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Old 03-29-2014, 10:56 PM   #1
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electrical questions

Hi guys,
i have a few questions you guys might be able to help me with. first one is with my power converter. would you guys know if the charger on this converter would be ok for charging AGM batteries. if it is then i can put the house batteries inside the bus(blurry picture sorry ill take a bunch of better ones tomorow):


is this solid piece of wire the common ground that i should attach to the bus frame?



on my 3 way fridge these are the wires for 12V DC i believe. but they are the same color. does anyone know how can i figure out which one is ground?



any advice would be great

thanks
Eric

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Old 03-30-2014, 11:18 AM   #2
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Re: electrical questions

I have often had good luck finding wiring diagrams via Google. For example, I just now typed in 3-way frig wiring and got among others a complete wiring diagram for Domestic 3-ways. You may have to print the diagram to make it easy to read but then you'd have the exact info you need rather than trusting to one of our "experts". Considering how expensive 3-way refrigerators are it would certainly be better to go with the mfg's info than to use the Lucas Electric smoke test apt to be offered up by one of us Skoolies.

In the event you can't find a diagram trace the wires to their terminus. If they both go directly to the 12 volt heater element without interruption, (and without other wires merging) it would make no difference which was which because a heater as you know is just a controlled high resistance short and short circuits don't care which way the electrons flow. Next I guess you'd need to do the smoke test--are you feeling lucky?
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Old 03-30-2014, 06:30 PM   #3
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Re: electrical questions

Thanks Trunt,
ill look into info on the fridge, its a pretty old one though, but it works

here is a better picture of the wires on the power converter. i wonder what this larger black one is for?

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Old 03-31-2014, 12:14 AM   #4
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Re: electrical questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by proconsul100
Hi guys,
i have a few questions you guys might be able to help me with. first one is with my power converter. would you guys know if the charger on this converter would be ok for charging AGM batteries. if it is then i can put the house batteries inside the bus . . . . any advice would be great

thanks
Eric
The voltage on a generic power converter may be a little too high for an AGM. The converter on my camper is a computerized three-state charger with pre-programmed fast charge/top-off/trickle charge voltages. The settings on mine are not adjustable, and the fast charge voltage is too high for the gel-cells I often work with. For a test, I would connect your converter to a standard automotive battery and monitor the voltage across the terminals during the charging cycles with a digital voltmeter. Then I would look at the battery manufacturer's data sheet for the particular AGM batteries in question, and decide if the converter is safe for them or not. Remember, if you over-charge an AGM or gel cell and it vents, you can't just add distilled water to restore the lost capacity.

Some battery maintainers have a wet cell/gel cell switch to change between two presets to allow for the lower charging voltage. Some others may be fully adjustable either with dip switches or an internal screwdriver adjustment. Mine isn't, believe me I checked.
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Old 03-31-2014, 01:22 AM   #5
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Re: electrical questions

thanks Redbear,
its a pretty old converter, they probably didn't have AGM batteries back then for RV`s. i think ill try your suggestion using a car battery, or perhaps i could get some wet cells and hang them under the bus, or add a vent if i put them in a box in the bus i wold hate to destroy AGM batteries.

thanks
Eric
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Old 03-31-2014, 01:28 PM   #6
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Re: electrical questions

This:

http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/the- ... -puzzle-2/
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