Do not use your Schumacher standalone charger, and do not use the DC output of the generator either!? Plug the power cord of your trailer into the AC outlet on your generator, and let your converter charge your battery.

You don't want to use the Schumacher for a couple reasons.? First off, if you're like most of us, you have a 15 or so amp Schumacher charger, and thats much less powerful than your converter.? The smallest converters are about 25 amps, which charges 56% faster than the 15A Schumacher, and many converters are much more powerful than that.? The other thing you might hear is "my converter doesn't charge at the rated output", so they get a standalone charger.? That may be true, but the Schumacher doesn't charge at the rated output either.? My 15 amp Schumacher only charged at 8 or so amps.

Second off, the Schumachers, for some reason, are programmed to output 15.5 amps max at the near full condition, and that can damage your battery.? I bought a Schumacher and observed this myself, and then looked it up online, and others see the same thing.? Maybe Schumacher thinks most are charging a dead battery, and they need to boil it a bunch and desulfate it.? But you can only do that a couple times.??

There are also multiple reasons you don't want to use the dc output of the generator.? First, it puts out a lower voltage than a charger, and will only charge slowly.? Second, it never stops charging, so you can overcharge. But overcharging when charging slowly is not that likely, so that's not a real big deal.?

I'm surprised you only got 32 hours with just the fans and fridge running. My fridge controller uses 315 mA and my 2 fans use another 150 mA.? I should get over 100 hours of runtime on a battery with 50 AH available.? You might want to measure how much juice your fans use.? I've found it never matches the specs, but normally it's lower than spec.

Definitely get a propane conversion kit.? I've got the motor snorkel one and it works great.? One point to be aware of though, and it's that the motor snorkel has a big pie plate like thing that you usually bolt on the case of the generator.? On my yamaha 2000, it bolts on the end.? On the Hondas I've seen, it bolts on the side.? Bolting on the side makes it really hard to transport.? A friend had that and was intensely annoyed. I saw one other propane conversion that went inside the case after you removed the gas tank. I'd go for that instead.? And I'd be totally fine with ditching gas altogether.? Once you have propane you'll never want to hassle with gas again.

Measuring voltage is funky.? Two dissimilar pieces of metal will generate a voltage, but the current is almost zero.? I've measured 12 something volts on circuits when the battery is disconnected.? Thus when testing to see if you have power, I recommend you get an electrical tester light.? It won't light up from dead circuits, even though a voltmeter will register nonzero voltage.

I'd guess you have a disconnect somewhere, and the voltmeter is giving a false reading.? Test the same stuff with a tester light.

开云体育

Don’t use the computer fans, my fridge works just fine without them. Didn’t even come with any. I added some but I don’t notice any difference with or without them.?

Honda 2000i spec is 8 amps DC @ 12 volts.? Would take a long time to charge at that rate.? Save your money and use your charger.

Doug M

I would first off double check your volt meter settings, make sure it is set to DC voltage and the proper range 20v etc .

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Don DeRyke
Sunrise, Florida

2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.?
Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.

[ I'm reposting this, as it will never get seen at the bottom of 14 comments in the similar topic I originally chose.]

I'm reopening this topic because I have the same issue. Last camping trip last Fall I discovered I had no DC power, though it was fine previously. As things go, I put off 'running it to ground', so to speak, until things warmed up this spring. Now I'm 10 days away from an important trip (!).

I have a WFCO 8725 converter, and have rewired the rat's nest with terminal strips, so everything is easy to check. All fuses are good, including at the battery. I've been trying to maintain the battery by charging a day or two each month, but you know how that goes; a day becomes a week, then a month... When I first checked, the battery was providing an even 13.5vdc, and I found 13.5v on all four circuits -- but when I added a load, power went to zero. A day later, I'm now getting 20vdc? (!) at the battery , and 10v at the circuits. Still, nothing works, even the LED lights. Should I assume the (relatively recent) battery is toast? The converter?seems?fine -- at least everything works on shore power.
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Alex Sproul
'05 Classic
'02 Suburban

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2007 Expedition Highwall
2019 Jeep JL (Wrangler)
West suburban Chicago

I have to boondock for two nights on our next trip.? I tested my fridge on gas, and with 2 low wattage computer fans running full time.? I only got 32 hours before it dropped slightly below 12 volts.? So I'll need to use my generator to charge up.? I'm wondering whether I should get the Honda charge cable, or use my stand alone Schumacher charger.? I don't want to run the generator any more than necessary since the campground will be full.? I'm also considering purchasing the propane conversion kit to make it more convenient to use anywhere.

Thoughts?
--
Don DeRyke
Sunrise, Florida

2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.?
Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.

--
Don DeRyke
Sunrise, Florida

2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.?
Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.

I'm reopening this topic because I have the same issue. Last camping trip last Fall I discovered I had no DC power, though it was fine previously. As things go, I put off 'running it to ground', so to speak, until things warmed up this spring. Now I'm 10 days away from an important trip (!).
I have a WFCO 8725 converter, and have rewired the rat's nest with terminal strips, so everything is easy to check. All fuses are good, including at the battery. I've been trying to maintain the battery by charging a day or two each month, but you know how that goes; a day becomes a week, then a month... When I first checked, the battery was providing an even 13.5vdc, and I found 13.5v on all four circuits -- but when I added a load, power went to zero. A day later, I'm now getting 20vdc? (!) at the battery , and 10v at the circuits. Still, nothing works, even the LED lights. Should I assume the (relatively recent) battery is toast? The converter seems fine -- at least everything works on shore power.

Alex Sproul
'05 Classic
'02 Suburban

--
Don DeRyke
Sunrise, Florida

2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.?
Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.

2017 Classic - crack developed on rear skylight corner.? I tried Capt Tolleys with no success.? It has very little viscosity and and seeped into crack as advertised.? I let dry and repeated application as directed perhaps 3 or 4 times but it never stopped the leak - it did minimize it though.? I ended up putting Eternabond tape on corner and problem solved.? This was over 2 years ago and 18k miles.? Perhaps not the most aesthetically pretty remedy but it work and that is my bottom line.? I ended up putting the tape on the top corners of all the skylights as a preventative measure?

Rick

On Thu, Apr 4, 2024 at 09:29 AM, Eugene Breindel wrote:

Out of curiosity, have you ever measured the voltage of the panels unplugged from the solar?
It should equal the VOC number on the label of the panels.

Yes, when I measured it unplugged, it was over 20 volts.? So close to VOC.

Out of curiosity, have you ever measured the voltage of the panels unplugged from the solar?
It should equal the VOC number on the label of the panels.

One of the things I've noticed over the years is that even though a 100 watt panel delivers the same power as before, the rated amps have gone down and the rated voltage has gone up.? The solar panel I had 10 years ago had an optimal operating current rating of 5.8 amps, and it delivered that.? My current panel is rated at 5.29 amps for optimal current, and thats what it delivers in full sun.? But renogy has a new panel out now, and it has an optimal current of 4.86 amps.? So if you're using a pwm controller, you would have gotten another ~20% more power with an older panel than a newer panel.? The incentive to go to mppt is getting higher.

It's not really about specific voltages or current, it's about power delivered to the battery.??

What's surprising, though, is that when you read about mppt, everybody talks about how it converts the extra voltage to current.? Nobody talks about how it gets more power by reducing the current from the panel, which increases the voltage.

On Mon, Apr 1, 2024 at 09:46 PM, Steve T wrote:

So the majority of the extra power produced by the mppt controller was due to the power point tracking algorithm pulling a better optimized current that generated more watts.

That's precisely the point of MPPT.

Scott Ellington