Off Grid Living / Camping > Tents / RV
Who else has disconnected that power hungry converter from AC mains?
Watt:
I have two fifth wheel campers. One we use for travel and the other we use for when the in-laws are visiting. We had a second meter installed due to the distance the mostly permanent camper is from our electrical supply. Anyway, with zero visits in a month, we were getting 60 and 70 dollar bills. We found most of the power was being used at keeping the batteries cooked. We have a thermostat on a small fan in the shower to help keep the summer time temps down in the camper and it does run a few hours of the day but, wow, not that much. So, we added a 230 watt panel on the roof of the " RV barn " and we will see how it goes this summer.
Anyway, anyone else done something similar with that darn converter? I think one camper has a transformer based unit and the other is a 3 stage unit which doesn't seem to shut off.
Wolvenar:
I have no direct experience with this, but I have heard and read about it a lot. There are plenty of people I know that have a disconnect for them and put in a much more economical maintainer. Many of them only use that maintainer if the place is occasional use.
The panel sounds like a great idea with a cheap off the hardware store shelf charge controller.
ChrisOlson:
Yes, I removed the converter from our fifth wheel about three years ago and replaced it with an AIMS 3 kW inverter/charger. I don't remember who made the power converter but the cooling fan squealed in it and it boiled the batteries dry all the time.
The inverter charger works better because now we got 120 volt power in the camper without having to run the little Onan generator in it.
--
Chris
Watt:
--- Quote from: Wolvenar on March 31, 2012, 03:40:25 am ---I have no direct experience with this, but I have heard and read about it a lot. There are plenty of people I know that have a disconnect for them and put in a much more economical maintainer. Many of them only use that maintainer if the place is occasional use.
The panel sounds like a great idea with a cheap off the hardware store shelf charge controller.
--- End quote ---
Wolv
I've got a classic on it at the moment. I have one which will be used on the tracking system I'm hoping to get together soon.
Really though, I am looking for controller I put on it permanently, got any suggestions as I need a mppt type since it is actually a 24v panel ( 29.6vmp ) I've thought about rewiring the panel with two parallel cables coming out of the box. Removing one diode and adding two wires if that makes since and using an easy to find 12v controller. Do you happen to know of an economical mppt controller which will work with a 230w panel and 12v?
Watt:
--- Quote from: ChrisOlson on March 31, 2012, 08:37:33 am ---Yes, I removed the converter from our fifth wheel about three years ago and replaced it with an AIMS 3 kW inverter/charger. I don't remember who made the power converter but the cooling fan squealed in it and it boiled the batteries dry all the time.
The inverter charger works better because now we got 120 volt power in the camper without having to run the little Onan generator in it.
--
Chris
--- End quote ---
Chris
I've thought about doing that very same thing to our travel camper. Have you had any further problems with boiling the batteries since you implemented that AIMS inverter?
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