Quote:
I have purchased a new controller. I BOUGHT THIS ONE BECAUSE IT PROVIDES 735A AND HAS A CHARGE WIZARD BUILT IN.
Now, in my big foot there is an existing controller. It is part of an electrical box that includes a 110v output with circuit breakers and a 12v fuse panel. I'm hopeing to simply bypass it. I think I can plug the new controller into a 110 recepticle in the electrical box area and feed the output wires to the existing fuse panel so that the 12v juice comes from the new controler and not the old one. All the existing 110 circuit breakers should be unaffected and if I disconnect the old controllers output wires and put them into the new unit I should be done. I don't beleive I need to rewire anything else.
AM I DREAMING OR BEING TO SIMPLE MINDED? 
Any thoughts would be appreciated
Paul
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Under certain circumstances this could work, just be sure to disconnect all the 12 V supply wires from the old converter. Some of these older models have both a regulated and unregulated positive 12V supply wires to the panel, so just connect both positive terminals on the fuse panel to the new converter. Disconnect the 120V AC wiring to the old converter as well. Check the wire sizing to your
battery it see if it is adequate for the maximum current output of your new converter - 30A/10 gauge, 40A/8 gauge and so on.
I installed a PD Intelipower 9140 with the external Charge Wizard last year. I removed the old converter and installed the new one in the cavity, but it involved fabricating new brackets to remount the old face plate. I upgraded the wiring to the
battery. I also had a space to install an extra 15A AC circuit breaker, so I wired the new converter to this and it is now on a separate circuit instead of sharing the house plug and
refrigerator circuit. Check the AC wattage rating of your new converter to see if you are comfortable that the added load to the house/refrigerator circuit won't be a potential problem. You could encounter nuisance breaker blowing if your
refrigerator is operating on AC while the converter is putting maximum current into a low
battery. Now plug something into the house plugs - POP!
I have an inverter sometimes supplying my house plugs as well, and I don't want it to try to feed the converter from the inverter. If you have an inverter connected to your trailer electrical system you should remember to disconnect the AC feed to your converter when the inverter is active. In my case, I have a fool proof and crude method of connecting the house plugs into either the main (shore) AC supply OR the inverter that involves a simple AC plug and receptical. An automatic transfer switch (relay) would be more convenient, but I am not convinced it would be as reliable. Since the converter AC feed is always disconnected from the inverter AC output I suffer no extra battery current drain due to power losses incurred if the converter and inverter were connected in a circle.
I hope this information is useful to you.
Steve.
Linear Mode
