Progressive Dynamics (PD4655V) 55 Amp Converter/Charger

[reddingnative]

Ok- I edited this post, I had the wrong converter listed

My take on the directional 50's is that they attempted to serve the same purpose as the terminal fuses. They are hard to get to, so they are self resetting depending upon current flow. The PD 4655 is protected by regular breakers on the 120V side and two 30 amp fuses on the 12v side.

I purchased (2) PD 4655, one for a travel trailer and one for this Chinook. One day I heard the acid boiling in the (2) 6 volt batteries connected to the travel trailer which was connected to shoreline. Ambient temp. was 105 degrees.

I called PD tech support and learned about other chargers with temperature compensation. So, when it's hot, I travel to the coast or only connect to shoreline when temps are within correct range for the PD 4655.

I no longer have the travel trailer.

At some point, I'll clean up the wiring from the PD 4655 to the house battery. I'll figure out how long the wiring run is and post it. I think LED lighting would really help as well. I have way too many tube fixtures.

I too had the melted loom on both sides of the engine. Thanks again for the thoughts, suggestions and ideas.

[reddingnative]

I've been thinking about re-wiring of the PD 4655 to the house battery.

My question is about making the connection to the 12v circuit board on the PD 4655. The + lug can only fit a certain size wire, so would it be ok to leave the 8ga wire attached to the lug and transition to the larger wire behind the PD 4655. In other words there would be a short pigtail of 8ga wire connected to the larger wiring. Will that affect the voltage loss very much?

I'm also trying to find a battery switch that I can position closer to the PD 4655. I like having the Red switch by the steering wheel, so the battery switch would need to have a remote option. Blue Sea makes one, but it is expensive.

The existing battery switch is an old school relay and it seems like it would use more current than a battery switch that is either on or off. Just trying to reduce the drain from the house battery.

Any thoughts?

[chin_k]

Regarding the short 8 AWG pigtail, it won't affect the voltage lost too much since it is so short. You probably need a foot or two before you can measure the voltage drop, unless you have very precise instrument.

I have no idea what is the red switch by the steering wheel.

[reddingnative]

The red on/off switch controls the solenoid to the house battery.

[Blue~Go]

As long as you still only fuse/breaker for 8AWG wire (since that is still the "weakest link," then it's not unsafe. Yes, it will add to voltage drop. Let's say it's two feet long and you run 50 amps through it, that's 1.3% voltage drop. It's up to you if that's acceptable or not (of course you have to add all the voltage drop through the other legs that exist). This is two feet one-way so it would be half as "long" if only the positive leg.

One thing you may not be considering (or maybe you are but just didn't mention it in this post): There is a negative 8AWG leg that leads to the chassis ground (on my era Concourse it ran from the brown box to an area on the frame under the rear of the shower). On my rig that was another 6-8' of 8AWG. So unless you change that, it's going to be part of the circuit. And then there will be the leg from the negative house battery post to the frame (to make up the other end of the chassis ground).

Another option is to take the larger wire and clip some strands from it right as it goes into the 8AWG slot (although it might take 6AWG, as a buddy's rig with brown box has 6AWG wire (not a Chinook). This isn't exactly "cool," but then wires jammed into screw terminals on a moving/vibrating vehicle isn't really that great either (check/tighten often, I'd say). And that eliminates more connections (where you'd join the 8 to the larger size). This would be with fine-stranded wire, such as boat cable.

****

I'm all in favor of a straightforward switch for the house bank. I didn't need remote capability (in my world it's not something I turn on and off numerous times a day or anything like that), so I just used a basic Blue Sea on/off switch (M-series). If I wanted a nice tidy matching dashboard switch then I'd go with a remote controlled Blue Sea switch, but that's just me (but I don't have any reason to have one).

One nice option then is YOU can decide what is and isn't included when you switch that on and off. All loads? All charging sources? Some of each? Just one category? Chinook decided to keep a few items "on" even when the "store" switch is activated (too bad they didn't document just what, in anyplace I've seen - although we've mostly figured it out by now), but you may not make the same selections.

My choices:

1) All loads OFF when switch is off, except for battery monitors (if storing very long term I'd pull the fuses on those). I don't leave my rig with propane turned on at all (I have manual handwheel on tank), so no need for a propane alarm to be active (and wailing to no-one) when in storage. I don't have electric steps. CO alarm is AA-battery powered.

2) Charging sources ON even when switch is off, however all of those sources have other ways to be turned off, so I can still choose to have EVERYTHING off. Or I can choose to leave some/all charging sources on.

a) 110 charger has breaker/switch
b) Solar panels have switch
c) Alternator power from start bank has switch (manual in my case).

That's just one way to do it. One thing I really prefer (and did when I upgraded the system) is to have a separate circuit (wires) for charging and loads. The brown box "forces" a single circuit to do double duty (the way they have the incoming wires set up).

[reddingnative]

Ok- All good info, thanks. Before I go down this road, I want to install a DC meter to monitor usage. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[chin_k]

kdarling have a thread about it. See here.

[reddingnative]

chin_k

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for.

[kdarling]

Also search for threads here about the TriMetric meters from Bogart. They're popular:

http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics/

For me, the Bogart $200 was too much, especially when I could buy more meters for much less... and after running across that very low priced color meter with included shunt.

The Bogart meter might use less tare power, tho, if that's a factor.