I have gotten the new PD 4045 Converter installed and wired to the existing teardrop wiring. It took some adapting because the PD isn’t wired like the WFCO was.
But I figured it out, got it done and turned on the AC and DC power before leaving for dinner with the guys Thursday evening. The PD converter has four times the number of circuits than the WFCO, so most of the 12 VDC fuse panel is unpopulated, and most of the DC output wires are just bundled up and tie wrapped to the back of the converter.
Back of new electrical panel door
The PD has built-provision for a main battery disconnect switch, so I wired my big red On/Off switch there. When it’s off, the DC side of the PD is off. The WFCO allowed me to turn off the battery but still use the DC output of the converter when on shore power. The PD doesn’t work that way. Well, just another thing I have to get used to.
On the AC input side, the PD is set up to be wired the same way as the WFCO, with a main breaker in series with the incoming AC line, then branch breakers connected off that. One difference however is that the PD requires an additional branch breaker for the converter.
PD 4045 Converter/Charger front panel
The last bit of wiring that needs to be done is to figure out why the porch light doesn’t work, but I suspect a local failure. The fixture (LEDs of course) is intended for submerged applications and is supposed to be water proof. It has water droplets condensed on the inside of the lens. Fail! I’ll take it off and test it this afternoon and if it has failed, I’ll take it back to West Marine for a warranty replacement.
Well, the porch light works fine, there was a loose ground connection that affected three lights only! Of course I had to remove the porch light to find that out. Now I have to reinstall and reconnect the porch light.
I see there’s also an intermittent connection in the LED strip light above the galley. I’ll have to solder those joints this time. Hopefully that’ll complete the electrical maintenance and repair work for this season.
All this electrical work gave me an opportunity to measure the current consumption of each light and fan in the teardrop to refine my electrical power budget. With all the lights on, and the fan on high, 3A of DC power is consumed. That means that I can run everything for 10 hours before depleting my 60AH battery to 50%.
But it also means that I can run my galley lights for 2 hours (0.6 A) and my cabin reading light for an hour (0.3A) every evening for almost a month before I reach the 50% mark. I haven’t added in charging my phone. I guess I should measure that too.
Did I mention that the PD converter is a lot deeper than the WFCO was? It is, almost 3″ deeper, which caused it to run into the door frame as the door was being closed. A little work with a rasp and a sanding drum on the dremel made short work of the interference issue. Now just a little clean up and some brown touch up paint and no one will know!
Modification to door frame