Hi everyone. I'm looking to replace the charger in my 95 Monarch (it's a PowerSource PC-75) with something that offers multistage charging. I have two or three questions:
1. In the "Power System" section of the manual that came with my Barth there is an insert that states " To protect the batteries from boiling dry we must now wire the cut-off solenoid differently. The converter will be wired to the "cold" side of the solenoid. If the unit is plugged into shore power the switch at the entry door should be shut off . By doing this, the converter will be supplying power to the interior but not charging the batteries.
Do any of you have the same arrangement in your coach? When upgrading your charger/converter did you reconfigure this wiring?
2. From reading through various threads on this subject I see that Progressive Dynamics' 9200 series is a favored choice for this upgrade. I'm also looking at the Powermax PM4B-75 boondocking converter as it seems comparable, offers 4 stage charging and a 3 year warranty for about the same price. Any thoughts?

It sounds like the PC-75 may be a dual-output - one section for powering the house 12VDC, another for charging the battery.

The Progressive Dynamics single-output connect to the batteries, which power the house while the PD keeps them charged. The PD operates as a float charger, shutting off when needed. It also provides a daily desulfating session.

The cutoff switch is no longer critical, as the PD upkeeps the batteries whether the interior is on or off (at least in my coach).

We have the same requirement in our 93 Breakaway. As we still have a "dumb" converter in the coach we follow the instructions ---- the solenoid that controls this function runs warm, an indication of power consumption.
When we boondock this unfortunately becomes an battery drain.

Bud

Rusty - I think you're right that it might have dual output but I haven't got it out yet to be able to examine the output and connections closely. Unfortunately the compartment where all the electrical stuff is (under the foot of the bed in my coach) is really stuffed with panels, switches, wires etc...it's a little hard to tell what's going on there.

Anyway, I have no doubt that either one of the two replacement chargers I mentioned would do a superior job of taking care of the batteries, it's really more of question about how the new charger unit should be wired in since it won't have the same problem as the one it's replacing.
I only bought this coach a couple months back. Since then I've been trying to familiarize with it and start bringing things like this up to a current standard. The PO mentioned that the coach batteries were pretty much done for so I just replaced them with a pair of Trojan T145s. The new charger system is needed to avoid damaging the new batteries.

Bud - FWIW I haven't had a chance to do any boondocking yet but I intend to, possibly this winter. It seems to me this thing was made for it considering tankage alone.

Anyway, thank you both for your feedback and I would be happy to explore it further with you or anyone else who care to comment.

Sneelock

Just a quick update on this project. I ended up selecting the Progressive Dynamics PD60c, based mostly on PD having such a good rep on various RV forums and being that it is an American made product. Both converters mentioned earlier cost about the same.

The convert arrived today and I hope to install it tomorrow or the next day. Still a little confused about the cut-off switch issue but if I can't figure it out I'll just leave it wired the way it is now for the time being.

I'll try to report back once everything is sorted out.

Mark the output wires carefully; the old output to the house and the one to the batteries have to be connected to the single output, if indeed yours is dual-output.

Well, installed the new converter yesterday and only a single output was in use on the old one so all I needed to do was swap out terminal for terminal. At this point I'm still not sure exactly what they were trying to do when my coach was originally wired.

I suspect the PowerSource charger itself may have been a replacement for whatever was installed originally. In any event, it seems like having a converter wired in such a way and it wouldn't actually function as a battery charger when plugged in to shore power kind of defeats the main purpose of having one. But then I'm a noob to RVing.

Is there a 'common' or 'conventional' way that coaches are wired? For example, when plugged in to shore power do most coaches still leave the 12v house system on?

We'll be taking a road trip for a couple of weeks soon. It will be interesting to see how it works out and whether it will be necessary to make further adjustments.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Good questions. Unfortunately, there is little consistency among coaches, even of the same brand.

Early battery chargers (ie 60's through 80's) were devices which required fairly high current diodes (expensive back then) to deliver the amperage needed to run devices and charge batteries. Unfortunately, they were also very poorly regulated and often overcharged the batteries, requiring constant monitoring of water levels.

Some were essentially dual chargers, one for the coach devices and one to charge the batteries, with the same problems. Since the chargers were so likely to overcharge, it was desirable to be able to run the coach stuff without charging the batts, ie when living in the coach plugged in to shore power. The separate chargers allowed for this.

The newer well regulated chargers came along and eliminated these problems so many coaches then went to single output systems. They can run the coach stuff and will never overcharge the batts.

For reasons not clear to me, the coaches often had no provision for charging the starting batteries, except with the engine alternator.

I suspect the mess you found was the result of someone converting an older dual system to the single system you just replaced.

Another related area was the transfer from generator to shore power. Some coaches have an automatic switch that transfers to the generator when it is running, then back to shore power when not. My coach, OTOH, has a manual transfer switch to do this. The automatic ones are convenient, but their high current relays are somewhat prone to failure. I have seen no failures with the manual switches.

I now have a single output Progressive Dynamics system. I keep it plugged in almost all the time and I have not added water to the batteries in 3 years.

Hopefully your new convertor is working correctly and you can enjoy modern trouble free charging. Good luck, keep us posted.