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slowmover · 07-17-2015, 02:55 PM

Ha! On my list also. Actually thinking of one large floor machine battery.

Gsmblue · 07-17-2015, 03:39 PM

Congrats!

graysailor · 07-17-2015, 06:06 PM

Planning on upgrading my charger as well. Any reason why you all chose the PD4655?

Gsmblue · 07-17-2015, 06:15 PM

I chose it for 2 reasons.

1. 4 stage charger.
2. Direct slide in replacement for the parallax 7355 that was in my trailer

AWCHIEF · 07-17-2015, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gsmblue

I chose it for 2 reasons.

1. 4 stage charger.
2. Direct slide in replacement for the parallax 7355 that was in my trailer

Same here.

AWCHIEF · 07-18-2015, 07:29 AM

Should also add there is near universal satisfaction with this unit here on Airforums. What other subject can say that?

DoublTrouble · 07-18-2015, 08:18 AM

Hear, Hear. To that

graysailor · 07-19-2015, 08:09 AM

ACHIEVE anxious to hear how your install went. Not terribly handy myself but on occasion I surprise myself. Tempted to try this one myself. I just realized that you did it. Congrats. I think these come with a "Wizard" I can't see it in the pics. Where did you put it?

AWCHIEF · 07-19-2015, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graysailor

ACHIEVE anxious to hear how your install went. Not terribly handy myself but on occasion I surprise myself. Tempted to try this one myself.

Other than the heat, it went smooth thanks to the advice and input from many here. Actually working time was less than an hour. I think I could do another in about 30 minutes. It is one of those jobs that looks daunting until you do it one time and then you wonder what all the worry was about.

AWCHIEF · 07-19-2015, 02:32 PM

Question,
The new converter has been installed for 48 hours. When initially put on line it went to rapid flashing light with an out put of 13.66 volts. Currently that has not changed. Per the manual I have tested the different stages to ensure proper operation of each. Current DC parasite draw is gas detector, microwave clock and Fantastic Fan on low. For the first 40 hours the fan was not on. What is a reasonable time to expect the battery to reach 100% capacity or high enough for the converter to go to float stage of 13.2 volts?

Rich W · 07-19-2015, 03:26 PM

When I swapped mine out last month I think it took about a day for it to reach that point. I have 2 sets of Lifelines, I had the older set in the trailer and it seemed like it was going to run forever but it eventually dropped down to 13.2. I was happy to see the higher voltage. On the old, original unit I never saw it go above 12.5. I'm happy with the exchange

AWCHIEF · 07-19-2015, 03:45 PM

Rich, thanks. I guess patience is the key. My batteries seem ok, but they have been a bit mistreated.

AWCHIEF · 07-19-2015, 07:14 PM

Yippee, full charge achieved. Converter output is now showing 13.27 volts, single blinking green light every 6 seconds.

PaulnGina · 07-19-2015, 07:26 PM

I've been following this thread and have gotten a lot of good ideas.

Michael, I'm glad your project went well, and you've convinced me to look at a PD4645 to replace the charging section of the 45A Magnetek unit in our Avion. I'll do that before I move my AGM batteries into the trailer.

AWCHIEF · 07-19-2015, 07:30 PM

Paul, the best price I found delivered with Prime was on Amazon.

PaulnGina · 07-19-2015, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Paul, the best price I found delivered with Prime was on Amazon.

Thank you. I was looking at Amazon when I saw this update pop up!

Gsmblue · 07-20-2015, 07:19 AM

fyi: I had the same amount of time before I got the slow blinking light too, about a day and a half. I have had the FF running and he fridge - when the AS is on the driveway, it doubles as a beer fridge

jbxx · 07-20-2015, 09:08 AM

Did mine this weekend also. Only problems were that I had to remove the four screws holding the whole unit to the wall to access the two hole screw clamp on the DC feed wires from the battery to get the needed length to correctly route these wires to the new distribution section. Also forgot what was posted in an earlier post about installing the little communication cable prior to sliding the unit back in. No big deal, just would have been a little easier had I remembered the earlier advice on this.
All in all 2/10 for difficulty. Easy!

AWCHIEF · 07-20-2015, 09:52 AM

Thanks to obsessive over reading of all the suggestions here the first thing I did after removing the covers was remove the entire box and loosened the strain clamps. The wires would not easily have reached otherwise. Agree a 2/10 for difficulty thanks to all the assistance offered here. Being forwarned of potential problems saved a lot of frustrations.

Subzero-AK · 08-07-2015, 09:31 PM

Like the others have said here, this is a worthy upgrade. To me it's disappointing that we have to do this upgrade in the first place, I generally expect quality when I pay good money for it. Enough belly aching, the upgrade was pretty easy.

I ordered my PD4655V from Best Converter after looking on Amazon. Even Amazon wanted to charge me about $60 to ship it to Anchorage, I got mine shipped for $45. Yep, I can be a cheapskate. When it comes to shipping things to Alaska, FedEx and UPS tend to forget Anchorage is their second largest hubs for distribution. My package arrived USPS in 4 days in perfect condition.

When I got home tonight, I grabbed some tools and a beer and went to work. I found the instructions to be perfectly clear. My only bump was having to remove the whole unit to loosen the clamps so I could gain a few more inches of battery cables.

As soon as I tightened the last bolt, connecting the batteries and then the shore power, I found that I had the 14.4 V charging already working. I can't wait to go out and find the light blinking slowly indicating the float charge.

Now I need to source some Aluminum C channel so I can extend my battery box for some bigger batteries!

Thanks for the tips...good luck to everyone else who does this upgrade.

Mark
WL7NI