New PD4645 Converter Installed - Have a question

Hi-I went ahead and changed out my old converter to the PD4645. Install was no problem, but now I have a questions about the light indicator. Stupid question this may be, but I know someone here has the answer. So, the lights that indicate what charge it is sending to the battery is flashing fast (the 2-3 times a second) which according to the manual indicate battery is 80-90% charged and then I guess it goes into the 6-8 second range when it is full. I had it going last nite for the first time plugged in to shore power and it kept flashing fast for hours. Is that supposed to do that? How long does it take for a battery to get fully charged and the indicator changes? If I am running lights and a fan will that keep pulling from the battery even though I am plugged in? I know way more about home wiring, but this 12v stuff I'm a newbie at. Before I call the company I was hoping someone here could answer me. I tested the "modes" and it did cycle through all of them. Am I being paranoid that something is wrong or should I just shut the door and quit looking at the light and assume it is doing what it is supposed to do?
Appreciate your help!

cnh23 said:

Hi-I went ahead and changed out my old converter to the PD4645. Install was no problem, but now I have a questions about the light indicator. Stupid question this may be, but I know someone here has the answer. So, the lights that indicate what charge it is sending to the battery is flashing fast (the 2-3 times a second) which according to the manual indicate battery is 80-90% charged and then I guess it goes into the 6-8 second range when it is full. I had it going last nite for the first time plugged in to shore power and it kept flashing fast for hours. Is that supposed to do that? How long does it take for a battery to get fully charged and the indicator changes? If I am running lights and a fan will that keep pulling from the battery even though I am plugged in? I know way more about home wiring, but this 12v stuff I'm a newbie at. Before I call the company I was hoping someone here could answer me. I tested the "modes" and it did cycle through all of them. Am I being paranoid that something is wrong or should I just shut the door and quit looking at the light and assume it is doing what it is supposed to do?
Appreciate your help!

Click to expand...

Some people don't understand that a battery charger (converter) is rated at MAX output. The charger will only charge at max if the battery is very low and then only at max for a short period of time before scaling down dramatically.

If you have a battery bank that is 200ah and it is 50% discharged, the converter may only run at 45A for 15 minutes (or less). That's about 10ah of charge. The next 30 minutes, the converter may put out 25A and give you another 12ah of charge before dropping to 10A and finally to 2A. So, it could take several hours for your batteries to receive a charge that will bring them up to "Full" (replacing the 100ah needed).

The next question is, "What it full?"....... In this case, "full" may be 13.8V before the indicator stops the rapid blinking and around 14.8V before the battery is fully charged and the indicator is blinking in the 6-8 second range.

I installed one last winter and had the same issue. I think it took a good 30 hours or so to go from the 14.5 volt mode to the 13.5 volt mode. Then maybe another day or so to go to the 13.2 float mode.

Ok, I think I will just watch it a few days. I don't have any reason to keep it plugged in for longer than two days at a time right now, maybe I should keep it plugged in longer and see what it does? I went in and looked at it just now and it is flashing 6-8 seconds not plugged in to shore power.  If there wasn't a light I would have never been even thinking about any of this!

I had the same question when I upgraded my unit.  I emailed Randy at Best converter and he confirmed it can take a day or two before the charger changes to float mode.  He also indicated if you so much as turn on a single light bulb it can restrart the entire process.  I left mine undisturbed for about a day and a half and it switched over to float mode. It sounds like yours is performing just like mine so I do not belive you have anything to worry about.

All the answers you have received here are good.  It can take a long time to finally get a battery bank fully topped off.

If you have any load at all on the battery (i.e. a light bulb or two, radio, refer/water heater control boards) it may never get there.  I'll bet yours gets there eventually, and it's perfectly normal.

I gather from your comments that you have the coach stored at home. If I were you, I'd leave it plugged in constantly.

If it's not plugged in, the battery will over time drain down & if it gets below 50% for an extended period of time it could cause problems.

Your LP gas sensor & any possible parasitic drains will draw the system down.

12.6 + volts = 100% full battery

Another recommendation is to get  something like a "Volt Minder" & plug into one of your 12v receptacles. It will tell you at any given time the actual health of the battery.  Good volts equates to good amps.

If you really want to know about the "the proper care & feeding"  of your battery,  go here  >>>>>

http://www.trojanbattery.com/tech-support/battery-maintenance/

Dakota98 said:

13.6 + volts = 100% full battery

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Actually, 13.6V would be the voltage of a battery that is on a battery charger. That would either be a partially charged battery or a battery on a float charge (float charge is normally 13.2V).

When measuring the "State of charge" the battery should have been off of the charger for 24 hours with no load.

At that point:
12.7 + volts = 100% full battery

Many chargers float at 13.6v these days.

13.6V is the typical float voltage for flooded cell batteries, 13.2V is typically for AGM batteries.  The actual voltage varies with temperature, but only a few tenths of a volt.

Wavery said:

Actually, 13.6V would be the voltage of a battery that is on a battery charger. That would either be a partially charged battery or a battery on a float charge (float charge is normally 13.2V).

When measuring the "State of charge" the battery should have been off of the charger for 24 hours with no load.

At that point:
12.7 + volts = 100% full battery

Click to expand...

Sorry, had that figure in mind for some reason, 12.6+ according to Trojan is an accurate figure. The post has been corrected.
I had just gotten out of bed. 

Did you forget something, Wayne?

Gary RV Roamer said:

Did you forget something, Wayne?

Click to expand...

I started to post something, then changed my mind........ is there a way to delete a post?

Wavery said:

I started to post something, then changed my mind........ is there a way to delete a post?

Click to expand...

It's gone.

Ned said:

It's gone.

Click to expand...

MAGIC....... Cool!!!!!

From Trojans website:

I hesitated to be picky about this...... however, a battery that will not maintain 12.7 volts after a full charge may indicate a failing battery or merely an old battery.

If your fully charged battery reads 12.6V after having it on the charger for 24hrs or until the charger goes to "float mode" then allowing the battery to sit for 24 hrs, that may indicate a problem.

I would let it sit for another week (not hooked up and a clean battery top). If it drops to 12.5V, take a hydrometer and check the specific gravity of each cell. If all of the cells read in the same range your battery is just getting old. If one of the cells reads a lot lower than the others (like below 1.2), you have a cell that has failed and will drag the rest of the battery down in a short time. It's time to replace that battery.

Well, after plugging in for a couple days the sensor went to float at some point. I decided to quit checking it all the time-guess I am freaking out a bit too much over everything running smoothly before we take off Oct 7th for good. Then I realized that nothing will every go smoothly for any length of time when living in an rv and deal with whatever problems occur as they happen and do what I can to minimize them beforehand. That's why I changed out the converter/charger since it was so old and just kept charging away at the battery. I like the volt minder thing and will put it on my list of items to get. I have simplified the electronics to almost nothing running on the 12v (5 lights (only 3 we have every actually turned on so far), vent fan and fridge panel). We plan to be plugged in a month at a time at the places we are staying, so won't have much need to use the battery power alone. Got a surge protector thing, but still feel weird about the idea of always running power when we won't be in it alot of the time. As in I keep thinking about maybe a short and a fire......see, here I am freaking out again! Decided already to never use the propane unless we decide to rough it, which is not on our radar anytime soon. That decision is based solely on the mother of a friend passing away from the carbon monixide in their rv one weekend after a chilly nite. Suppose I still have a good solid month to think of all the horrific things that may happen, freak out about it, then move on. On the bright side, my new paint job has held up amazingly well through the baking heat and the downpours. No signs of leaks yet either, had a small one in front window that appeared after an hour-long driving rain, but put in a gutter and recaulked and it seems fine since.