mounted 2 battery charger advice sought

[mark d]

this is my auxillary battery set up. battery charger passed away recently. any advice on a replacement would be appreciated. it charged both batteries

note: i did use search first and surprisingly got nada

thanks
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[SGKent]

if you can contact Telford, and find a way to get it to him from Costa Rica he might be able to repair it. That said, is it the charger or the inverter that is defective? Because:

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Pro-RS2-Recreation-Cha...4196785172
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[mark d]

it´s the charger. inverter just lives there. damn $200 for 2 6 amp banks ?

i saw this....

https://www.hodgesmarine.com/prm43012-promariner-p...hiEALw_wcB

for $140. maybe it´s crap ?
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[RWK]

https://www.progressivedyn.com/
One of the best out there, US made and fully tested, different sizes avail.
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73 Type 181
63 Type 113
63 Type 261- 428 071
62 Type 241-378 025 178 530

[mark d]

[sebgi1]

[mark d]

ok i got it now, thanks....they do not mention 2 banks, but the more expensive ones (PD9160AV, 60 amp ) have an extra pos and neg hook up so i guess they do have 2 bank capability. strange they don´t mention it, but maybe i missed something again. they do look nice

thanks
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[RWK]

Call them, great C.S., they are used in all the high end RVs and trailers, as OEM.
other company is Wisco International, that should tell you something.
Those 2 company's produce probably 8 out of 10 of all the chargers/inverters for ALL the RVs. Obviously Wisco is struggling due to parts shortage from their Int.
source, both company's can't keep up with demand.
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73 Type 181
63 Type 113
63 Type 261- 428 071
62 Type 241-378 025 178 530

[metahacker]

if you are using the dual-bank independent charging feature displayed in your current configuration, that will restrict your options a bit

you might find that this configuration is most commonly supported on chargers sold as "marine" units

The Progressive Dynamics linked above seems nice, their PD2140 model would be similar to what you have but more than 3x the output. I am not sure I see another that is dual output and smaller.

So that would perhaps a bit overkill, if you are just running 1+1 batteries. I assume what you have now is 6A+6A .. I believe the replacement PD unit would be 20A+20A. Maybe that's okay (if you're running LiFePO4 e.g. lithium it is easy to feed that much power [or 2-5x that] in effectively, but looks like you have an AGM Optima... which means you don't want to exceed continuous 10A)

Minn-Kota, NOCO or ProMariner may be good options to consider.

I would say that the Optimate DUO is another option if you want to be really really nice on your batteries but the amp output is so low (2A)... it isn't going to bulk charge very well.

Another option would be to eliminate your battery isolator, bridge the batteries in the vehicle together, and widen your choice of chargers (I would say something like a Victron unit would be nice).

In this bridged configuration, you could easily protect your vehicle from a "no start" situation by having a Victron Smart BatteryProtect cut off any "battery drain" loads (e.g. what the house battery serves - that fuse panel / inverter) when you run low on juice. You would double your camping capacity this way, but you need to run an Optima Yellow in your starter position. You could, theoretically, have a 3rd battery in the driver's side engine bay as well (seems your house battery is inside the vehicle, so I assume that position is empty now).

Perhaps your two bank charger is already feeding "another" house battery that's in said driver's side engine bay spot (and both are wired as house batteries) and you are not charging the starter battery with the AC battery charger. If so, you don't need a two bank charger. Since they are running in parallel, you can just use a single charger of 20A total output or less.. If they are wired that way, then the charger probably isn't running in dual bank mode already.

I don't really know based on just the one pic. But that kind of covers every scenario I can think of.

[mark d]

metahacker,

just now seeing this,

wow, thanks for the very thorough reply. A lot to digest there. I have a marine refrigeration unit that runs my icebox in the position of the spare battery in the engine compartment. I wanted max ventilation when running it while camping.

batteries are isolated when the engine is off by the cheapo unit below, but it works. ...yep 6 amps is what the charger puts out per bank. kinda marginal when camping, if i have access to electricity. i have it wired so that the exterior plug in goes to the charger and also to the original outlet

this is how i monitor the batteries. po had cut a hole in the cabinet so i used the gauge and the switch to hide it. switch goes to a windshield washer pump that i have running to the faucet

thanks to all that replied
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[metahacker]

cool hope the info helps. any more questions, just shoot

your setup sounds cool and clever.

is the engine bay unit a danfoss-secop BD series remote compressor/condenser? got any pics?

it's nice having that heat outside of the interior...and the engine fan will help the cooling of the condenser unit in the bay. when i monitored temps with sensors, the engine bay was always about the same temp as exterior ambient as long as the engine was running (that said, it does have quite a bit of heat soak after initial shut-down for a bit).

did you retrofit the evaporator into a standard westfalia icebox???

seems like a cool bus

side note - what's the deal with costa rica buses anyway? i've been trying to research them and i see a lot of 72 crossover style buses. maybe just a coincidence.
i notice that you guys have the german ones down there... not brazillian. pretty cool. must be fun having a nice bus like yours down there.

[mark d]

i work on a ship which is where i am now so i can,t send any photos of engine bay. yes the evaporator is in the original westfalia ice box. i ran everything through the original drain hole so no damage to the cabinet. when i get to my destination i open the engine hatch so things will cool quickly. on a camping trip i spend far more time parked then running so i was not too concerned with the engine bay heat. interesting to read your comments on the temperatures you have seen in the engine compartment

yes on the german buses. mine was born in germany and delivered to pannama. how she found her way to costa rica i have no idea

thanks again for your help, here is my favorite photo of her

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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[metahacker]

brilliant. that makes a ton of sense. and cheers on the clean install reusing even the existing drain hole, and the on-board changer to enable non-stop running parked with grid power.

i'm always upset when i see people removing their beautiful classic westfalia sink/cooler cabinets so they can put an ice chest there and carry a jug of water. savage
what they should be doing is updating the functionality and maintaining the originality of the vehicle design as you have done.

it also seems a bit absurd "nowadays" to not have a working refrigerator in a "camper van" and to end up chasing ice on off grid sessions. that said, it also seems beyond the actual desires of most VW Bus aficionados (not including Vanagon people, who do this kind of shit every day, but have less of a "stylistic purity" dilemma to contend with), at this point, to design a complete system such as the one you have.

that said, the "state of the art" does seem to be advancing, as i suddenly see lots of solar panels (typically portable folding ones) now at the big VW camp outs....whereas 4 years ago that wasn't the case. there are a ton more 12V ice chest replacements, too. but still, not many seem to be hip on doing the westy fridge retrofits, yet. so, all of that may change. i sure hope so.

at some point, i would hope setups like yours become much more common. having the stock appearing westfalia interior, including the original ice box + sink, but having a working 12v compressor system and 12v water pump - seems to be the best of both worlds.

it's especially clever how you have the remote compressor/condenser... in the engine bay. that makes a lot of sense.

would love to see pics when you have a chance

nice looking bus - pura vida

[Abscate]

If you are a weekend camper, like most working families, an icebox is the right solution vs an expensive fridge/ power setup
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[mikedjames]

Compressor coolboxes are getting cheaper - I just paid £180 / $240 for a made in China compressor coolbox.

My original was scored for £40 at a boat jumble, at the time the list price was about £600 for the model I purchased.

The old coolbox served in my boat then in my bus for about 20 years then the compressor pump motor shorted out.
The old coolbox drew 5 amps and used maybe 12-25 AH per day.
The new coolbox draws 3.5 amps and uses maybe 8-20AH per day (guess, not been camping yet) . Goes down to -4F if I want to.

Goes well with the 200W solar panels i was given as scrap because sea water had eaten the tinsel connections from the connector boxes into the panels.
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Ancient vehicles and vessels

1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.

1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy

[wagohn]

Got ours on Amazon for $199 (goes on/off sale) - Bouge RV 23qt. We have a 100w solar panel on the roof that charges a Jackery 300. Fridge runs indefinitely on solar, or 48 hours on the Jackery 300 alone.
Last summer, our bottles of water had ice crystals in them when it was 85 degrees outside. Highly recommended - fits exactly between the seats and 3 yr warranty.

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1976 VW Transporter, 2.0 FI Engine

[mark d]

damn, that is a nice solution for relatively small coin. friend of mine recommended this route back when i was debating which way to go.
I chose to refrigerate the icebox because i wanted to use an existing space
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[Slip356]

What did you use to refrigerate the ice box, I’m interested. Have a 78 deluxe Westy with the fridge that works well on 120V but uses lots of battery power otherwise.

[mark d]

i have a sailboat ice box conversion unit. i can´t remember the brand offhand. i work on a ship and will not be home until june. maybe i could ask my daughter to take a look

it has worked trouble free for the 8, maybe 10 years i have had it installed. draws 5 amps.

the best units and what i had in my sailboat are what are called holdover coldplate. or something like that. they freeze a liquid in a stainiless steel container then shut off saving amps. works great but very expensive. i use a poor mans version. i freeze a half gallon container of drinking water. i can turn off the reefer the first night or two and it remains cool

living in the tropics i need a fan at night. i turned to the sailboat world for this solution as well. bought a fan that draws 3 amps and puts out plenty of air
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres

[mark d]

i looked at the west marine site and found it

ISOTHERM–2012 Compact Classic Air-Cooled Refrigeration Component System


https://www.westmarine.com/buy/isotherm--2012-comp...cYQAvD_BwE it

costs about $200 more now, but then what doesn´t

of course cold beer is a priority
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1972ish westfalia

"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres