Trimetric Monitor and Battery Charging Help

[RobWNY]

I have a WFCO 8930/50 Converter/Charger in my 5th wheel. On the WFCO website is states that it will not go into bulk charge unless the batteries are severely drained or some other maintenance issue. That means the best it will do is charge at a rate of 13.6V under normal charging conditions. I also have Four Lifeline 6V Batteries wired in Series and Parallel and I have a Trimetric TM-20230-RV monitor. Per the Trimetric manual, the setting for P1 is the Charged voltage set point: The battery is signaled as “charged” when volts exceeds the P1 value, The default value for a 12 volt system is “14.3” Also, the Lifeline battery Specs state a voltage setting of 14.3 +/- 0.1 volts should be used when the battery temperature is 77 deg. F When I set P1 parameter to 14.3V I can't get a reading on the Trimetric because I can't charge at that rate under normal conditions so it never "sees" the batteries as being full. I only get dashes. When I set it to 13.6V I get 100% full reading. Should I leave it at 13.6V and call it good?

[CA_Traveler]

Call the mfg. I'd set P1 until it works then after several battery cycles check the Trimetric charge state against a battery hydrometer. But I didn't have your issue with my charger.

After several days charging what battery amps does the Trimetric show at 13.6V?

Maybe carry and use a 3 stage car charger and you're batteries will be happy. :C

[RoyB]

One of the problem I had with the WFCO WF-8945 Charger that would always stay at 13.6VDC was after a few hours of charging it would start boiling out battery fluids... I replaced my WFCO with a 60AMPS Progressive Dynamics PD-9260C model...

This is one of the main reasons for the smart mode charging... It starts with 14.4VDC for an hour then drops back to 13.6VDC for a few hours then drops back to 13.2VDC for several hours to finish off the full charge. No boiling out of any fluids...

This is what I experienced at any rate using my Progressive Dynamics PD9260C Smart Mode charger setup...

Roy Ken

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Battery death sentence

Not guesswork. The WFCO snotrag is 101% sure to destroy your excellent batteries. 101% is pretty bad odds. I'll make fifty to one book on it and walk away grinning at the loser's expense.

I've done the following to a 55-amp WFCO. From a different power supply I passed 50 amps through the solid block aluminum heat-sink for nine minutes. I was foolish enough to not testing thermally before I touched it.

HELLO FIRST DEGREE BURN thumb and forefinger. The aluminum was at >400F

Say nothing about the cooling fan. The factory fan is obstructed and is near useless.

For finishing charging the most economical fix is to buy the 400-watt MEGAWATT

Set the EXTERNAL VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT TO FOURTEEN POINT FOUR 14.4 VOLTS, USE 10 GAUGE WIRE TO THE BATTERIES.

and plug it into 120 volts AC.

When the batteries drop charging amperage to 3.0 amperes, the batteries will be happy. If charging with a generator when the WFCO falls flat on its face and charges less than 30.0 amps, shut it off and start the Megawatt. Add 2 hours of charging time every week until you get home.

For 1st aid at home connect the Megawatt for 2-days solid with your battery bank. Then disconnect. For pure rig storage, you may then want to connect a battery maintainer. Your reward if you deeply cycle those lifelines will be DOUBLE the battery life.

The formula for charged voltage is one half of one percent of TWELVE VOLT (six cells) total amp-hour capacity.

The above meets and agrees with Concorde's Lifeline operating manual exactly.

No factory charger or converter is preset to do this -- not even close.

[time2roll]

When the amps into the battery is less than 1.0 I would call it full.
This may require an extended time (12+ hours?) at 13.6 volts.

Just hitting 13.6 is NOT immediately full.

Nothing is really going to work right on the monitor until the WFCO is replaced. Very easy to chronically undercharge those lifeline and permanently lose capacity to sulfation.

[RobWNY]

CA_Traveler and red31 I know the WFCO products aren't very good and won't allow me to charge using the proper protocol. I plan on buying a different model like I had in my old camper but one thing at a time. For now, I'm just trying to get the monitor to give me the right percentage full number and I'm unsure what value to put in at P1.

[red31]

RobWNY wrote:
Should I leave it at 13.6V and call it good?

No. I'd download and read lifelines battery manual and follow their charging and conditioning protocol.

[CA_Traveler]

Sure. But what you should really do is replace the WFCO. Read the many posts on their poor design/performance.

You have about $1200 in batteries and they need to charged correctly.

[CA_Traveler]

Sure. But what you should really do is replace the WFCO. Read the many posts on their poor design/performance.

You have about $1200 in batteries and they need to charged correctly.

[CA_Traveler]

Sure. But what you should really do is replace the WFCO. Read the many posts on their poor design/performance.

You have about $1200 in batteries and they need to charged correctly.