Just to put things in perspective, in the last three PD9100s I ordered, two failed within two months of installation. Only difference between a 9100 and a 9200 is the little power genie. I don't give two cents what anyone orders or favors, but there are few if any saints among RV or component manufacturers.

As to price, manufacturers buy in huge lots and always say they are being ripped off. Personally I think any manufacturer that finds a tech willing to do their warranty work is lucky. On some items I can compete with Internet pricing very easily, on other items the prices are simply less than I pay wholesale. Here's an example.

That Intelli-Power PD9280 on eBay costs $167 plus $15 shipping if it is the same one being discussed. My cost on that converter today right now tonight is $283.37 and the catalog price which the local big dealer gets is $412.00, just to put some actual numbers into play. That makes it about 2 1/2 times what you can buy it for on eBay.

Now folks are going to buy where they are going to buy and I do not have a problem with that, but when you compare eBay prices to those at your local small business and the small business charges more try to keep a perspective.

Of course there is no excuse for rudness, but that's an issue apart from pricing, as I see it.

Steve

 

Not sure what you mean here Steve.....I had a heavy current draw-(12volt) 11.7 amps and Nothing was on 12volt wise, nothing.
They checked stuff on the outside at the batteries, and where the wires went into the trailer, eventually removed ALL the 12volt fuses and still had the 11.7amp power draw....they removed the converter and took it inside somewhere and (I guess) bench tested it and came back out and said its the converter thats bad.....not knowing how everything works, and these guys ARE pro-RV techs, I was convinced that they were right........

 

The reason I ask is with a battery hooked to a WFCO three stage about 11-12 amps is exactly what I would expect to see with the converter charging a battery reading about 12.3-12.4 volts and every thing turned off.

On an inverter with a 100 amp charger built in I worked on this afternoon, I had a charge output of 65 amps with the batteries connected and the disconnect to the coach turned off so there was nothing else on the line. Those batteries were reading 12.4 volts before the charger kicked in. As I am sure you know the converter does two things. It charges the batteries and supplies power to the accessories.

Then, when the battery is topped off and the converter goes to the float stage those numbers drop back. When you first hook to a dead battery you might see close to the full rated output, then the converter steps back in amp output and voltage will vary depending on state of charge. That means output varies with load and the state of charge of the battery it is connected to.

Not saying anyone is wrong, but I see a lot of mistakes made with converter and inverter chargers and what you have described in your post is not the way WFCO converters normally fail. The manufacturers all use slightly different algorithms for their chargers and it can get confusing.

In any event, it sounds like you have reached a successful resolution and that's good.

Steve

 

Yea, Thanks Steve!! Just not sure if I should let them do the work to replace it or not.
In any event I wish YOU were closer, I just gotta find a good RV tech here locally somewhere.

 

The situation with RV techs is somewhat dire and not getting better. There are 200 fewer certified techs today than there were five years ago and that number continues to decrease. The increasing trend is towards simply installing new and diagnostics have become almost a lost art.

Now "techs" don't just throw parts at things, they throw entire appliances and systems at things. Tech support from manufacturers have almost completely evaporated so both techs and consumers often get completely absurd information from "tech support" lines, etc.

Hope things work out for you,

Steve