# Which Progressive Dynamic Converter/how Many Amps



## magnum1070 (Jul 15, 2008)

Hi all! I'm finally ready to replace my WFCO converter with a Progressive Dynamic, however I'm having a heck of a time understanding the size converter and I'm hoping for some guidance. I have a 21RS with 2 12v batteries. I mostly dry camp and want to be able to maintain a good charge using my generator very little. Things I run regularily are the furnace, minimal lights, a portable DVD player, fridge and pump.

I see on here people have gotten the PD4655 and PD9260. It looks like some models show a power center and others look like parts you put into a power center. So here's my incredibly stupid questions:

1. Do I need to replace everything in order to get the benefits of a new converter. I'm likely to do that only because I worry that spending money on a new converter and not changing out the fuses/switch section will somehow lessen the value of the new converter. Kinda like buy two new batteries instead of just replacing one....

2. Am I completely off base with thinking there are two separate components in these converter/power centers?

3. What size converter do I need? I know more is not always good but I don't want to be too conservative.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Marsha


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Here is a great write up with pictures --> Converter upgrade

I replaced my last summer and went with the 9260 and haven't looked back yet!


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

The big difference between the upgrades folks here have done is how much room they have to work with and how old their units are. The converter operates the same regardless of whether it's freestanding, or has the guts incorporated into the bottom section of the power center. It takes 120 volt AC power and converts it into 12 volts DC to power your lights and charge your battery(s). And, yes you would completely replace your converter section, but not the rest of the power distribution center. Basically, there's a breaker in your power center that provides 120 volts AC to the converter (this is the same section that provides household current to the air conditioner, outlets, etc and the side you don't want to work on if the trailer is plugged into shore power). The converter then does it's thing and sends 12 volts DC via the big red (or black) and white wires just a few inches away to the low-voltage section of the power panel. That's the side with the colored fuses that sends power to your lights, water pump, furnace, batteries, etc. And that's pretty much all there is to it!

I've done both types of upgrades on the four trailers we've owned and have used the PD9260 for all of our conversions. On our first Outback (a 23RS), there was very little room where the power center was located, so I completely removed the WFCO and squeezed in the PD9260 - still in it's aluminum case. That was kind of a pain but it worked. For my most recent conversions, I've simply disconnected the WFCO, cut the electrical plug off the PD9260 so I had bare wires for the breaker switch, put it on the floor behind the power center, and re-connected the wires to the new converter. Maybe a 30 minute swap if you have plenty of room to work with. I don't know what year your 21RS is, but your converter is probably 55 amps, and the 60 amp PD9260 will work just fine. You'll appreciate being able to manually put the converter into 14.4 volt mode and get your batteries 90% charged in about an hour. The fan is also virtually silent and that alone was worth the $250 or whatever it was to do the upgrade.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Or if you do lots of dry camping like we do, Install and PD60A deck mount in the pass through and a 55A replacement in the WFCO panel. Each on it's own breaker. Normally, only the 55A is on. But when we are dry camping and have the honda 2000's paralleled, I just turn on both converters, dump 100+A into the pair of Trojan golf carts, and bring them up to full charge REAL quick!! When the charging current drops to 50A or so, then I turn off the 55A, but this technique needs more than a 2000VA generator to run both at the same time.

This was REAL handy when we were in a campground in southern utah that limited generator run times to 1pm-4pm daily.


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