Voltage Regulator on Fridge

[padlin]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Are we saying that even with these numbers above that any trailer is at risk of issues? Or are you guys equalizing your batteries at 15V+ which could be the cause? If one where to isolate the batteries and then manually initiate an equalization of the batteries does the issue go away? Just curious as to why only newer trailer owners seem to be concerned here since Escape has used the same converter and very similar solar kits for many years now.

I agree this looks like just a newer trailer thing, and from what I see, only a few of them. I guess if you fall into this donut hole, then you can follow others lead and add the regulators.

I've been Equalizing at over 15v for the last few years and have had no problems, but then I may just not use any of the devices in question when doing so. Equalizing isn't something I do very often, maybe once or twice a year.

I imagine if it weren't for the cheesy LED lights ETI installed in 2017 or so the topic wouldn't exist.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by padlin

I agree this looks like just a newer trailer thing, and from what I see, only a few of them. I guess if you fall into this donut hole, then you can follow others lead and add the regulators.

I've been Equalizing at over 15v for the last few years and have had no problems, but then I may just not use any of the devices in question when doing so. Equalizing isn't something I do very often, maybe once or twice a year.

I imagine if it weren't for the cheesy LED lights ETI installed in 2017 or so the topic wouldn't exist.

The max voltage listed by the manufacturer has a safety margin built in - most devices can and do operate with voltages higher than that. Maxxfan to the exception, most of the devices will run at 14.4 volts for years without problems - the ones that won't get replaced soon after installation.

The crappy LED lighting and the Maxxfan 7000k kicked this discussion into turbo as the failure rates exceeded what would be acceptable. The quest for answers to fix this snowballed when we found that a lot of devices were operating at voltages above recommended.

Is it necessary to put regulators on all these devices? No, most will live happy lives longer than we will own the trailers running at 14.4 volts. The higher the voltage that they operate at - the higher the failure rate but we are use to sporadic failures and just chalk it up to life.

But the quest for perfection continues and adding regulators to devices that might need them will extend their service life. It's like taking out an insurance policy on our electrical stuff.

Escape no longer installs the crappy LED lights or the Maxxfan 7000k but for those of us that have them, a fix is in order. Yep, I'm in the donut hole with my 2017.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I know nothing, but wouldn't one voltage regulator for all the 12V circuits be sufficient?

Yes, and it should be straightforward to install before the fuse panel, and it could be equipped with a bypass switch in case it failed, and it could be a good efficient converter rather than tiny "throttling" analog regulators.

I assume that the reason that people are not taking this approach is that it would need to have enough capacity for all the DC loads connected to the panel (which means not a built-in inverter, for instance) and that's large enough to be expensive. The converter can put out 55 amps, and the battery can top that up to a much higher amount, so in the worst case the regulator's capacity would need to be the sum of all of the DC branch circuit fuse ratings.

The other reason not to regulate everything would presumably be efficiency, as even a good converter might lose a few percent of the power passing through it.

A really nice setup might have two DC distribution panels, just as the factory AC power system with inverter has two circuit breaker panels. The main one would be unregulated, and would have only loads that are tolerant of wide voltage variations (e.g. the refrigerator, which is also a large load when cooling on DC); the sub-panel would be supplied by the regulator, and would serve all of the more sensitive loads. Overall, it would be less complex than having several regulators of different types scatter among various circuits and devices.