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Old 01-16-2025, 10:12 AM   #1
Jay & Bobbie
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Converter replacement?

After months of frustration, I think it's time to replace the converter.
A little history:
The charging system has functioned flawlessly. I noticed the battery usage was significant during travel while the inverter was providing power to the refrigerator. This became an issue if we wanted to overnight at a Walmart or similar place with no availability of shore power to replenish the battery overnight.
I do carry a generator, but feel it is not acceptable to run it in a parking lot.
Remedy:
I installed a DC to DC charging system that keeps the battery at 100% while traveling.
Current issue:
Now, while on shore power, the converter will charge for about 24-30 hours and then stop charging. Now, while the camper is in storage in the barn hooked to 50amp shore power, the battery (200ah agm) is down to 60% and will not charge any higher. The voltage is good, so no worries about battery failure.
Conclusion:
After going through the checklist provide by Carl, all breakers, fuses, and volt meter readings point to converter failure.
If I have left anything out, I would love to know.
Question:
I currently have the oem WFCO 65 amp (WF-9865) converter.
I am looking at the Progressive Dynamics PD 9260 CV as replacement.
I may someday switch to lithium batteries,so I think this would be an appropriate choice.
I would like to here thoughts and any other suggestions.
 
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Old 01-16-2025, 10:39 AM   #2
AZ Traveler
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Jay,

What are you using to determine the state of charge of your battery bank?

What is the voltage on your bank 10 minutes after removing shore power?

What is age of your battery bank?
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Old 01-16-2025, 03:48 PM   #3
Jay & Bobbie
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AZ,
I have a Renogy 500A battery monitor w/shunt.

The battery voltage is 12.6 after power disconnected for 10 minutes. I will add, it is the same after 24 hours with power and the converter is no longer charging.

The battery was purchased July 2023.

Other notes to consider:
When I got to the barn this afternoon, the monitor showed a -0.85a / 5.53w discharge. I assume that is from phantom power use.
When power is restored, the battery voltage jumps to 13.4v /+2.35a.
The battery was at 57% today when I was there. It is important to note, I have the monitor settings set so a reading of 0% is in reality 50% of the battery. That is so the alarm will sound when the battery is at 50% discharge.
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Old 01-16-2025, 03:56 PM   #4
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Jay,

Since you are getting 13.4 v at the battery bank when on shore power it appears the converter is working.

Another test you can try before replacing parts. If you have a regular battery charger try charging with it. If the batteries get a full charge it indicates a likely converter issue. If they still don't charge, you likely have bad batteries.
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Old 01-16-2025, 08:48 PM   #5
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After the tests above, might also be worth disconnecting the battery so you have no load to see if you still get the voltage drop after 10 mins and 1 hr.
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Old 01-17-2025, 03:47 PM   #6
Jay & Bobbie
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AZ, I disconnected shore power, attached a standard car battery charger, and within a minute, the battery monitor jumped from 57% to 100%.
The voltage with the battery charger was 14.6.
I left the battery charger on for an hour with no change on the battery monitor.
I disconnected the battery charger and restored shore power. The converter fan came on for about 2 minutes and shut off. The battery monitor is currently showing 100%, 0.61a of charge, 13.6v on the battery.
It's getting late, and I still have a few other tests I want to try, but I'm beginning to think the battery monitor may be the issue now.
It may be a few days before I will be able to do addition test due to the weather we are expecting.
Will update when I can.
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Old 01-18-2025, 06:27 PM   #7
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You didn't mention the year of your unit but you said the OEM was a wfco. To my knowledge Montana never used WFCO converters so I suspect you bought this used and the converter was already changed. Progressive Dynamics is the OEM brand of converter.
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Old 01-18-2025, 08:04 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by artfuldodger View Post
You didn't mention the year of your unit but you said the OEM was a wfco. To my knowledge Montana never used WFCO converters so I suspect you bought this used and the converter was already changed. Progressive Dynamics is the OEM brand of converter.
The WFCO converter was used in early Montanas (2000-2002) and is used in current High Country Montanas (which the OP has).
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Old 01-21-2025, 09:15 PM   #9
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FYI... When connected to shore power we get 14.4 - 14.6 volts to the batteries. My unit has a voltmeter which indicates charge voltage when plugged into shore power. I have verified this reading using my digital voltmeter.
When we lived on a small yacht, we had an issue with one AGM batteries in our main battery bank. There were 8 batteries in that bank. That one battery issue kept the charge voltage from going above 13.8 volts and kept draining the entire bank when not plugged to shore power. The batteries were 6 years old so we changed all of them. Problem solved. We then added a bank of 12 golf cart batteries (12 volt) to power the inverter circuit. The inverter was also a charger so whenever we were connected to shore power or running the generator those golf cart batteries were charged from the inverter and the batteries in the main bank were charged from the main charger.
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Old 02-02-2025, 11:31 AM   #10
Jay & Bobbie
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Update:
After some really cold temps and limited days to get in the camper, I have been doing some more testing.
1. I connected a standard battery charger to the battery and the onboard monitor shows 14.7 v of charge.
2, When the camper is connected to shore power and the converter is on, the battery is showing 13.6 v of charge.
3. The converter will charge and maintain 100% (according to the monitor) for only a couple days and then stop charging all together and the battery will then begin to discharge. The fan on the converter sounds rather erratic also.

I think I will take the battery out and have it checked at an AutoZone or something. Is that a good idea?

The other question is: could the battery (if bad) be causing the strange behavior with the converter, or is it also failing?

I'm really struggling with this.
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Old 02-02-2025, 11:36 AM   #11
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Always start by testing the battery. The fan is intermittent and runs when needed. There could still be a problem with the charger. Charge the battery before you load test it.
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Old 02-02-2025, 01:25 PM   #12
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Foldback is correct... always start by testing the batteries. I don't understand why the charger would shutoff. Yes, the cooling fan will likely go on and off because it should be controlled by a thermostat of some type. However, when your rig is connected to shore power the battery should be receiving 14.4 -14.6 volts unless the battery has a bad cell or the charger has an issue. Most likely you have a bad battery which is drawing too much charge current. That excessive current is probably overheating the charger which will shut down to protect itself. Hopefully the charger is still okay. Have Autozone test the battery but if the battery is more then 4 years old I would change it anyway.
You can email me at jkxtreme@hotmail.com and I will provide a phone number for you to call.
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