Thanks again John, really appreciate it. I had a question and probably more to come as I start putting the systems in/back together. I expect we will use this camper for both hookup camping and boondocking. My question is related to the electrical system converter. Its model in 3230ul. Am I correct in my assessment that the converter only converts a/c to DC and charges the battery? Would I need an inverter if I want to use 120v ac outlet when boondocking and using battery? If so, Any recommendations that I should look at for a new electrical converter system? Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Sorry so long getting back to you. Been busy the last few days.
I'm assuming your old power converter is this one. A Parallax 120 VAC to 12 VDC converter. This is a manual I found on the 3230
https://d163axztg8am2h.cloudfront.net/static/doc/a8/ae/3c23daa3c41e3d4d05549dd4fa19.pdf
And this
https://d163axztg8am2h.cloudfront.net/static/doc/4a/95/68c3313cf77b6548b73081664063.pdf
The current day website for Parallax
Recreational Vehicle Products | Anderson, IN
If I have that correct, this is a 120 VAC power converter to create up to 30 amps 12 VDC power to run the camper. It details that it has an automatic relay that drops out the 12 volt battery and powers the camper from the 120 to 12 volt conversion.
It seems some of these older power converters had to have an option to be able to actually charge the battery. I cannot decode from your 3230ul what options it has. The manual, if that is the right one, says Option C in the part number is for the battery charging feature.
That model seems to now be obsolete. And if it is the original with the camper, those older battery chargers were not really very good chargers. They can cook a battery to death.
I do have a recommendation on a good power converter that has 3 stage charging plus a desulfation mode. The Progressive Dynamics brand. These guys,
https://www.progressivedyn.com/
I upgraded mine to one of the their stand alone power converters as I was able to reuse my old fuse panel. I just gutted the old converter and tied the new one into the main fuse panel were the old converter tied in. See this post for more on my upgrade.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f65/power-converter-upgrade-8888.html
In your case, you need to sort out if your old fuse panel and 120 VAC breakers are usable or not. Progressive Dynamics makes both stand alone power converters or combined units with breakers slots and fuses.
Can you post some pics of what yours looks like? We can then see what you have and if it makes sure to reuse part of the old system or upgrade.
When boondocking, recharging your battery is a for sure need. The Progressive Dynamics with the charge wizard will kick into boost charge if the battery is low enough easily or can be switched by the remote pendant. This comes in handy when using a generator as part of your recharging method. Some folks use solar, some a generator and others use both. And some just bring extra fully charged batteries and change them out.
To boondock successfully it all comes down to power management. This is easier today than 10 years ago. The old incandescent lights are the first to get changed out to LED's. Many times it is just a bulb change and you can keep the old fixture. The LED lights can use 4 to 5 times less power per 1 old incandescent light. Means you can light up 4 to 5 LEDS lights at the same power as 1 old light. The water pump and the furnace, are 12 volt power users with the furnace being the worst offender. The blower motor is the issue. It gets really hard to run a RV furnace off a battery setup for winter camping. But warm weather with only an occasional cool night you may be able to squeak by running off your battery bank.
Back to your power needs. You need to think long and hard about what you "must" have and what is "nice to" have when boondocking. That is going to set the sizing of your battery bank. The bigger the battery capacity, the more power. But it also comes with, you have to be able to recharge it in a timely manner. We can help on the sizing but you need to tell us what you have to power. Some folks need a C pap machine to run all night, others don't. Some want to run a fan at night to help cool the camper. Some want a small amount of 120 VAC to run a laptop or recharge phones/ tablets. Think this through and come back to us. Going boondocking and setting up the battery bank, converter and how to recharge the batteries is a post in it self.
You mentioned and inverter. Meaning using 12 volt battery power to create 120 VAC. This comes back to how much load are you trying to create and how often will you use it? Small items like a lap top or phone charging is easier than trying to run larger power items. This again comes back to how big are the batteries, how do they get recharged in time and how are you going to recharge them?
We boondock a lot. We are power misers and converted the camper to all LED lights. We use a Progressive Dynamics power converter and a 2000 watt Honda generator to recharge qty 2, group 27 lead acid batteries. We can only run the generator 4 to 5 hours power day at the camps we go to. We can camp this way a long time. Weeks to a month or more. The wife gets the microwave run in if needed while we are generating. So far, we have no need for an inverter. The laptop recharges from 120 VAC during generation and the phones off of 12 VDC from the batteries if needed. We have never run out of power. We can run the Max Air roof vent fan if needed for air cooling. We cannot power up the roof AC unit with our current setup. I would need to add a 2nd generator or a bigger single unit. Again, we can only run the generator 4 to 5 hrs a day anyway.
Hope this helps get you started.
John