mooky stinks
Cicero,NY
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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!
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mbopp
Henrietta, NY, USA
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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.
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librty02
Western Pa
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You did not state what type of batteries you got are they FLA or LifePO4?
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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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.
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theoldwizard1
SE MI
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The short answer is TES !
Now would be a good time to upgrade to an inverter/charger/automatic transfer switch.
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valhalla360
No paticular place.
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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.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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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.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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Read up on bulk, absorb and float charging. The voltage should rise to 14.4V+.
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Bob
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mooky stinks
Cicero,NY
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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?
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time2roll
Southern California
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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)
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