http://www.bestconverter.com/PD4655MBA-WildKat-55-Amp-Main-Board-Assembly-for-WFCO-8955-or-Parallax-7155-Includes-4600-Remote_p_616.html - One source for the PD unit

It's literally plug and play. Took about 45 minutes the first one I did, about 15 on the last one.

My replacement WFCO arrived a few days ago, will carry it as a spare.

Went with the Progressive Dynamics PD4655V. Amazon =>  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OR4242/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OR4242/

The unit itself is a direct replacement and pretty straight forward. The distribution board, however,  does not fit (my) WFCO 8955. Also, the board that came with it is a 80 amp board with a max fused position of 20 amp vs. the existing 150 amp board with max fused position of 30 amp for slideout. I decided to use the existing WFCO 8955 distribution board and confirmed with Progressive Dynamics. They did, in fact, send me a "charge wizard" dongle if I wished to use the manual 14.2 v. boost mode override. The override might be useful for pumping a bunch of amps into batteries in a short amount of time while on generator.

My experience so far has been that the dongle seems unnecessary. I have a panel mounted voltmeter and the converter seems to be intelligently and quietly charging @ 14.2, 13.6 and 13.2 volts as needed.

I am glad I made the swap and sleep better.

fred

I carry a Yamaha 2400 genny. During a ridiculously hot and skeetery night night on Prince Edward Island boon docking, I found my AC would not kick on with generator. Surprised me. Turns out the PD4655V draws about 950 watts @ full load and AC (measured) is 1600+ watts. A bit too much for Yammy. Turning off converter for AC works fine.

I measured the AC with my Kill-A-Watt. That's where the 1600+ came from. It wasn't happy. The 950 watts came from the Progressive Dynamics website =>  https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/power-converters/inteli-power-4600-series/#specifications - https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/power-converters/inteli-power-4600-series/#specifications

Perhaps I am reading it wrong?

fred

One of the things I saw on youtube that made sense was an RVer who had a small 150a inverter that would plug into cig lighter. He used it to run a 12 v charger and charged a spare 12v battery when he was traveling. Battery sat on passenger side floorboards while charging. Fairly low cost and trouble free backup.

I think bringing a decent battery charger will be a must for me.

Solar will also help.

I have a deep cycle marine battery, brand new. Bought to run Elec trolling motor. I think it will be coming with.  A set of jumper cables and I have a spare backup battery.

I certainly do not intend to rely on the converter. The only question is if it is worth it to replace it. Or just find a small battery charger hooked up and wired to shore power.

Fred,

Could you tell me the part # of the Charging Wizard dongle and does it plug directly into the converter board at the front where it has a 4 pin (I think its four?) port plug labeled H3? I too kept the WFCO 8955 fuse distribution board so I'll need this external controller from Progressive Dynamics to take advantage charging options on my PD4655V. I plan on calling Progressive Dynamics the first of the week so it would be helpful to have this information. Thanks!

I used their online form @  http://www.progressivedyn.com/contact-us/ - https://www.progressivedyn.com/contact-us/

My Message:

I got an email back in a day or so...

I haven't done it yet. It will require a small bit of soldering. ==>  https://www.progressivedyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PD92201_for_PD4600.pdf - https://www.progressivedyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PD92201_for_PD4600.pdf

Hope that helps,

fred

Fred,

It helps allot, thanks! I had my RV repair shop replace the converter since they helped bail me out of trouble when I was on the road and it failed. So now I need to also contact them to see if they still have the harness connector that should of come with the converter. If not I guess I'll be buying one from Progressive Dynamics when I call and I also have your post in front of me when I talk to them. Again thanks!

Dave

Originally posted by Tibof    BTW, the WFCO failed due to a ceramic resistor falling right out!  WFCO says they don't see that and something must have been done to it.  Riiiight.  My son says he got up in the night and took the converter out and wiggled the resistor until it fell out.  He threw the resistor on the compartment floor and then he put the converter back and went back to bed.

Tibof, seems your son had the same experience as I and many other have had with the shoddy WFCO converters. Why Forest River even uses this manufacture after so many complaints is beyond me?

Originally posted by Keith-N-Dar How many converters have failed?  How many have been installed? I would be interessted in the numbers you have to prove your case.  in Tibof's case the converter was way out of warranty.

I believe if count up the number of people who have posted on this forum on the failures of WFCO converters it is more then obvious this company now has a problem. One that could easily be solved by a more generous use of silicon caulk to anchor the ceramic power resistors to the circuit board which would prevent their leads breaking off from vibration. I spent my career working on electronics in a very heavy vibration environment so not to brag but I think I'm a bit qualified to make a diagnosis and judgement. No matter who manufactures a converter or how long you have had it there is no excuse for this type of fault, period! Tibof has a valid complaint whether or not his converter was in or not in the warranty period. We all may agree to disagree here on this or other issues concerning our R-Pods that part of what an open forum is all about. In the end it's about helping each other out with what ever problems we encounter on out campers I would hope everyone would agree with? One can only hope some one from Forest River is also viewing these posts and comes to the conclusion they have a problem they need to address.

Originally posted by Keith-N-Dar Inother words you don't have data.  You have an opinion.

Let see I think you can count as well as I can, yes? When numerous forum user post they have a problem then I think that gives you a good indication there is a problem. Yes, I do have a OPINION, indeed, its an opinion from spending over thirty years repairing electronic circuits that are used in a high vibration environment. Which I believe may give me some validity to make an opinion but I guess you believe otherwise? So please tell me and everyone else what your opinion is and your qualifications to come to such a conclusion.

Peace 

The WFCO converter has a two year warranty.  We can debate the meaning of "way out" but given the age of the Pod in question, we are looking at 3 years at most on this one, ie. a year beyond the deadline.  I was told by WFCO that they can go beyond the two years, but they wouldn't define what that meant.  But, OK, lets accept the strict deadline of the warranty.  As you may know from my spoiler issue, if it is a product defect (as with the spoiler), my view is that a good company stands behind the product rather than blame the problem on the owner or some unseen force. In another conversation with WFCO, I was told that the problem was probably due to a thin or cold solder joint. That's a product defect.  Given the minimal cost WFCO has in one of those foreign made converters, they could easily meet the consumer of a bad product half way (and still make money and a strong reputation that's worth money). Prove the case?  Even the small sample that shows up in this forum (which is actually empirical data) is sufficient mathematically to verify a wide range of failures.

+1 Exactly, well stated.

Obvious things that are killers to electronics circuits are water, heat, and vibration. We can eliminate water to this which leave's only heat and vibration. I don't think WFCO problem is heat since they use a computer fan plus large ceramic power resistors that can dissipate a large amount of heat. So that leaves only vibration and I was shocked to find when my converter died only a little dab of caulk cementing these resistors to the circuit board that had broken loose. If you want to insure that your WFCO converter will not have the same problem the solution is simple. Buy a tube of silicon adhesive and put a generous amount of this around these resistors and the circuit board. These resistors are pretty obvious in that they are large white square ceramic components (two in the front and one toward the rear of the board if I remember right) and don't worry how much silicon you use to anchor them to the circuit board since its non-conductive.   

Originally posted by mcarter Not sure about that, mine in bulk is over 14 volts. Float 13.1 and absorbtion is 13.6. The charging cycle is defined by battery charge status. I have never seen mine in bulk. I have a volt gauge and monitor 12V status. Mine cycles in 2 phases, which is normal for a properly charged and used battery.

You won't see bulk mode as a voltage. Most smart chargers are in bulk at the beginning of a charge cycle "on their way" to absorb mode. They will be limited by the maximum current the charger is capable of. Once they reach the absorb voltage, they will hold that voltage as the current slowly decreases. Once the current at the absorb voltage gets to "the set point", the charger will drop to float mode.

I have been installing remote solar-powered communications sites for over a decade. Here is a graph showing the different cycles and the voltage/current relationships. The equalization stage is not normally run every cycle; only "periodically", and some chargers won't have an equalization stage.

Hey Mike, I'm just now catching up on this thread - if you are able, would you mind sharing which voltmeter combo you used? Would like to purchase one myself. Thx!

Thx!

BOOST MODE The output voltage is 14.4VDC to rapidly recharge the battery up to  90% of full charge. NORMAL MODE When the battery is between 50% and 90% charged. When in this mode the output voltage is 13.6VDC and the converter is safely completing the charge of the battery. STORAGE MODE In this mode the output voltage has been lowered to 13.2VDC, the RV battery is fully charged and the converter is maintaining the charge. EQUALIZATION MODE In this mode the output voltage is 14.4 Volts – Every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes prevents battery stratification & sulfation – the leading cause of battery failure.

+1 to both GlueGuy and fwunder who both are just describing the same functions differently.

Hooked up the "charge wizard" pendent to my Progressive Dynamics circuit board today. I like now having the options of stepping through different charging modes and being able to quickly diagnose a problem with the converter. 

fred

fred

Thanks