Negative surprise from Progressive Dynamics

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Jeffjeeptj

I am in the process of installing Lithium batteries (Battleborn) in my TT. The Surveyor came with a WFCO 8955 converter fuse/circuit assembly and has 6 gage wire. Based on a variety of multiple RV forum comments about how good Progressive Dynamics (PD) units are (and implied why you are an idiot if you do not replace the WFCO power supply with a PD), I selected the PD4655LIV power supply, which is supposed tp be a slide in replacement. What a negative surprise!

This was a factory sealed box, with a large label that says PD4655LIV. The wires expected to connect the power supply to the fuse circuit board are 18” long and are 10 gauge. These 10 gauge wires are soldered to the printed circuit board (PCB). An inspection shows the PCB cannot accept larger wires. There is also the standard statement, if the customer modifies this, warranty is void.

A check on the Blue Sea circuit wizard shows 6 gage is the right size. Even the WFCO has 6 gauge wire.

I personally ran my IOTA DLS-55 bench power supply at its full 55 amps thru 3 feet of 10 gage wire one time as an experiment to see how it did with my AGM battery. Wires got up to the temperature of “very uncomfortable to touch”.

The PD unit is being returned. They will not be considered by me for any other purchase. Etrailer is being excellent, even though this is a refund.

It seems that the PD unit is vastly overrated.

I had exactly the same experience. Unfortunately the WFCO was misbehaving and we needed power, so I sucked it up. Fortunately, it's a very short run to the distribution board, so not too much voltage drop. And the batteries are less than four feet away from the distribution board with heavy cable.