2004 Lazy Daze - Converter January 10, 2024, 07:17:44 pm Hello,I appreciate all the owners and technical folks here for sharing their challenges and fixes. It’s come in handy for a number of issues that have popped up.My current converter has gone out. It’s a Progressive Dynamics 9260c from 2007 (picture attached). While checking fuses and breakers and doing a general inspection of the electrical lines, I noticed that the original converter label on the panel shows 45amp. May I ask, can I still replace the 9260c with the same unit?Just looking for some feedback on this.Thank you all so much.Michael
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #1 – January 11, 2024, 03:03:10 am Hi Michael; Welcome to Lazy Daze Owners Group. We hope that you find a lot of people to help you enjoy your motorhome here! The first picture is what you used to have, a 7345 chassis if you will. The converter portion you replaced with a Progressive Dynamics 9260c. That board must be pretty old. I don't recall seeing one. My choice right now would be a PD 4655VL.. If in the future you ever converted to Lithium batteries, the VL version has a jumper that converts to charge LiF batteries. This one is what I have: PD 4655VL 55 Amp Converter Upgrade, Optional Remote Pendant. (I didn't get the remote pendant.) In my opinion that remote is for some motorhomes that have 'hidden away in the furniture cabinets' converters that are hard to get to. RonB 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #2 – January 11, 2024, 09:59:10 am Thank you very much Ron!Your info is very helpful and I will move forward and order the converter you recommended. Appreciate the help!Michael
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #3 – January 11, 2024, 04:30:08 pm Hi Michael; I did find the PD9260C at Bestconverters PD 9260C 60 Amp RV Converter/Charger-PD9260C and it isn't as old as I thought it might be. So perhaps there is something else wrong with your system that isn't related to the 9260c. What symptoms do you have that might help diagnose that it is the present Progressive Dynamics converter that is bad? RonB
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #4 – January 11, 2024, 06:53:38 pm Hi Ron,Well, the converter fan no longer operates, even at load. The unit was putting out the correct voltage, however during high use with no fan, it seemed that various items in the coach would dim and eventually drain the coach battery as well. I initially plugged the rv into shore power but even with all the coach items off, minus the carbon monoxide detecter, no charging was occurring to the coach battery. The battery is two months old (pic attached). We do have a ground shutoff due to the battery being drained by the carbon detecter during storage.
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #5 – January 11, 2024, 07:38:56 pm Michael, you titled your post as 2004 Lazy Daze, but you mention later it is a trailer, and the battery you show is not a type used in any but the oldest vintages of LD. This means that whatever schematic and routing your trailer uses will not be familiar to folks here. You will need to provide diagrams and more useful pics for us to help you.Steve
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #6 – January 11, 2024, 09:04:22 pm Progressive Dynamic converters have a good, long-term history, so why not replace the old unit with the same converter? it is still available. https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converters/Progressive-Dynamics/PD9260C.htmlOur LD has used a PD9270 for nearly 18 years and it still works fine and is on Batleborn's list of approved chargers for their lithium batteries. It has worked great for almost two years with lithium batteries.Parked next to a very lazy Colorado RiverLarry 2 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #7 – January 11, 2024, 09:47:11 pm Hi Steve,Thanks for pointing out my “trailer” error. It is not a trailer. Sorry for the confusion.Michael
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #8 – January 12, 2024, 01:23:00 am Quote from: mtbikerusa - January 11, 2024, 09:47:11 pmHi Steve,Thanks for pointing out my “trailer” error. It is not a trailer. Sorry for the confusion.MichaelSo Michael, if it is a 2004 LD it will have been equipped with a pair of GC2 format 6V golf cart batteries for the house battery, which the converter is designed to maintain. Have they been replaced with the single 12V battery you show? Or, is your picture of the chassis battery under the hood? That one does normally NOT get charged by the converter, nor would the CO detector drain it. Some more pics are needed.Steve 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #9 – January 12, 2024, 11:28:29 am Good question, Steve. If that's the house battery, some previous owner has swapped the two 6V batteries for a single 12V one with much less capacity.I looked up the part number, and it's a 105 amp hour AGM battery. That's less than half of the 225 Ah storage capacity of the batteries this 2004 rig came with.Michael, after you replace your converter, I'd put replacing that battery high on your priority list. A hundred amp hour capacity is meager, unless you do much of your camping plugged into campground power. Yes, it’s possible to dry camp with a battery that size if you watch your energy usage very closely (an intelligent battery monitor such as a Victron BMV-712 is a must), but most LD owners wouldn’t find it comfortable. When upgrading, you could go back to the LD factory's setup with two 225 Ah golf cart batteries wired in series to produce 12 volts, or get a couple of 100+ Ah batteries wired in parallel.If you go the latter route, at this point it probably makes more sense to go with LiFePO4 (lithium) batteries than to buy more AGMs. You'll get more usable capacity with much less weight. Your present AGM battery has about 50 Ah of capacity for practical purposes—that is, using more than that on a regular basis will shorten the battery’s life—while a 100 Ah lithium battery has closer to 90 Ah of usable capacity. We've talked about battery technologies elsewhere, so I won't elaborate, but it's definitely something to think about. 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #10 – January 12, 2024, 11:42:12 am The photo is confusing, it looks like a starting batter with the coach battery wiring.You do know there are two separate batteries, a starting battery under the hood and the big coach battery in one of the exterior compartments.It is a 2004 LD, right?Larry 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #11 – January 12, 2024, 02:41:19 pm This is the coach battery, not the engine battery. The old coach batteries (2) were replaced with this battery. Everything was working fine after the battery replacement. Once we noticed the converter fan issue, items began to drain the coach battery. Our RV is a 2004 LD mid bath. After doing some additional research, it is clear that we do not have the capacity we need with the single agm coach battery, despite the converter going out. We do both dry camping and rv park plug in. I’m thinking that with the new converter, switching to lithium batts makes sense. I do apologize for clarity and the lack of pictures. Our LD is in storage so the back and forth can be tough. Also, the current agm battery takes up 2/3 of the coach battery compartment so getting two lithiums to fit is key. Michael
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #12 – January 12, 2024, 04:44:53 pm Hi Michael,One AGM battery at 100 amp hour capacity is a choice many of us here would have avoided. Personal experience with two 100 amp hour AGMs left me wanting more power on numerous occasions. I upgraded to lithium a few years ago. Now my outside battery storage houses other items. I relocated my lithium batteries to inside the coach beneath the dinette seat of my 2015 RB. I had been storing shoes and other stuff below the dinette seat. Basically a waste of valuable space. That being said, BattleBorn lithium 100 amp hour batteries have much the same configuration as their AGM counterparts and weigh 1/2 as much and last 10 years and often longer. A money saving strategy that I embraced.Here’s a snapshot of my battery storage.Cheers and success to your current repairs.Kent 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #13 – January 12, 2024, 05:12:38 pm Hi Kent,That’s fantastic! Very nice setup. The AGM replacement battery was installed by a local repair outlet, which we no longer frequent. At this point in our lives, we find it beneficial to learn and repair ourselves, if at all possible, based on some local repair shop challenges.I really appreciate all the feedback I’ve received here, so I don’t go off and do things I shouldn’t. We love our LD and receive compliments all the time. Thank you for sharing!Michael 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #14 – January 12, 2024, 05:27:22 pm Quote from: mtbikerusa - January 12, 2024, 02:41:19 pmI’m thinking that with the new converter, switching to lithium batts makes sense. Michael, if you go with lithiums, make sure they are the GC2 format, to fit in the battery box. Battleborn makes such a model. If you relocate them, as Kent did, then you have more flexibility.Steve 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #15 – January 12, 2024, 06:31:58 pm When is the 2024 LD QUARTSITE CAMPOUT?
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #16 – January 12, 2024, 09:14:05 pm Quote from: hank87us - January 12, 2024, 06:31:58 pmWhen is the 2024 LD QUARTSITE CAMPOUT?Right now and has been for week or more.The Big Tent RV show starts the 15th.We spent a half day at Q today, we had not been there in several years and found a smaller overall event, less vendors and fewer campers than what we experienced in past years.We head home tomorrow hopefully to warmer weather.Larry, 1 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #17 – January 12, 2024, 10:01:58 pm Quote from: Steve - January 12, 2024, 05:27:22 pm if you go with lithiums, make sure they are the GC2 formatThe PD9160 is available in a lithium specific configuration Amazon.com: Progressive Dynamics PD9160ALV 12V Lithium Ion Battery Converter/...Your LD was wired for a 45 amp converter, you may lose or waste charging power to undersized wires between the converter, fuse panel and coach battery. You should check for for voltage drop once everything is working properly again. One of lithium’s advantages is how they will accept high rates of charge until almost fully charged, unlike AGM or lead-acid. Larger wires will even better benefits in charging lithiums.Anything over a 3% voltage drop should definitely be upsized. I prefer to keep voltage drop in the 1-2% range. Voltage drop in the primary wiring circuits should be checked periodically.Larry 1 Likes As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #18 – January 13, 2024, 04:49:26 am Hi Michael; With a new converter board (it may need a new 12V fuse panel also) suitable for Lithium batteries, you can fit two 200 AH batteries. The 'TK was more crowded, but I took out the slide out tray, and got 400AH capacity into the battery box. Your MidBath has even more room under the refrigerator for two or more batteries. The hard part with Lithium is knowing what state of charge they are at. Voltage measurements on lead acid batteries can show about what the state of charge is. But on Lithiums the voltage stays very stable at about 12.9V. until they are nearly dead, so you need a battery 'fullness' monitor to tell you where your batteries are at. I like the steel case SOK 206 AH batteries. I've had good success with them. Lots of power, trouble free. About two years (so far) RonBthe picture is my battery box with one battery installed, one to go next to it.edit: Newer version (less than I paid) includes internal heater and bluetooth. Amazon.com: SOK Battery 12V 206Ah Heated LiFePO4 Metal Box SK12V206H :... and are UL approved. 2 Likes As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #19 – January 13, 2024, 09:25:41 pm "I like the steel case SOK 206 AH batteries."I haven't used that brand, but Ron knows his stuff. I do want to say this: don't just assume Battle Born is the way to go. They became popular because they were one of the first companies to offer lithium batteries with a built-in battery management system (BMS), simplifying installation. But that was years ago, and their products don't compare well with today's competitors (e.g., SOK and others).Unless you buy the GC2 format, they have "tab" terminals that make parallel installations a major pain. (I speak from experience.) Their standard models lack Bluetooth, so there is no way to see what's going on inside. Are the cells balanced? Is one cell dragging down the others? Is the battery too hot or too cold? There's no way to tell.And Battle Born's batteries are overpriced, compared to competitors--especially considering that their internal construction is not all that robust. Take a look at this comparison video. What they call "Brand B" in the video is a Battle Born battery. Note how much is held together with blobs of hot glue, for example.(Also, a friend who recently talked with Battle Born tech support came away saying they were "morons" who gave him seriously wrong information. For example, the tech insisted that you can hook up eight (!) of their batteries in parallel, and if one shuts down, all the others will instantly shut down too. This doesn't seem possible, since BB batteries have no way to communicate with the outside world or with each other.)Don't get me wrong--I put Battle Born batteries in my current Airstream when I first got it, and they worked. Back then, there weren't many choices. But I was never comfortable with the fact that each one was a "black box," and I had no clue whether its guts were happy, or maybe having a bit of indigestion. Now I have Lithionics batteries that let me use a Bluetooth app on my iPhone to see things like state of charge (each battery has its own internal amp counter), cell balance, maximum and minimum temperatures, and so on. I'm not saying you should necessarily buy Lithionics batteries either; they're well built, but expensive on an amp-hours-per-dollar basis. I've had good experiences with Bluetooth-equipped Victron "Smart Lithium" batteries, but they too are not cheap. I'm not endorsing any one brand; just saying--don't assume Battle Born is the way to go. I don't think they are competitive any longer. 2 Likes
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #20 – January 15, 2024, 04:37:13 pm How many years do I stay a NEWBIE?Thanks,Hank Hannigan
Re: 2004 Lazy Daze - Converter Reply #21 – January 15, 2024, 04:46:18 pm Quote from: hank87us - January 15, 2024, 04:37:13 pmHow many years do I stay a NEWBIE?Thanks,Hank HanniganThe position moniker is based on number of posts, not time. Somewhere around 50 posts and your status will change.Rich 1 Likes
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