Quote: Since you already have that converter, and it won't ever do bulk with the 6v at starting SOC above 50% you can keep it as the converter until you ever get more battery, and in the meantime if you want a faster charge you could get a map smart portable (Vector 1093 is good) which will do two 6v very nicely from 12.2 up to over 80% SOC in less than two hours since it goes to plus volts, no worries about 13.6 limit as with WFCO.
It does not work like that. As many battery threads as you have been involved in and you still don't have a clue. I give up.
In my earlier post I mis-read the converter amprage.. Sorry, but you can re-do the math easily enough
A 75 amp converter is proper for a pair of U-220's 2 hours should put you at around 80%, 3-4 hours more to top off
You might not see the full 14.x volts you are looking for till it gets there.
As I said before.. First stage is current limited, 2nd is voltage (usually thesame voltage and current limts apply during both stages from the converter's end.. The battery limits current in stage 2) Stage 3 is float.
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business John is Near Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
It does not work like that. As many battery threads as you have been involved in and you still don't have a clue.
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I understand the WFCO won't go into bulk in that situation, but that the PD would if you had the CW and made it go into "bulk" when ordinarily it wouldn't. The portable smart charger has only the one mode- it takes the battery to 14 before tripping to absorption, so you don't have to make it do anything, just use it. It does "bulk" all the time. It also uses its own cables to the battery so you don't have to worry about wiring size and length either.
Much confusion over terminology-- "bulk" as the constant current stage while the battery voltage rises to 14 before "absorption" (tapering amps) starts and "bulk" as a 14+ voltage setting as opposed to 13.6v setting.
BFL13, I agree the 40 amp smart charger will charge faster once the charger gets the circuit over 13.6 volts, and I suspect it will fairly quick. That Black & Decker 40 amp sure has come down in price to make it a viable option if the person does not mind fiddling around with hooking it up.
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I had the same problem the OP is having but mine was a WFCO 55 amp. I tried everything, bigger wire, 4 batteries instead of two, taking voltage down to 11.5 at rest. Finally, b4 I sent the second converter back I did one final test with 18" of #6 cable. (on the workbench) I had a zero center 60 amp meter, and a Fluke 89. Presto! It worked! Current went to 58 amps and slowly tapered. Charge voltage was 13.6 and slowly increased. For the first time the batteries charger in a reasonable amount of time. One thing I discovered and eliminated during this final test was the converter lead to the fuse circuit board was only #8. The whole time I thought it was #6 but it just had thick insulation. So comming out of my converter I had 30" of #8 (round trip total) Was this a choke point? I don't knew but you can be sure my Xanterx (which I love) has #4 for this section, then #6 to the batteries.
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This is a simple $20 automotive 0-50 analog ammeter that registers the total amp output of my 55 amp converter. It is very easily installed near the converter, by cutting the big red positive output wire, installing an eyelet on each end and connecting to the ammeter. This is worth its weight in gold when when dry camping, as it can tell you battery SOC, when it is time to shut down the generator. When using a Wfco converter, an ammeter in the system is nearly a must, otherwise one can only wonder,..... and hope the batteries are being charged properly.
Rich
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bulk mode is when it comes on and kicks full power, but if the batteries are taking all that the wires will allow because of voltage drop, you are not going to see full voltage on the meter untill the load is less than the limit of the wire and the voltage drop becomes less
just because they finally got charged up, does not mean your cabling is fine
you need to use an amp meter and get the amperage going into the batteries when you first start the generator, i'll bet your getting a lot less than the 75 amps
my wfco 55 will bring my trojans up in apox 4 hours, and i'm a heavy user
of course i have 4 gauge cable running from the wfco to the batteries
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"If it was a 4.0 I'd place it on the list of suspects."
Wayne ......... huuuuh?? 33 amps of AC should easily provide 55 amps of DC at any power factor I can imagine. I probably won't need my engineer's hat to even caculate this. However, I'll grant you that a smaller all-electronic inverter generator my react to power factor issues differently than a constant 3600 RPM generator, but I assume you kinda meant "Onan" when you wrote 4.0?
I think I have even used my 45 amp converter powered by a Honda EX650 (5 amps AC) to bring up my 200 AH AGM coach battery bank in 2-3 hours once. I guess I better try again in the backyard, though, to be sure. But my Onan 4.0 providing 45 to 80 amps of DC out of any converter or any charger? .... not an issue.
From what I've read about the WFCO's and wearing my e-hat, the OP's problem could very well be cabling that's too small. The more the drop in the cabling, the more the control circuits in the charger are going to be using wrong information on what the battery bank needs at any point in time .... especially early in the charging when DC currents are high.
Great information guys, really. It just reiterates how little I really know about this stuff. So, at the end of the day, my WFCO should be enough to get a quick (relative) charge to 80% in around 2 hours. So, is the only cable to worry about those that run from the converter to the batteries? If that is the case it's an easy test.
Secondly, if I understand things correctly, depending on the SOC of course, when the generator is first started, the voltage at the battery should start at 13.6V (which it currently does). Although I'm unable to read it right now, the current at this point should be quite high (although unlikely it will ever reach the full 75 amps). As the bulk phase continues, the voltage should slowly rise as the current slowly drops, until the end of the bulk phase, at which time the voltage should be around 14.4V. If this understanding is correct, I have an issue. I have run the generator for 3 hours and have never seen above 13.6V. The only time this has occurred is taking a reading after 12hours of shore power. If the cable size is the issue, how can it be related to voltage drop? I find it unlikely that the voltage drop works out to exactly .8v as the voltage at the batteries holds strong at 13.6V. Not 13.5 or 13.9 but 13.6. Perhaps the size of the cable is preventing bulk causing the converter to stay in absorption?
The WFCO converter has a normal charging voltage of 13.6 . It cannot get the battery voltage higher than that unless the converter voltage can be made to go higher. That is the problem with the WFCO. It will only go to a higher voltage to provide a fast charge under the right circumstances but you don't have those circumstances.
You can mess around and try and create those circumstances. Experiment with wiring changes or double your battery bank seems to be the two methods available.
IMO for the least pain get a Vector 1093 for fast charging the two 6v and keep the converter for when someday you might get more battery. (with a big inverter say)
If you do find then that the WFCO still won't go into boost voltage when the increased battery bank is at its 50% SOC, then you could get into the wiring. No point opening that can of worms until you absolutely have to.
If you did get more battery bank to use your new big size inverter, then if you cleverly got the inverter/charger type big inverter you can use that instead of the WFCO and avoid the problem again.
Someday you will trade in that rig and let the next guy have its WFCO and you can keep your nice portable charger and inverter/charger to use with your next rig
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