Battery Converter

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Artstang

Artstang

Active member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Posts
44
Location
NE Florida
Happy camping ya'll.  8)

Now that I got 2-100 watts solar panels up and working like a champ charging the house batteries, is it okay to disconnect the in-house converter from the AC outlet? I could leave the converter plugged in, but when on shore power, I may overload my 2 house batteries in no time.

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
And if you unplug the converter, you would be running from battery even when shore power was available.

And if not on shore power, it isn't charging the battery anyway.
 
John, I am using a 30 amp charge controller with digital readouts. On a good sunny days here in Florida, the panels are charging the coach batteries 13.5 volts @ 10 amp+/-. It is set to cut-off at 13.6 volts. I did moved the yellow wire that was coming from the factory installed 10 watt solar panel to the chassis battery. The red LED solar light from the EMS is still on during daylight which indicates to me it still trickle charging the chassis battery.

So, Gary I guess it is okay to leave the converter plugged in.

Thanks guys for your response.
 
Sounds like your solar is working great.

No need to worry when plugged to shore power - the converter has its own regulator built in. Maybe not as good a one as the solar controller you bought, but adequate for this situation.
 
Gary, I believed my converter (MagneTek 7400, Model 7455) is not working like it should. I have been replacing coach batteries due to boiling over and dried cell. When plugged the charger charged to 14.2 volts and I think stays there. I can hear the fans goes off every now and then. That is why I unplugged it, because the solar panels took charged of maintaining the new batteries.

I do want to replace the MagneTek 55amps with a Power Max PM3-45 or the PM4-45 converter/charger. What do you guys think of this unit?
 
Modern electronics have made converters like the Powermax PM3 a commodity.  Brand names come and go, and the function is usually fine. Build quality is harder to assess and we probably won't know much about Powermax for a few years, when/if they start failing. They are cheaper than top brands like Progressive Dynamics or Magnum, so not clear if they are designed and built to the same standards. We see reports of people who recently bought a Powermax and they are happy, but they have just installed them. Check back in 3 years and see what they say. Meanwhile, it's just guesswork.
 
I was adding water monthly to cells when using the OEM converter. Not three years yet, but I installed a PM3-45 converter 27 months ago in our rig. We full-time and dry camp quite a bit. With the PM3, the need to add water was almost nil for the three cheap 12V marine/rv batteries. Just replaced the 12V's with two 6V 225Ah, so perhaps these may stress the PM3 a bit more. BTW, we also use a portable 100w solar panel when boondocking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 949 (members: 30, guests: 919)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,917
Posts
1,387,467
Members
137,673
Latest member
7199michael
Back
Top Bottom