Trimetric and Converter

[jeffreymhardy]

Just installed my Trimetric 2030RV yesterday, and am curious about one thing. With my AC connected and converter breaker on, I see only positive 1.2 amps. If I turn the converter breaker off, it drops to .2 amps which I assume is my "ghost" load. But doesn't that mean that when charging the batteries off power I'm only getting 1.2 amps an hour? Which seemingly would take a very long time to charge them? Shouldn't the number I see on my Trimetric with amps displayed and nothing turned on but my detectors be pretty much the charge I am getting?

[AlR]

Are your batteries already fully charged? Try running the batteries down for a day then plug it in again.

[Snowman9000]

It might just mean your batteries are already full.

I will say that the location and wiring of my 2014 Sunseeker converter wiring was not good for quick charging. I changed the converter and its location, but that is another discussion.

[jeffreymhardy]

That could be it. I guess the charger is smart enough to trickle charge when that's all the batteries need.

I was wondering about the distance too. Mine is under the bed which is quite a distance from the battery bank

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by jeffreymhardy

That could be it. I guess the charger is smart enough to trickle charge when that's all the batteries need.

I was wondering about the distance too. Mine is under the bed which is quite a distance from the battery bank

What does the TriMetric say for Voltage and that low current. When the converter is running the voltage that the Tri displays is the converter output voltage. If it is something like 13.5 then that is all the current that voltage can drive into the bank, which is why it takes so long to get back to 100% SOC. As others have said, if you discharge the bank somewhat, the converter should jump to 13.75 or 14 at the batteries. Maybe take the SOC down to 75% and try it. Since this is your first run, the SOC will probably be 99% since it has nothing else to go on. You have a conservative 200 AH in your batteries and that I think is the Trimetric default setting.

Now that you know what is actually happening, your battery odyssey starts now.

[jeffreymhardy]

I feel like I need to go back to school Thanks guys

[Snowman9000]

Do you have a Progressive Dynamics or WFCO converter?

[jeffreymhardy]

Surprisingly, it's the Progressive. I was all set to order the exact same model I already have...but I see they have some kind of what they call a "pendant" which is supposed to allow you to "boost" the charge temporarily?

[jeffreymhardy]

The good news is I've been unplugged from power for about four hours, running my TV, antenna booster and three lights and I'm still at 12.6. Other than heat once in awhile at this time of year, there's really nothing else I would need to run on a weekend dry camping

[jeffreymhardy]

So I unplugged and ran the battery down to 12.4 volts which from the charts I've seen is somewhere between 75-80%. Turned everything off, plugged back in. Trimetric now reads about +14 on amps...so I assume that's the charging rate which still seems low to me, but I don't know what I should expect.

[Snowman9000]

As to the pendant, do you have the 9160 or the 9260? If the 92 series, you have the 3 stage charging, which for 99% of the owners that is all they need. If you want the pendant, it will let you switch between charging modes. If you have the 91 series, then the pendant is essential because it turns the 91 into a three stage charger. OEMs used to install the 91 series, while the 92 was aftermarket. I don't know what FR is using.

When I swapped from the WFCO to the PD, I mounted it on the floor of the kitchen cabinet next to the steps (and batteries). By doing that I eliminated something like 20 feet of cable, which is a big deal when it comes to getting the most out of a charger. My WFCO was in the rear compartment. I think now they are mounting them under the bed?

There is some work involved with relocating as I did. You have to have or install an outlet to plug the converter into.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by jeffreymhardy

So I unplugged and ran the battery down to 12.4 volts which from the charts I've seen is somewhere between 75-80%. Turned everything off, plugged back in. Trimetric now reads about +14 on amps...so I assume that's the charging rate which still seems low to me, but I don't know what I should expect.

What does the Trimetric say for SOC and battery voltage? You can forget the charts now, you have a meter that tells you how much you have used and how much capacity you have left. I don't know how far the converter is from the batteries in your rig. On my class A it is about 20 feet and they used #6 wire. Strangely they ran both positive and negative cables when they should have simply used the chassis as the negative run. At 10 amps and 14.5 volts of boost at the converter the cable costs met about .2 volts per side. I am going to fix that at least eliminating the 20 feet of #6 for the ground with the chassis.

If your PD is in float mode that isn't too bad, if you had a Pendant you could force it into boost mode for a few hours, which would up the voltage to 14.5 and push more amperage to get the SOC back up fore quickly.

[jeffreymhardy]

Snowman: Not sure which one I have -- it's quite the ordeal to get to it for me, lift the bed, take out everything in the storage there and then lift that compartment out but I do want to know so I'll do that later today. I THINK it had 9260 on it, but I'll check.

Scott: I'm having difficulty getting the Trimetric to come off of it's "---" for percent charged unless I reset it when I THINK it's fully charged. I'm going to call them today and go through the settings. As far as their unit is concerned, I've never gotten it fully charged even after 12 hours charging overnight when it was only down to roughly 20%. I would say my battery bank is probably 25 feet from the converter.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by jeffreymhardy

Snowman: Not sure which one I have -- it's quite the ordeal to get to it for me, lift the bed, take out everything in the storage there and then lift that compartment out but I do want to know so I'll do that later today. I THINK it had 9260 on it, but I'll check.

Scott: I'm having difficulty getting the Trimetric to come off of it's "---" for percent charged unless I reset it when I THINK it's fully charged. I'm going to call them today and go through the settings. As far as their unit is concerned, I've never gotten it fully charged even after 12 hours charging overnight when it was only down to roughly 20%. I would say my battery bank is probably 25 feet from the converter.

Mine did that too when I installed it as well. I can't recall what happened but once I started out on the road and it saw 14.5 volts from my alternator is declared the bank at 100% and then started giving me SOC in real percentages. The "---" is its way of saying indeterminate I remember something from the manual about this as it doesn't have the data it needs when first installed. If you think about it, since it doesn't use the voltage reading to determine SOC, it is probably looking for a float charge voltage threshold before it decides that the bank is at 100% SOC and then starts SOC accounting from there.

I figured that, based on your floorplan, you had a long run from the converter as well. I measured the voltage drop from the negative converter terminal to ground and got something like .15 volts when charging at 13.5 volts and only about 10 amps. That would mean .3 volts total or more than 2%. I haven't yet chased the leads back to the battery bank to see why the negative isn't just chassis grounded in the rear compartment, but I want to drive as much current as I can with the generator running while boondocking. I will let you know what I find as I think that all of the rear converter floorplans suffer from this as well. I probably won't change out the 6 ga cable, but its pretty easy to ground the converter negative terminal to the chassis right in the back bay and eliminate half of the 6 ga run and half of the voltage drop in boost mode.

[Slimjc]

Jeff - I am installing my Trimetric tomorrow - where did you place the shunt? Any pictures?

[jeffreymhardy]

To be honest it's laying on top of one of the batteries. It can't move because the cables are holding it firmly in place. Not ideal, but I haven't had a chance to rewire everything. I'm going to have to deal with it before next winter because I'm going to want to remove the batteries then...ugh.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by Slimjc

Jeff - I am installing my Trimetric tomorrow - where did you place the shunt? Any pictures?

Mine is on a the steel bulkhead with all the breakers and BCC but I have a different coach than you do. However, if I had seen this idea before I installed I would have done it this way. Bracket is not for sale but seems that the guy made it by flattening and bending a piece of 3/4" copper pipe. Clean, easy and secure. Plenty of current carrying capacity. ShuntDSCN1866-Small.jpg Photo by catraveler | Photobucket

[Slimjc]

Scott -

Has anyone contacted Trimetric to ensure they are cool with this? Seems simple and easy and given the tight quarters - it saves two runs of 2/0 into the coach for space.....

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by Slimjc

Scott -

Has anyone contacted Trimetric to ensure they are cool with this? Seems simple and easy and given the tight quarters - it saves two runs of 2/0 into the coach for space.....

Oh, they won't care.It isn't even their shunt. As long as its wired correctly it is fine. I agree...no new cables needed! Simple, clean and well supported.

[Garrette]

Does the Trimetric come with a shunt?


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