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Old 04-12-2018, 07:04 PM   #1
Kzneft
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Converter Recommendations

My RV is only a few months old. Haven't taken it out yet until the snow leaves. Anyway been reading a lot about the poor converters on RV's and how they do a poor job charging up your batteries so I am thinking about replacing mine with a good one before we head out this year. My RV is a 50amp so I am looking for recommendations for a replacement one.
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Old 04-12-2018, 07:19 PM   #2
ctbruce
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Can't recommend one for you. I've owned 3 trailers and the converters on all 3 have worked as advertised.

If it was me. I'd save my money until it went bad and needed replaced if that happens. It doesn't come up very often in the forum.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV.
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Old 04-12-2018, 07:22 PM   #3
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Leave it alone until it fails. If you can locate it, look for the model number, often times the Amp rating is part of that number. Shore cord amps doesn’t mean your converter is 50 amps. WFCO makes good converters, and if that’s what’s in your unit, I would figure on years of acceptable service.
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Old 04-12-2018, 07:44 PM   #4
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I just replaced my WFCO last December, with a Progressive Dynamics. The WFCO lasted five years. I like the Pro. Dyn. management system of keeping your batteries maintained. I could hear the WFCO fan... this one is totally silent, knock on wood!

BOOST Mode 14.4 Volts – Rapidly brings the RV battery up to 90% of full charge.

NORMAL Mode
13.6 Volts – Safely completes the charge.

STORAGE Mode
13.2 Volts – Maintains charge with minimal gassing or water loss.

EQUALIZATION Mode 14.4 Volts – Every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes prevents battery stratification & sulfation – the leading cause of battery failure.
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Old 04-13-2018, 02:37 AM   #5
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If you really want to do something to protect and improve your electrical system, install a quality surge protector/electrical management system. It will serve you "miles further" in protecting your entire electrical system from over/under voltage, mis-wired campground circuits and electrical surges. Essentially, converters are much like tow vehicles or hitches, everyone has their "preferred brand" and shun the others. All converters are essentially equal, some have a unique feature, others have a different feature not offered by the first.... It's a sure bet that no matter which converter you have, all the electrical power not consumed by immediate demand (lights, etc you are using at the time) is directed to battery charging. So, no matter if it's a Progressive, a WFCO or another brand, if it's a 65 watt converter and you're using 10 watts to light the trailer and run the refrigerator, the other 55 watts is available to charge the batteries and all converters currently on the market will charge your battery bank with comparable speed.

So, as others have stated, save your money and use the installed, OEM converter. You'll probably get 5+ years of good, dependable service, possibly double or triple that time. If you haven't yet, probably a much more important and useful addition to your new trailer is a surge/electrical management system.
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Old 04-13-2018, 08:20 AM   #6
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[QUOTE=JRTJH;281198 So, as others have stated, save your money and use the installed, OEM converter. You'll probably get 5+ years of good, dependable service, possibly double or triple that time. If you haven't yet, probably a much more important and useful addition to your new trailer is a surge/electrical management system.[/QUOTE]

Amen John, as always great advice!
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Old 04-13-2018, 12:35 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpine View Post
I just replaced my WFCO last December, with a Progressive Dynamics...

BOOST Mode 14.4 Volts – Rapidly brings the RV battery up to 90% of full charge.

NORMAL Mode
13.6 Volts – Safely completes the charge.

STORAGE Mode
13.2 Volts – Maintains charge with minimal gassing or water loss.

EQUALIZATION Mode 14.4 Volts – Every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes prevents battery stratification & sulfation – the leading cause of battery failure.
+1

I replaced my WFCO, last season when it turned up bad 2 weeks after the warranty period, with a progressive dynamics motherboard unit that fit in the WFCO load center. WFCO did honor the warranty and I sold the replacement unit to a member on here.

I like the fact that their boost voltage is higher and held longer than the WFCO, which charges the batteries quicker, when we are dry camping and using the generator to charge them.

The 4th stage, equalization mode, is something the WFCO did not offer and a nice feature if you leave your camper plugged all the time, like I do.

All in, switching to dual 6V GC2 batteries, replacing the converter, wires and battery box, I was just under $500.

-Brian
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Old 04-13-2018, 02:01 PM   #8
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For now I'd definitely take Johns advice & spend the new converter $$ on the surge protector/EMS NOW & wait on the converter. IMHO the surge protector should be mandatory on all rvs. I've had 6-7 rvs in the last 30 years & have never had to replace a converter, I'm sure they go out, but not sure I'd spend a couple hundred bucks +/- on a spare just in case.
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Old 04-14-2018, 02:44 PM   #9
Kzneft
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Thanks everyone! Good information. That was the first thing I did was put in a surge protector. I purchased the hard-wired one and installed it. See pic. I was just worried about the converter as I almost never stay in campgrounds with hookups.

I also emailed Progressive and asked them when I was looking. This was their reply...
What size is your converter in AMPS ?
The model number has this information. PD9260 is a 60 amp PD4045 is a 45 amp.
If you have a 60 amp converter and a 100 amp-hour battery discharged 50%
It will recharge to %95 in about an hour and then another 1.5 hours for the remaining 5%.
So approximately 2.5 hours for a 100 amp hour battery 50% discharged.
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