I think I have found the folly in searching the archives on the forums with respect to upgrading/replacing converters and converter/chargers.
I bought a 2004 22' Safari, and set up in a local Air Force Base family camp to see if everything worked (30 day warranty).
Next I spent 2 days in a BLM run camp with water and electric, and the third use was 10 days in a Boondocking situation in Kenton, Oklahoma where we could pull water from a building and shower in the building, but no electric or sewer or water hookups. I think I enjoyed that one the most.
My wife and I planned for fresh water, gray water and black water savings: paper plates, showers in the camp, porta-potties cleaned every two days on the grounds... pretty well done. We left with our gray water tank and black water tank on green status (less than 1/8 full).
The toughest thing, as it turned out, was battery use. I have since replaced the 1141's with LEDs but am trying to figure out how to make better use of my batteries.
I have read all the postings, and find numerous recommendations to replace the Parallax 7300 with a Progressive Dynamics 4645, etc.
I can understand the benefits to go to a 3 or 4 stage charger, but when I researched the PD4645, I found it had been replaced twice by newer lines.
In short, the recommendations become aged, and if not careful, someone could replace old technology with more old technology.
Here is my problem. Not knowing what I was doing, but trying to be prudent, I bought a 30 amp monitor that finds polarity issues and provides surge protection, but it doesn't detect low voltage and protect or turn off anything. I should have done my homework better and bought the more expensive one...
But these days, I ought to be able to get a power center that does that as well as provide 4 stage charging (including the float and equalization modes AND provides for temperature adjustments to current feeds to the batteries.
I bought a Trimetric meter and a Morningstar Tristar PWM Solar Controller, and I should be able to host at least one panel (ground mounted and portable) to provide battery charging, and I should be able to isolate that part of the system from the rest, but it would be nice to be able to have the system when hooked to utility power or a generator, charge the batteries effectively when I don't put out the solar.
So the question is, "What new technology will provide me all these benefits, replace an older Parallax 7345, and play nice with a solar controller?"
I bought a 2004 22' Safari, and set up in a local Air Force Base family camp to see if everything worked (30 day warranty).
Next I spent 2 days in a BLM run camp with water and electric, and the third use was 10 days in a Boondocking situation in Kenton, Oklahoma where we could pull water from a building and shower in the building, but no electric or sewer or water hookups. I think I enjoyed that one the most.
My wife and I planned for fresh water, gray water and black water savings: paper plates, showers in the camp, porta-potties cleaned every two days on the grounds... pretty well done. We left with our gray water tank and black water tank on green status (less than 1/8 full).
The toughest thing, as it turned out, was battery use. I have since replaced the 1141's with LEDs but am trying to figure out how to make better use of my batteries.
I have read all the postings, and find numerous recommendations to replace the Parallax 7300 with a Progressive Dynamics 4645, etc.
I can understand the benefits to go to a 3 or 4 stage charger, but when I researched the PD4645, I found it had been replaced twice by newer lines.
In short, the recommendations become aged, and if not careful, someone could replace old technology with more old technology.
Here is my problem. Not knowing what I was doing, but trying to be prudent, I bought a 30 amp monitor that finds polarity issues and provides surge protection, but it doesn't detect low voltage and protect or turn off anything. I should have done my homework better and bought the more expensive one...
But these days, I ought to be able to get a power center that does that as well as provide 4 stage charging (including the float and equalization modes AND provides for temperature adjustments to current feeds to the batteries.
I bought a Trimetric meter and a Morningstar Tristar PWM Solar Controller, and I should be able to host at least one panel (ground mounted and portable) to provide battery charging, and I should be able to isolate that part of the system from the rest, but it would be nice to be able to have the system when hooked to utility power or a generator, charge the batteries effectively when I don't put out the solar.
So the question is, "What new technology will provide me all these benefits, replace an older Parallax 7345, and play nice with a solar controller?"
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