Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
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Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had power outages at three different campgrounds. The first outage lasted about 36 hours, while the other outages were much shorter. When the power went out (36 hours) we were without a generator for 18 hours. Once we got a generator, we ran it until the power came back on. Once the power came back on, our batteries were reading low, so we used a charger.
After that first outage our hydraulic system was not able to operate the landing gear or slides. So now we’ve decided to replace our current marine batteries with Lifeline deep cycle AGM batteries.
After reading previous threads here and on the Heartland forum, it seems as though others have upgraded from a Progressive Dynamics Converter (our current converter) to a Xantrex True Charge product.
My question is - is replacing a converter something that I can do myself? Is there anything different about installing a Xantrex as opposed to the Progressive? I’m fairly handy, but I don’t want to mess it up.
I suggest an energy survey to determine how many amp hours you need for a 24 to 36 (?) hour power failure, and solar panels and controller could “save the day.” Generators conk out. Solar rarely misfires.
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Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.
Sorry. Yes! A handy person can replace their converter.
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Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.
My question is - is replacing a converter something that I can do myself? Is there anything different about installing a Xantrex as opposed to the Progressive? I’m fairly handy, but I don’t want to mess it up.
Thanks,
Frank
Yes, a simple process. However, one does need, assuming a quality charger that has the appropriate settings, to set it for the type of batteries you have, etc.. That is, lead acid, AGM, etc. Depending on the level (quality / capability) of the product, not the brand, the manual should give you the appropriate settings depending on the type of batteries, etc. That said, almost anyone can read the manual and half the time if you go to an RV shop, including a rig OEM at the factory, they don't set them correctly. They just plug 'em in and go with the charger factory defaults which are many times wrong. ("Ask me how I know this.") Don't know how many times I've had to re-set them for people when asked. (Can't do it by email. Read the book. :) )
My question is - is replacing a converter something that I can do myself? Is there anything different about installing a Xantrex as opposed to the Progressive? I’m fairly handy, but I don’t want to mess it up.
Thanks,
Frank
Yes, a simple process. However, one does need, assuming a quality charger that has the appropriate settings, to set it for the type of batteries you have, etc.. That is, lead acid, AGM, etc. Depending on the level (quality / capability) of the product, not the brand, the manual should give you the appropriate settings depending on the type of batteries, etc. That said, almost anyone can read the manual and half the time if you go to an RV shop, including a rig OEM at the factory, they don't set them correctly. They just plug 'em in and go with the charger factory defaults which are many times wrong. ("Ask me how I know this.") Don't know how many times I've had to re-set them for people when asked. (Can't do it by email. Read the book. :) )
