Electrical Power Upgrades
 

Hello FTE!

Now the trailer is paid off. Yeah!!! I am working on doing a few power upgrades. The original WFCO 8955 converter died. Instead of dealing with the fixing (like the last time) I replaced it with a Progressive Dynamics 9270. Sure there is 15 more Amps available but went in like butter. Worked perfect with the space I had inside of the panel. All I had to do is wire up a plug for the power. Of course, I played with the switch to change the charging voltage which is nice.

The next project, I investigated the mouse hole for the power cord. I decided to go the route or doing a twist lock RV/Marine connector receptacle for the trailer. I am ordering the Marinco 30 Amp conversion kit since it has a replacement twist lock for the cord, and plates to make the fit and finish look factory due to the large hole from the original power cord door.

The last project is to make a L5-30 cord for my Predator invertor 3K generator. The adapter that is issued with the generator seems to have an odd fit. It's pretty much a "complaint" about the generator. So I am going going to whip up a cord for the genny. I thought about making a shore power adapter but it's another thing to get lost. Speaking of the generator, I had it out and running while working on the trailer. The owners of the storage yard were working on property. They said they didn't know i was running a generator since it was that quiet. I didn't eve have it on eco mode plus my trailer was buried in the lot.

more to come....

Can you provide more information on how you upgraded the converter? I have a new IOTA converter waiting to be installed but the wiring is a bit different than the one that came with the trailer. The new one has a plug, the old one doesn't. I had thought about installing an outlet or maybe using one that is nearby.

Pictures of the new 30 amp cord/receptacle?

I thought about taking pictures of the fit of the PDI 9270 however I was having to much fun working on the floor.:D The first time the power converter failed, I wound up getting another circuit breaker to split the power converter to its own circuit. It was spliced into the General Purpose circuit 15 A line. That was pretty simple. My Father in law works on circuit boards, electronics and the like. He benched the unit. Found a number of cracked and failed solder points. At the end of last year, the board failed again after about a 1.5 years of service. So I ran a battery charger from Tractor Supply to aid in the 12 volt system as the board had shorted out again. A 10 amp charger ran the trailer well even with the Furnace running.

Now fast forward to last month. When my wife and I were handling the paperwork for the new storage place, I pulled the converter out for inspection. When I put it on my bench, it went poof and a cloud of magic smoke filled the air. At this point I said screw it and I was going to replace the unit. Interestingly enough people made it out more than it was going to be. I got lucky I guess. All I had to was remove the soldered wires from the boards. The 6 gauge wires for the supply to the 12 volt distribution board and the 14 gauge that supplied the 120 V power to the converter. I made a plug using a 15 A female replacement end. This way you can plug the converter in. I reused the 6 gauge wires to the 12 volt side. I got that all installed. Checked all connections and then added electric to the system and everything work. The lights did change to varying degrees when the charging pendant was changed. you could see the difference between a 14.4 volt charge and a regular current 13.6 V. Speaking of which mounting the pendant was pretty easy. All it required was a 3/8" hole behind where I was going to mount the so I don't see the wire. The pendant has 2 side tape for install.

As for the upgrade, I went from 55 Amp to 70 Amp output from the converter. PDI seems to have a great rep vs the WFCO 89xx series. The converters failing seems to be a going thing with WFCO. The construction seemed to be quite a bit more than what was there from the factory. Once installed I ran everything I could run and there was no issues with the output. It just worked like it should.

When I get back to the storage facility for the retrofit of the power cable from old style to RV/ marine receptacle. I can definitely take some pictures. I plan on doing so. If I get a chance I will probably take a few pictures of the converter and the placement of the unit in the panel area.

subscribing

that power cord upgrade is one that i would very much like to do for myself. not a big fan of trying to snake all of the cord in and out of the mouse hole every time i set up.
looks like the kit can be had for about $75 on Amazon. Very tempting.

The parts are in! I do have some internal discussion i.e thoughts in my head on the best direction of how I am going to put this all together. It mainly comes down to 1 power cord vs 2. I spoke with my father tonight and he has his opinions on the matter. His theory about converting over is to drive costs up and "make it easier" for the manufacturers to do less at the same time. I understood where he was coming from since my parent's old motor home had the standard RV cable and never had a problem getting the cord back in. As a matter of fact I remember in my younger days being able to set the motor home up and breaking down the utilities in a matter of a couple of minutes. However there was a nice wide 5 inch door and large home for the cable. Dad did mention that with the trailers, the cords are more of pain to get back into storage. I never really looked until this past weekend how small the cord storage area really is. His other concern is temperatures around the socket. I know the plugs at power pole hook up or whatever you like to call them can get warm when drawing power. So I get the thought but it not like its crazy hot.

Tomorrow I will be heading up to trailer for the install of the retrofit kit and another maxx air fan for the bedroom. Dad said he would like to tag along to give a hand with that work. I can't see the retro fit for the power being a long task. Probably getting everything wired up and fitted correctly will be pain. I will try to take some pictures as requested if the power converter and retrofit.

Project updating the electrical inlet has been performed. As requested previously, here is the replacement of the power converter. I went from the stock WFCO 8900 series supplied board to Progressive Dynamics 9200 series power converter. This particular model is the 9270. It comes with the pendant to change the charging modes to the battery. Fast, Normal and Storage modes.

This is the 15 Amp Receptacle I wired in place for power to the converter. I reused the 14 AWG wire from the old converter board, some 3/8 inch wire loom, and electrical tape for this handy fix. As you can see the wiring is attached to a 20A breaker. I bought the breaker a while back before even splitting off the circuit. You can see how well the 9270 replacement unit fits in the area for the converter.

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Here is a shot of the 6 AWG coming out from the converter leading to the 12 volt distribution board above the converter. Once again I salvaged the wire off the old board. 1 because it fit perfect. 2 I didn't need to buy new wire to keep replacement costs down. Yes I know the photo is slightly blurry. I was under a time constrain. I had a personal matter to attend to and I still got there late due to a road closure.

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The power distribution board where those cables go to.

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Another shot of the "ball of wire" in the 120 volt side of the panel. No matter how well you try to make your work, it will look like crap compared to the original. I love how they the are overloading the bus bars. Yes they are neutral and grounds but come on.

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The pendant for the power converter. I removed the LP gas detector. and drilled a hole just under 3/8ths where the pendant was going to go. I folded the wire under the pendant. This allowed for a cleaner look and the space behind gave it a storage area for the slack. I made a small hole at the bottom of the panel to run the wire to the converter.


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The next part of the photos are going to be the replacement of the electrical inlet for the trailer. I used the Park Power conversion kit. Nice kit has several different options for replacement for different styles of set up. Real easy to perform this task.

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Here is the final result from the outside.

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Inside electrical wiring area.

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Great place to stretch out the cable. The sun made the cable relax and easier to roll up.

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I don't have a picture of it hooked up to the generator due to time constraints. However I went to another thought process about how I am going to approach the generator hook up. The wife likes it too since it keeps costs down for this project. I will gt a pigtail adapter for the generator and leave the cord intact for shore power. It's a 28 foot cord which has always been enough for most camping and generation locations. I have a 30 foot extension which I have used on a several occasions with one site i would get at this one camp site. However, enough complaining got me to another side with better power connection. I have noticed the site is used for more tent of smaller trailer use now since we go this camp ground regularly.

While performing the conversion, I also replaced the bedroom vent to a Maxx Air. Now we have both vents working and gives a really nice air flow without the A/C running.

Thanks for looking and ask if you have any questions.

This is one of the easiest mods you can make. I did it on our rig and it took a total of about 45 minutes. I was definitely taking my time. You may also want to look into a 90 degree dog-bone adapter so your cord isn't torquing on the side of your RV.

The final piece of the puzzle came in today. It's a L5-30P to TT-30R pig tail adapter. The length is just under 2 feet long. The L5 side fits nicer and better in the generator's receptacle. The receptacle I got for everything was so large there was no clearance. Overall it makes more sense to do it this way when I use the generator when shore power is not available.

Sunnyside, I looked at a cord with a "pistol grip" look for the connection the trailer and purchased it while purchasing the conversion kit. It was returned once I had a better feel of the project. Going with the adapter over a new cord and fittings was a cost savings of about $120! I was able to do this project for just over $100. I didn't have any noticeable stress or strain on the connection to the trailer.

First real camping trip since the install. Set up was even easier than before. I wished I had done this sooner. I'm actually going to be looking for this on my next travel trailer.