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 > how to replace the charger inverter in a four winds

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time2roll

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Posted: 05/22/22 10:43pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

The 12 Volt Side of Life


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BFL13

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Posted: 05/22/22 10:50pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

I prefer a deck mount instead of replacing the lower portion (MBA ) with another.

Good price here - note the shipping too

https://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/pro........-w-led-light?_pos=4&_sid=a37eb4405&_ss=r

There are other choices of course.

For the monitor that shows amps, there are many of them too. I have a lower cost one called "Renogy 500Amp" that shows amps and volts like you want for charging AGMs--or any other battery type.

BTW you don't have to yank your existing converter and put the deck mount in there. A deck mount can go anywhere handy--closer to the batteries the better. Does need 120v for it near enough for its power cord to reach.


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dougrainer

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Posted: 05/23/22 08:25am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

CONVERTER---Takes 120 input and outputs 12 volts to run the 12 volt loads on the RV. Secondary function is to trickle charge and maintain the Coach battery once fully charged when plugged into 120 Shore Power

INVERTER/CHARGER----- Connected directly to the Coach batteries and has a hi amp BATTERY CHARGER. NOT CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THE RV 12 VOLT SYSTEM. It is connected to the Coach batteries and then the 12 volt connections are connected from the coach batteries to the fuse panel of the RV 12 volt systems. ALSO,(Inverter) certain 120 appliances(usually Microwave and TV/Entertaiment systems), when NOT plugged into Shore or Genset will take the Battery 12 volts and INVERT that current to 120 ac. Not very useful if you only have 1 coach battery, but will work.

INVERTER---- Which you state you have also. This appliance just plain Inverts 12 volt to 120 ac current and usually has less than 500 watts of power. Usually has a cigarette lighter quick plug if they are small Inverters. Doug

wpatters1229

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Posted: 08/17/23 11:42am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

OK I have had the original charger inverter power supply working and the AGM battery is charging just fine. The problem I am having now is that the if I am running my A/C and my Microwave on shore power sometimes either or will trip the breaker. I just think the whole power supply unit is old and needs replacing. It is a Parallx 7300 Series power supply. I am thinking is it possible to change to a 50 amp supply instead of the 30?

One other question. Do these new supplies come with a fan for cooling the unit? The current one to my knowledge does not.


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Grit dog

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Posted: 08/17/23 02:52pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

The answer is your issue with blowing the breaker is not at all related to your converter (well technically the converter is also sucking some AC power, charging the batteries or running anything DC that may be turned on like lights or water pump), nor is it related to your inverter/charger thing.
It’s straight AC power from the shore plug to the microwave and AC. And it’s not unreasonable to think you can’t run both of them at the same time without exceeding the 30amps your breaker is kicking at.
Most likely you have no issues at all other than overloading the main AC breaker.
Of course you don’t say “which” breaker but I’m presuming the camper main, not the pedestal main (although it would be the same cause unless maybe a weak breaker, also a possibility with the camper main).


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opnspaces

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Posted: 08/17/23 03:14pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

You probably have a 30 amp coach (3 blades on the shore power plug) If 30 amp it is normal to not be able to run two high draw items (Microwave, AC, water heater) at the same time. If you do it will most likely trip the breaker.

To run multiple high draw items you need a 50 amp coach (4 blade shore power plug)


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dougrainer

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Posted: 08/17/23 04:31pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

wpatters1229 wrote:

OK I have had the original charger inverter power supply working and the AGM battery is charging just fine. The problem I am having now is that the if I am running my A/C and my Microwave on shore power sometimes either or will trip the breaker. I just think the whole power supply unit is old and needs replacing. It is a Parallx 7300 Series power supply. I am thinking is it possible to change to a 50 amp supply instead of the 30?

One other question. Do these new supplies come with a fan for cooling the unit? The current one to my knowledge does not.


You are just hard headed. You keep stating Inverter. YOU DO NOT HAVE AN INVERTER, PERIOD. You have a CONVERTER integrated into what they call a Power Center. That means you have the 120 Breakers and the 12 volt fuses AND the CONVERTER in the same housing. Your problem is as the other poster stated. You are PULLING TOO MANY AMPS on your 30 amp system. The AC in 90 degree weather will pull around 13 to 14 amps. The M/W depending on its Watt rating will pull 9 to 12 amps. Refer 2 amps on 120. IF you have a water Heater that also has 120 besides LP that will pull another 12 amps. Your CONVERTER will pull anywhere from 1 to 5 amps depending on the 12 volt load in the RV. ADD any TV's or other 120 appliances and you will see you are over the 30 amp limit. Most 30 amp RV's CANNOT run a Microwave AND the roof AC at the same time. Changing the Power Center will NOT gain you any advantage. You are limited to 30 amps. Changing to a 50 amp service can be very expensive. I can find NO Parrallax info on using lead batteries versus AGM. The problem with using AGM's in place of Lead batteries is the Converter charge rate. Granted you see NO problems at this point, but usually it takes months or years for the damage to occur to AGM batteries when using a charging system NOT designed for a AGM charge rate. Doug

pianotuna

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Posted: 08/17/23 09:16pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

wpatters1229 wrote:

O The problem I am having now is that the if I am running my A/C and my Microwave on shore power sometimes either or will trip the breaker.


One possible work around is to get an inverter/charger that allows load support.

My RV is 30 amps. One should try to keep the load below 24 amps, except briefly (say 5 seconds), even on shore power.

With a load support inverter/charger the inverter will, for as long as there is battery power, draw "extra" power from the battery bank. So I can draw more than 30 amps for some time.

So I can run the roof air and the microwave, without tripping the breaker, if the batteries are charged.

When the battery bank starts to get low--then the breaker may trip. But it takes a fair bit of time for that to happen.


Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

wpatters1229

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Posted: 08/18/23 10:20am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

I think I will replace the breaker for the A/C first as that is the only one that seemly trip when the temp outside is in the 90s. I do not run all those other items at the same time. I did once run the M/W and yes it did trip the coach main 30A breaker. But this is just the A/C 20A breaker and it maybe just old and not reliable anymore. I do have it changing an AGM battery and seems to do that just fine. At my home I have the shore power plugged into a 20A circuit to keep the battery charged. Should I use a separate charger for that? I have a small trickle charger for my rig's engine battery that works great.

pianotuna

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Posted: 08/18/23 11:22am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

wpatters1229,

Consider adding a fan to cool the breakers. That solved the problem for a friend in Florida who was experiencing temperatures of 102.

Check by seeing how the breaker feels after running the roof air for several hours, or immediately after the next trip event.

A new breaker may or may not help.

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