mooky stinks
Cicero,NY
Senior Member
Joined: 07/26/2008
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
Just replaced original 80ah battery with 2 100ah batteries. When dry camping for 3 nights the batteries were steadily lower after each charging during the allowed generator times. 1st night when fully charged they dropped to 60%. 2nd night they started out at 85% and dropped to 50% then 3rd was about 70% to 30%. I never saw higher than 13.7 when plugged in to my 2000watt generator. Haven’t looked at what my converter is rated for yet but am I right in thinking it’s just not putting the charge back in fast enough? Would a stand alone commercial battery charger that I have work better in the few times a year I dry camp? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
2020 F150 XL Screw 4x4 6.5”box
3.5 ecoboost Max tow HDPP
7850 GVW. 4800 RAWR
2565 payload
2020 Cougar 29RKS 5th wheel
|
mbopp
Henrietta, NY, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 06/20/2004
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
If it's a WFCO converter they're notorious for not going into bulk charging mode. I have 2 GC batteries and an IOTA-55 converter for faster charging off a generator.
2017 Grand Design Imagine 2650RK
2019 F250 XLT Supercab
Just DW & me......
|
librty02
Western Pa
Senior Member
Joined: 03/15/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
You did not state what type of batteries you got are they FLA or LifePO4?
2011 FORD F-150 FX4 CREW CAB ECO...
2018 Ford F-150 Max Tow Crew 6.5 3.5 Eco...
2013 Keystone Passport 2650BH, EQUAL-I-ZER 1K/10K
|
StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 07/16/2003
View Profile
|
mooky stinks wrote:Just replaced original 80ah battery with 2 100ah batteries. When dry camping for 3 nights the batteries were steadily lower after each charging during the allowed generator times. 1st night when fully charged they dropped to 60%. 2nd night they started out at 85% and dropped to 50% then 3rd was about 70% to 30%. I never saw higher than 13.7 when plugged in to my 2000watt generator. Haven’t looked at what my converter is rated for yet but am I right in thinking it’s just not putting the charge back in fast enough? Would a stand alone commercial battery charger that I have work better in the few times a year I dry camp? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
need a little more context here, what kind of batteries, what is your converter now and how long are you running the generator for.
Steve
2014 F350 6.7 Platinum
2016 Cougar 330RBK
1991 Slumberqueen WS100
|
theoldwizard1
SE MI
Senior Member
Joined: 09/07/2010
View Profile
Offline
|
The short answer is TES !
Now would be a good time to upgrade to an inverter/charger/automatic transfer switch.
|
|
|
valhalla360
No paticular place.
Senior Member
Joined: 08/19/2009
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
What is the charger and how long were you running the generator?
First morning 60% to 85%, is 25% of 200ah or 50ah. A 50amp charger should do that in around an hour.
Second morning 50% to 70%, is 20% of 200ah or 40ah. Should take 20% less charge time to get there.
Did you per chance run the generator for 1:15 the first time and 1:00 the second time?
You generally won't get to 100% charging with an hour or two on the generator (even if the charger puts out enough amps). Lead-Acid batteries start reducing the charge acceptance around 70%. At first it's a minor reduction. By the time you get to 80-90%, they accept far lower amperages, no matter how big the charger is.
If you will be boondocking another option is to get something like a 100w portable solar panel.
- Run the generator first thing in the morning to get up around 80-90% (an hour or two).
- The solar panel will peak around 8amps mid day but it will do so over several hours and top up the remaining storage.
Of course, if you do a lot of boondocking, a large permanently installed solar array is a nice option but it brings it's own set of costs/complications.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV
|
Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 05/06/2013
View Profile
Offline
|
Probably your converter is a POS.
After having 2 campers with PD converters and not knowing or caring really "why" people said WFCOs are junk, we got a camper with a WFCO. Can confirm, it's a pile of doo doo.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold
|
CA Traveler
The Western States
Senior Member
Joined: 01/03/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Read up on bulk, absorb and float charging. The voltage should rise to 14.4V+.
2009 Holiday Rambler 42' Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
750 Watts Solar Morningstar MPPT 60 Controller
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Bob
|
mooky stinks
Cicero,NY
Senior Member
Joined: 07/26/2008
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Ok I’ll try to give some more info. They are regular lead acid. First night they were 100% because it had been parked in my driveway plugged in for 2 weeks. I was charging for 2 hrs in the morning and 3 hrs in the evening. I did periodically shut the converter off to run a microwave but that was very limited. Probably 15 minutes total per day. I’ll have to look but I know I have a WFCO 8930/50. Trailer is 50 amp. There is a breaker that says converter. Am I right in thinking it is a separate unit?
|
time2roll
Southern California
Senior Member
Joined: 03/21/2005
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
https://powermaxconverters.com/product/pm4-series-2/
I recommend the 35 or 45 amp with just two batteries.
https://www.bestconverter.com/PD-9260C-60-Amp-RV-ConverterCharger
PD is fine at 60 amps.
(edit to reflect WFCO 9800 posted after)
* This post was
last
edited 06/13/22 02:44pm by time2roll *
View edit history
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675w Solar pictures back up
|
|
|
