New Batteries today and inverter soon!

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Wigpro

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Joined
Dec 23, 2012
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1,289
Location
Montana in Summer - S CA this winter
Batteries are cooked. I checked water about a month ago and they were really low. Batteries had almost no life. I refilled and ran some tests and figured I would see if they come back. Electric here at campground went off yesterday early morning and I had electric lights for exactly 15 minutes or so....not good.

So two new batteries today and then a new inverter to avoid this in the future.

I do very little dry camping and if I do, I have a generator in the bed of my pick-up to charge batteries and run 110. So not real concerned about long life on battery.

My inverter is the original and old one and since I spend a bunch of time hooked-up to electric it just boils the batteries over.

I have a Magna-Tec TU-740-2. Obviously not a smart charger - In my shopping cart at Amazon I have a Progressive Dynamics PD9245CV Inteli-Power 9200 Series 45 Amp Converter/Charger with Built-in Charge Wizard. Which should solve my problem long term.

But that will be next month. (Waiting for next payday!!)

So I am hoping I can use the existing wiring and it will go smoothly.

My question is: Should I find the charger lead from my current converter and put a switch so that it doesn't cook the new batteries or should it be OK for about 3 weeks??

Any advice on the changeover from anyone who has done it will be appreciated. No need for a long winded discussion about which batteries and whether to go with 6 volt vs 12 volt. I am putting in two 12 volt deep cycle batteries! Cheap!! they will be fine for what I do!

Thanks for any help on the converter installation.

Jim
 
Jim:


Unless you have large loads on the batteries I would just plug the coach into power (or run generator) for a few hours once a week to keep batteries charges until you get the new converter. (incidentally you are talking about a converter, not an inverter aren't you?
 
If you get your new charger within 3-4 weeks, the old Magnetec shouldn't have time to do damage to the new batteries. It's a long term thing.

The PD9245 is a converter/charger - an inverter is something different, even though some models will include a charging function as well as inverting.
 
Also it appears you are confusing "Inverter" and "Converter" both of the devices you cited (magnetak and Intellapower) are CONVERTERS, they Convert 120vac to 12vdc or thereabouts to charge batteries and run stuff.

An INVERTER does the INVerse, it converts battery power to 120vac to run the TV or Microwave.    That said, One type of inverter is the "inline" these operate a bit like a UPS passing shore/generator power if present (And charging batteries) and inverting if no other option.    This type usually has a very good 3-stage converter built in.
 
Turn the converter off would not hurt unless f you  not forget to turn back on as that would allow the batteries to discharge too much which would be just as harmful as over charging.
 
Thanks everyone, sorry about the confusion - it is CONVERTER I am talking about, have a small inverter in the pick-up to charge camera batteries and run my laptop, but no inverter in the RV...no need, since if I am dry camping and need juice, I just crank up the generator for cooking and heat and charge batteries if needed.

New batteries are in and the new converter is almost ordered, will do that this week. Then I will get that installed and with a little luck will be finished with "projects" for the winter. Of course I realize that is probably not the case....

When I got to O'Reilly's they checked my old batteries and they were both shot, which I knew, but was interesting to see how bad they were. I had convinced myself that the $69.00 batteries would be good enough, deep cycle marine/RV...and since the store part number was "CaptainJ", I figured it was a sign of something that was meant to be, since I am a USCG Captain and named Jim - CaptainJ had to be...but the salesman did a good job of selling up and I got the next level up for $84.00 each with twice the "holding power", so it is a pretty big upgrade from what was in there, I am going to charge overnight and then turn the inverter off and see how big of a difference it makes, should be able to go a couple days if I need to, then do that every other day or so until the new converter gets here and I get it installed.

The old one is under the stove and today I am going to see if it will even fit through the access door to get it out, by the measurements on the new one, it is quite a bit smaller so putting the new one in should be easier, since I am stationary right now, I will get the old one unfastened from the floor anyhow this afternoon and scope out the connections.

Found my stereo is wired direct to the batteries, I was trying to figure out what the extra wires were and spent about 15 minutes checking that out, it is not a big deal, just wondered what the wires went to....

Has anyone made the conversion from a MagnaTek-TU740-2 to the Progressive Dynamics PD9245CV Inteli-Power 9200 Series 45 Amp Converter/Charger with Built-in Charge Wizard. I am hoping that the wiring is not a huge hassle and that I can use the same wires?

Any advice will be appreciated....seems pretty straight forward I downloaded the PDF installation instructions from PD website.

Thanks everyone, this place rocks for instant help!

Jim

 
Go to ,, If I recall the url correctly  www.bestconverters.com (I'm not sure of the 'S" on converters) and scroll down a bit.

On the left is a frame "Addititional info" or some such like that.  Links to other web pages describing the upgrade from magnetek to other converters.

The easiest way to do yours.

Disconnect the wire from teh breaker marked CONVERTER (most likely the right hand most breaker) and tape it off and tag it "Old converter"

Run a brand new 12ga Romex to a heavy duty 15/20 amp wall outlet somewhere other than the battery compartment but not too far away.

Run 8ga or larger wire from the HOUSE side of the battery cut off switch to the converter positive and a 2nd one from the converter to a ground point, The one where the negative battery cable connects is a good one, I rather prefer to connect somewhere AWAY from the battery if possible but you can connect direct to the battery if you wish.

Plug in the 9200.

If the run to the switch is short enough you can use a common starter cable from Autozone (usually 4ga) just make sure it's at least 8ga anything bigger is gravy.
 
Dear John.... I think you are confusing the matter to the nth degree.

  I changed my Magnetek some time ago with a PD945. Took me half an hour using the same wiring.

  There were no heavy duty battery cables involved at all. I used the original wiring for the charging portion. The instructions were simply to connect the two separate power out and charging wire together.

The only problem I had was that toe 9145 was 1/4" taller and I could not uses the Magnetek mounting frame-chassis. Had to cut it in half\modify it in order to get the front external RV panel back in place and be secured with existing screw.

  I don't think that will be his problem as he has the height problem figured out.

 
Jim,

I just made this change last week and it was a piece of cake. There are only three wires to be connected, Positive, negative and ground. The old converter and the new one are well marked but I took a picture before I removed the old one. Be careful and observe the colors of the different connections because the wires may not conform to the standard red/black, mine didn't. If you disconnect the battery before you start that might be a good idea, I touched the positive lead to the case while removing the old converter and popped the circuit breaker. The popped breaker wasn't a big deal after I was able to find it, which consumed the most time for the whole change over.


Bob
 
I just replaced mine a couple weeks ago. I have a magneteck 6345 and upgraded the coverter part to a 9260. I did up grade the converter wires to 6ga wires because I went from a 45 amp to  a 60 amp converter. That won't be nessesary if you stay with a 45 amp. My original converter had 2 + out put wires and 1 - wire going to the fuse panel. The 9260 has 2 sets of out put terminals so wiring a very easy. The 9260 is shorter but longer than a 9245, that's why I up graded the converter. I bought my 9260 from E-Bay for $130.00 and $12.00 for the dongle.
 
Update - FINALLY my new converter caught up with me...I got a Progressive Dynamics PD9245, it arrived yesterday and this morning it took me less than an hour to do the install.

Took almost as long to remove the old....4 hold down screws and of course the ones behind the unit were barely accessible, I am sure it was installed before the stove and oven and accessible from the top. Anyway here are the steps I did.

[list type=decimal]
[*]Unplug old unit - go to battery compartment and removed 30 amp fuse.
[*]Unmounted the old unit and cut the 12 volt positive and neutral wire leaving plenty to re-attach. removed ground wire from old unit.
[*]Stripped cut wires and fastened to proper location on new unit. 1 positive, 1 neutral and one ground.
[*]Cleaned about 10 pounds of dust bunnies and dirt from the compartment...typical electrical dust and crap. All inaccesible around the old much bigger unit...now it will be much easier to keep clean!
[*]Easily slid much smaller new unit in place and secured with three sturdy screws to the floor, making sure the access door would close and wires were not tensioned and comfortable.
[*]Replaced 30 amp fuse at batteries - checked that I now had 12 volt power to lights, panel etc.
[*]Plugged in remote pendant and mounted it with supplied sticky fastener on outside of access door and made sure the door would still close and latch.
[*]Plugged in converter to existing outlet from the original install.
[*]Looked at pendant and light was blinking properly, turned on EVERY light, fan and anything else 12 volt I could find and looked to see if the converter changed cycles which it hasn't because the converter is supplying all the power required.
[/list]Tonight I am going to turn the AC power off and run the batteries down a little and watch my new blinking light on the remote pendant and assure that all is operating properly.


Much quieter, actually silent. My old one created a hum and a slight vibration in the floor which you could feel when barefoot.
I feel much more confident in my charging system now and should require less battery maintenance and hopefully protect my new batteries!
Thanks for all the search items and help I found on this forum to make a wise selection and upgrade.


Jim
 
Jim, you should be able to force the 92XX through the first two charging stages just by holding the button down for a few seconds.  Great choice on converters.
 
Just Lou said:
Jim, you should be able to force the 92XX through the first two charging stages just by holding the button down for a few seconds.  Great choice on converters.

Thanks Lou, I did change it manually just to check, but I want to see it do it on its own and will do that later by running the batteries down a little and see how it reacts, I don't suspect any problems...I just like to see it happen in real time.

Thanks everyone for the advice and help....Only two more repairs to make over the next couple days....new 7 pin plug on the back of the pickup which broke on the famous Alaska Highway (Canadian Rough Roads) and the city water supply hookup which obviously froze during my warm Arizona winter and the check valve has failed, broke and fell out and is now blocked. Bought a new plug and water connection when I ordered the converter, now that I am someplace to get mail and packages.

Then everything will be ready for the trip South this fall. I re-wired the trailer brakes in Fairbanks on the nice smooth dry Wal-Mart parking lot and they work great now - another disaster from the ALCAN during heavy snow and slush buildup the wiring got torn lose that ran across the axle! Never have that problem again, encased it in a Pex tube and secured to the floor behind the axle which should prevent any future ice and slush buildup. But my goal is to not be in those conditions again.....

Thanks again for all the feedback.

Jim
 

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