Converters vs Chargers - Opinions Needed!

Anything electric, AC or DC

Re: Converters vs Chargers - Opinions Needed!

Postby John61CT » Tue May 01, 2018 3:11 pm

Aguyfromohio wrote:
John61CT wrote:A quality high-amp charger will do everything even the smartest "converter" can....


That point has confused me for while.
If the system has a battery powering the 12VDC loads and has a charger capable of, say, 20 or 30 amps, it seems like the 12VDC power bus should be held up by the charger through the battery when shore power is available and the battery is low. Perhaps some folks prefer low amp chargers and need the converter, but otherwise I don't see the functionality of converting 120 VAC shore power to 12VDC.
Lots of smart people around here buy them, so I must be missing something.
The whole term "converter" in this meaning comes from the USA RV industry, which historically really sucked optimizing DC electrics for off grid use.

They used to be plain power supplies, no staged charging intelligence.

Same as old-school cheap garage chargers.

Modern expensive converters are as good as quality marine chargers these days, except for general build-quality, profile adjustability and weather resistance.

___
As long as the bank is full, a good charger goes to Float voltage, and as long as the amps capacity is greater than the loads, the batteries aren't touched.

If a load kicks in with higher-current needs, then the bank starts getting depleted to make up the difference.

Once that load goes offline, the charger detects that SoC has dropped, and bring voltage back up to Absorb to recharge the bank.

Hope that helps.
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Re: Converters vs Chargers - Opinions Needed!

Postby John61CT » Tue May 01, 2018 3:16 pm

Aguyfromohio wrote:
John61CT wrote:...They consider units under $3000 to be throwaways, not worth fixing.


That's the good news and the bad news of modern electronics. We get very capable products at ever lower prices, but all the circuitry now is surface-mount electronics which are not really repairable in any practical way, and the profit margins are pretty slim. For devices under a few thousand dollars it does not make anyone any money to try to fix them.


Hogwash.

If the company doesn't offer repair options directly, third party "authorised service" shops should have ready access to spare parts.

Victron, MasterVolt, Magnum, Outback, Samlex etc can do it, because their corporate culture realizes overall customer satisfaction is key to long-term profitability.
Xantrex is losing the game because they're myopically focused on quarterly financial benchmarks instead.
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Re: Converters vs Chargers - Opinions Needed!

Postby fishboat » Sun May 19, 2019 10:04 am

Andrew Herrick wrote:
...A) charging AGM batteries, which are often best charged at up to 14.8 volts (PD CW is capped at 14.4 volts), and B) there's no temperature compensation to adjust voltages depending on the ambient temperatures....


This is a bit f a zombie thread by now..but have you found a converter-charger that fits your needs?

I've been searching for options myself and have targeted the IOTA DLS series of converter-chargers, so far. Price is reasonable.. with the IQ4 plug-in it has 4 stage charging up to about 14.8v. IOTA looks to be out of Arizona..so should have some grasp of temp compensation needs..

https://www.iotaengineering.com/
https://www.iotaengineering.com/pplib/dls30spec.pdf
http://www.solarseller.com/_iota_batter ... y_to_s.htm
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Re: Converters vs Chargers - Opinions Needed!

Postby John61CT » Sun May 19, 2019 11:21 am

Yes good stuff with the right IQ4.
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