Converter replacement

[Fifty4F100]

I'm about to order another converter. I have a Progressive Dynamics 9200 series 60 amp. Question: what would upgrading to a 70 or 80 amp in this series get me?

[BFL13]

A 70 would be ok, but the PD 80 amper needs a 20a circuit, so can't just swap a PD 60 on its 15a circuit for an 80.

Your PD 60 or 70 will max out a 2000w inverter/gen so going to an 80 will mean that gen can't run it. No problem with a bigger gen of course.

[Fifty4F100]

I did finally get my answer from Progressive's website. Under a list of FAQs they suggested against upping the amperage of the converter as it could overload the wiring resulting in overheating. I'll follow their lead and stay with a 60 amp.

We have 2 6V GC batteries. All 3 TVs and video equipment run off the inverters. Drains the batteries quick if the converter isn't charging. I have it out of the MH now and plugged in nothing at the leads. All 3 fuses check good.

Thanks for everybody's help.

[wa8yxm]

Thanks Matt.. You have no idea how much research I've done on this and it's nice to have folks say I got it right :). So Thanks.

[Matt_Colie]

54F100,

wa8yxm actually gave you the best answer for the information given. What you have not disclosed is what your house bank is.....
There are many more things that effect charging rate than just the converter rating.

If your House Bank is about 200AH, then a 45 amp converter is about right. That is if the converter is very near to the bank. If you don't dry camp much, it really does not matter. Don't even bother to upgrade to the 70.

If your House Bank is larger - Like 400Ah - and you do dry camp a lot, then the 70 might be worth the extra cost. Even still, if your line loss to the bank is much, there is nothing that will help that.

I used to go through this with boat owners all the time before the depression shut us down.

Matt

[wa8yxm]

What would upgrading get you.. Depends on your battery bank.
Proper converter size is about 30% of Battery C/20 so for a single pair of GC-2 (220 amp hours at C/20) that would be 66 amps.. So a 70 amp converter is good (you will likely suck 4 amps for parasitic loads) but upping to 80 may (Or not) fast charge your batteries leading to shorter life.

The other factors to consider are the wires.. IF you increase the size of the converter. the increase may be "Eaten" by long wires between the converter an d the battery so you'd get only 1 or 2 amps improvement.

In an ideal world.. it would take a bit of time off re-charge when boodockign. perhaps 20 minutes tops (80 amp) not really worth the upgrade.

[dougrainer]

A CONVERTER AMP rating really has nothing to do with battery charging. The AMP rating is matched to the TOTAL 12 volt amp draw of the RV. The Larger the RV the more 12 volt lights and possibly 12 volt appliances it has. A Larger AMP Converter will usually charge at a higher rate than a smaller, but not that much more. Going to a Higher amp Converter for a few dollars more makes sense. Doug

[time2roll]

Why do you think you need more amps? How many batteries do you have? Are these GC2s that like 14.8 volts? How often do you run the generator to recharge?

[Fifty4F100]

Our old unit went out. I'm not very electrically inclined. Perhaps shouldn't be doing this, but the old one came out easy enough. I'm always afraid of buying an electrical unit like this with no return. It's only a few more $$ for the 70 amp and almost $120 for the 80.

[Oasisbob]

10 or 20 more amps. Sorry, couldn't resist. Have you ever maxed out your old unit? It would possibly take up more space.