Simple Wire Job w/ Converter

[Keith B]

I'm fairly confident in my design, but STILL, the forum eyes combined are better than mine alone... Would appreciate any help, hints, advise, cautions ya'll might see in my design...better to ask now then after the fire...

[Keith B]

Well, good, bad, right or wrong it worked, however, I dont't have any batteries yet, but the converter is obviously providing 12vt to power the stuff... HOWEVER, the LED lights on the converter do not light up.

For those who have a Best Converter, do the lights by each fuse light up when it's working or when there's a "problem" or only when the battery is hooked up. The manual is pretty vague - just says they're "status".

Would appreciate the "know how"

[bledsoe3]

Keith, check this thread. http://tnttt.com/viewto ... =converter

[Miriam C.]

Hey Keith let us know when you get an answer. I didn't find a thread dealing with the LED's.

[Keith B]

Hey Miriam... will do, I'm gonna call 'em tomorrow. I'm "guessing" the LEDs are like the little light up fuses.. comes on when the fuse is blown, I'm guessing anyway.

Does anyone have any thoughts on me putting my MASTER DISCONNECT in the "negative" line? Seeing how 12 vt is so "simple" I really didn't think it'd matter on an ALL WOOD unit and it was much easier. All seems to work dandy.

[Miriam C.]

Hey Miriam... will do, I'm gonna call 'em tomorrow. I'm "guessing" the LEDs are like the little light up fuses.. comes on when the fuse is blown, I'm guessing anyway.

Does anyone have any thoughts on me putting my MASTER DISCONNECT in the "negative" line? Seeing how 12 vt is so "simple" I really didn't think it'd matter on an ALL WOOD unit and it was much easier. All seems to work dandy.

That is the side I take off when I work on my car. I bet you do too.

[Keith B]

Well, I couldn't stand not knowing, and I just has to play around... so I went out and "blew a fuse" intentionally...and now the LED lights up...that's pretty nice.. tells you exactly which one is blown... DANDY

So, any comments on my battery disconnect being on the negative line...that's the only matter of question right now... thanks all.


And you're right Miriam...that's the one I disconnect too, thus why I put it on the negative side...hey, at least it "sounds good to us right"...

Plan on getting my 2 6vt batteries tomorrow... that'll give me 220ah, or 70 hours pulling 3amps, which is easily 4 nights of 12 vt fan use

[Phil & Ningning]

Keith, there is nothing inherently wrong with putting the battery disconnect switch in the negative line. However, if it was mine, I would probably use a double pole switch that actually disconnects both leads simultaneously. This would completely remove the battery from the circuit, preventing the battery from charging as well. It appears that you are trying to isolate the load from the battery, but in doing so you are completely disabling the lights and accessories. I am not sure I understand the reason for this. If you switch the battery out of circuit completely, the accessories can still be used with the converter.

[Keith B]

Actually, the way I have it wired, the camper can be plugged into 110vt and the converter will charge the batteries, but not supply juice to the 12vt side of life since the "load side of the negative is seperated from the grounding block. Once I enable the disconnect I can then use the 12vt stuff. My goal was simply just to have ONE switch that would shut the camper down as to not drain the batteries (my forgetful mind), yet leave it available for charging by simply plugging into the 110.

[Phil & Ningning]

Well, you are on the right track then.

Phil

[DaveandDebbie]

I'm fairly confident in my design, but STILL, the forum eyes combined are better than mine alone... Would appreciate any help, hints, advise, cautions ya'll might see in my design...better to ask now then after the fire...

Keith
Looks like it will work fine But what is going to protect the battery if the converter shorts or malfunctions? Just my $.02

[Dale M.]

I agree...

If you put disconnect in positive (+) side it would disconnect the battery completely from the converter and the rest of the system.... But you would be leaving converter only to power devices.... By putting disconnect in negative side (per your picture) it disconnects all the devices in trailer but leaves converter (charging system) in tact to battery.

Either side positive or negative is ok, depending on what you want to do...

The reason you take the negative terminal off the battery first (and put on last) is it isolates the battery so if you have a wrench on positive terminal and it also strikes anything metal (grounded by negative side of battery) it does not arc and or short battery to a point it can possibly explode....

Dale

[Keith B]

Well, all the wiring is done... I guess there is really no protection if the converter malfunctions, but if it does, well, it does..none the less, it has to be connected to the battery to charge them. I didn't want to spend the money on a "shore male outlet" so I "jerry rigged it".. but hey, it's working quite nicely.
Here's the converter. The 4" box is the positive 12vt stuff, next to it is the 12vt grounding block. The red key is the 12vt master switch. There's some other wires laying there that will connect to some interior cabinet outlets once they're installed - you wont see any of that when I'm done.

Here is the power supply.
The top box is really just an exterior outlet cover. There is a hole and you put your extension cord through it, plug it into the male "pig tail I made and you have 110vt and it charges the batteries. The bottom box is an "outlet"... something outside for making homemade icecream

Here is the battery box.. two 6vt golf cart batteries gives me 225ah; so I should be able to run my "fantastic fan" for well over 50 hours on low.

I still have to add a couple side vents in the tongue box for battery ventilation. I ordered intake hoods you see on I/O boats, they're stainless steel and will keep water out nicely and hopefully blend in very well with the box.

[Keith B]

Just and update...The Fantastic Fan has now been running on low for 48 hours and still going, (1.48 amp draw and 400+ CFPM volume); the battery series still reads 12.40vts, started at 12.9vts... these two 6 volt batteries in series are gonna last a LONG time if conserved properly. I got the Energizer golf cart batteries from Sam's ($120)... Trojans are MUCH better, but this is good enough to get me started for 1/2 the cost. IF my calculations are correct, I should get 70+ hours of fan use on "low" before getting to the DOD level of 10.5vts....but my intentions is to only go to 11vts then recharge; none-the-less, I should easily get 4-7 nights of camping on a charge.

[Kankujoe]

Looks like a pretty good set up...

Will you be connecting anything else to your electrical system (lights, etc.)?