Recommendations Desired: Converter/Chargers

[bushpilot-TC]

FWIW heres my Progressive Industries ems_lchw50 (50a Hardwire) mounted in the electrical bay -

 

[bushpilot-TC]

Equipment <potentially> saved me already - 1st trip out.

Took the jeep to a 4wd park west of austin this past weekend, arrived early friday....plugged in to the 30a pedestal and got an error (reverse polarity).

while not a catastrophic error - i could not get power beyond the Progressive Industries Surge/Power protector. I talked to the park owner & he allowed me to look inside the breaker panel & check the wiring....everything was ok there, we tripped the breaker (off) and i proceeded to look at the wiring in the pedestal - sure enough, the neutral & hot wire (black & white) were reversed on the outlet.

I swapped the wires, plugged in and was good to go.

The park owner informed me theyve ever had an issue (only installed the pedestals this past november)....i shared that most would never know, w/out proper power/protection devices like the PI (and others).

 

[bushpilot-TC]

I also added (although somewhat temporary) a 12v monitoring point.

I havent yet decided exactly what panel meters i'll use but i figure for the moment, this will work pretty well for measuring the voltage in the house batteries & i can always LEAVE the power outlet or cut the hole larger to add a panel meter in the same location or next to this outlet.

for now....it works well...and gives me "good enough" battery status.

 

[hot rod]

That's a good idea, using the plug in volt meter. I've been scratching my head for a while now how to easily and cheaply add a meter to check my batteries. Duh! Why didn't I think of that? Already have 2 points to plug into in the trailer.

On a side note, the new charger I installed (mentioned back in this thread) to replace the pos parallax is still working great after a 2 month outing in the trailer. Yet another pos walmart deep cycle battery bit the dust. We were in the Keys and no deep cycles handy, so I just unhooked the bad battery and went back to a single battery which worked fine for the balance of the trip.

The theory on the pos walmart batteries was that we travel all over the place, and there is a walmart everywhere to warranty if we have trouble, but the problem with that theory is we have nothing but trouble with the pos walmart batteries. That makes 3 bad batteries in 2 1/2 years (dual system). Which they have warrantied so far, but just a pain in the ass. And the last one they gave me has no warranty at all, apparently they don't warranty deep cycles anymore. So I'm going to pitch both in the trash and buy 2 good batteries. Any suggestions out there on the best batteries to use? I'm set up for group 27 batteries but can modify the mounting if needed.

I had the same stupid theory on my dually, and I just had the 4th battery in 5 years go bad the first time it got cold for the winter. They would have warrantied it yet again, but I am tired of that and pitched it and bought a good one instead. No walmart batteries! Don't do it!

 

[bushpilot-TC]

i went w/ some deep cycle/marine batts from auto zone, 12mo warranty there....
and az's are all over - ive since sworn off on auto zone since they fired employee Devin Mclean in Virginia (former military, came to the aid of his fellow employees & manager during a robbery).

nice thing about that plug-in volt meter is it has some idiot lights on it (for a quick glance)....when on batteries i know what the volt/charge level is...and when on AC i know what the output of the converter is...does nothing to tell me what my Ah (remain or load) is but i just watch the volts & start the gen when it gets "dangerously" low.

we dont live off batts for long... to & from camps or traveling on the road....and even then if they get low i just start the GEN & let the converter/charger recover 'em.

 

[jbeech]

As I read through this thread I realized basic information and practical advice about electrical systems in RVs would be useful. So I poked around the internet and came across what seems to be some pretty good basic advice and practical information.

Basic advice: RV Electrical Systems
Practical info: Our Electrical System

Finally, I came across a pretty flow diagram for an RV:
http://www.jaycoowners.com/showthread.php?2503-RV-Wiring-diagram-(white-board-diagram)

Do we have something similar on this site?

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

Great job Beach. Maybe you should start a new topic thread and put those links there?