Chinook RV

yes sir!! Pro Dynamic arrived already!! Getting a little late today but am studying the instructions tonight and plan to hit it first thing in the morning. Thank goodness it has cooled down some. High tomorrow only in the 70's!!

Flame--I am a few days behind you. My pd4645 is scheduled to arrive on April 6th, and I will work to install between times of holding our new granddaughter...this will be a good project for me while we hang out here in Longmont CO for the month. If you can, take some pictures of the process and send them along. I am particularly interested in seeing/hearing how you make sure the wires from the original board make it to the correct places on the new board. I've read all forum-related discussions here, as well as Clay's Blog, but being the "electrically challenged" guy that I am, I'll take all the help I can get to make sure I put the wires in their right places.
David

Well everyone, I jumped right in this morning on installing my new Pro Dynamic. Everything went real well. I really took my time and was meticulous about everything and still completed the job in 3 hours!! It seems to work great. I went ahead and made a 50 mile round trip to purchase brand new batteries at Wal-Mart to make sure everything is new. My batteries were already 6 years old and one would not take a charge very well. One trick I learned and because what I had read here about the "big red wire" not wanting to reach up and over from the backside of the new fuse panel....go ahead and pull out the old converter to get it out of the way. You can then reach behind the area where the big red wire comes in and you can loosen up the clamp and pull more wire through!! WELL WORTH THE EXTRA TROUBLE!! Instructions are pretty darn good but a little confusing on which lug that big red wire attaches to. IT GOES ON THE FARTHEST LEFT +Pos bat lug!!...Use the 4 brown screws provided to mount your original outside cover because the holes are smaller on the new system. My green light is flashing every second like it should be while it is charging. Everything on the rv is working. One question I have...all the fuses have their own individual light bulb it appears but NONE of mine are burning!! Does the indicater light come on when it gets a blown fuse?? Walmart batteries 27DC series were only $81 each

One other thing...I did NOT use the far left fuse holder because it tucks too far in behind the flange of the main unit. I started at #2 and worked my way to the right.

Well, I answered my own question about the individual led fuse lights. I kid you not...the VERY LAST sentence on the instructions says "Each branch has a led light that indicates which fuse has blown!! Duh!!! I need to go find a blown fuse to see if it works!!

You can simulate a blown fuse by removing it.

The way I keep track of wiring is by taking picture before removing things. And I label them if needed.

Nice work Flame! Your success and helpful description of the process gives me courage. And Chin-k, I will indeed use your method of pic and label to keep track of wiring. I did that when swapping out for new batteries and it worked well. My PD4645 will arrive on Tuesday. Stay tuned.
David

Now that I have my new pro dynamic converter/charger and brand new batteries installed. My question is SHOULD I keep it plugged in to shore power here at home all the time? Wouldn't this help KEEP the batteries in good shape? I believe that is one of the reasons they were developed isn't it? With the health scare right now I know we are not travelling anywhere soon. Just want to make sure it is BEST to keep it plugged in. I have no plans to leave refrigerator running or anything like that but just to MAINTAIN the coach batteries. What do ya'll think?

The PD convert should not boil the electrolyte so you can leave it plug in. This is one of the advantage compare to the older Parallax.

My new pd4645 was delivered yesterday, and is now sitting on the porch for its 24 hour quarantine period. Hopefully, I will get around to installing it sometime this week. That said, I woke up this morning with a question about the draw of the new unit with its led indicator lights and charge wizard connection vs. the old unit. Am I correct in assuming that if the battery disconnect switch is turned off, then there is no draw at all? Hope so. I also hope that the draw from the unit when my electrical system is turned on is not going to be significantly more than the old unit. Our usage pattern has us camping without shore power most of the time--relying on alternator charging while driving and our 200 watt solar suitcase panels when boondocking...with an occasional boost from the portable 1000watt quiet Honda Inverter generator that is hooked to a NOCO Genius 15000 smart charger. And, when there is shore power, I have been using it just to hook up the NOCO Smart Charger directly to the batteries, avoiding the internal charger converter all together. Since we removed the microwave long ago (now pantry storage area), and we don't really use the Air Conditioning, the only thing we really have that requires AC power is the electric heater when it gets cold. Phones, computers, etc. all charge via the 1000 watt pure sine inverter that I have run directly from the House Battery Bank.
All this a long way of asking the question of whether you all think our usage pattern still makes it worth installing the PD4645? If it runs down the batteries more quickly due to the LED indicator lights and wizard, I'm wondering if its worth it or not. Any and all advice welcome!
David