it is turned on and sees what it is facing. A battery that is say 12.1v and so is lower in R will spike to say 13.1 and thus the WFCO go to 14.4v

If the battery is higher in SOC and so is higher in R with say 12.3v, its voltage will spike to say 13.3 when the WFCO is turned on. So the WFCO will go to 13.6v

Since longer thinner wire converter to battery adds to the total R, that makes the WFCO think the battery is higher in R even if it is low, so the WFCO sees 13.3v and stays at 13.6.

You can use shorter fatter wires to reduce R and then maybe the 12.1v battery plus the wires will spike to 13.1 and let the WFCO do 14.4v

Or you can add a battery to the bank, which lowers the R so now the WFCO will see 13.1v.

Or, if it is a 55 amps WFCO that is spiking the small bank too high, you can use a 35 amper instead and maybe it will spike to 13.1 and do 14.4, but of course then it will take longer to do a recharge than the 55 amper would at 14.4.

So it is really about total R that triggers the 14.4 on WFCO start-up.
That means the OP's fans do not have much R so it goes to 14.4. If you add a battery that is enough R to add to the fans' R, then the WFCO should stay at 13.6.

But if it is indeed just about the total R, then you don't need the battery as such, but just more of a load to add to the total R.

I think :)