[VAC] Statpower

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 We just returned from a 7500 mile, 2 month trip with our Avion, towed
by the '94 Dodge w/Cummins. All went pretty well, but:

The second week out, the StatPower released the factory smoke. Sooo...
we made a trip to the local Wal-Mart and bought a $40.00 10-amp battery
charger. According to the eMeter, it did a fine job of holding the
batteries at 13.7 volts or thereabouts. Interestingly, I had simply
clipped the charger to the battery posts, so the eMeter didn't see the
charging current, only the discharge. It took 2+ days, running the
onboard water pump and furnace (quite a lot!) before the eMeter
pronounced the batteries as "low". (the Avion has a pair of 85AH Group
24 batteries)

After a couple or 3 days, we got to a Camping World store near Myrtle
Beach, SC and picked up an IntelliPower converter with the Charge Wizard
gadget that makes it into a 3-stage charger. A couple of days later, I
got around to connecting it, but it's still just laying on the floor.
The I.P. does a great job! If the battery bank has been used at all, the
voltage will go to 14.5 or thereabouts for a while, charging rate at
maybe 3 or 4 amps on the eMeter. It'll then drop to 13.75 volts, with
'zero' charge rate and hold there for maybe 24 hours before dropping to
the maintenance setting of 13.20 volts.

The StatPower was one of those "factory refurbs" bought directly from
their web site a year ago, so the warranty is long gone. It did a great
job while it was working, according to the eMeter, but it really saw
only a couple of weeks of real use, as it's hardly ever plugged in while
at home. As the Intellipower sells for under $250.00 from C.W., and is
rated at 40 amps, I'd rate it as a better deal than the StatPower. Of
course, C.W. didn't carry the I.P. at the time.

Concidentially, when we attended the VAC rally in PA in November of
1999, our UniVolt converter crapped out and we went to Walmart for a
$40.00 battery charger. Of course, there was 'no need' to carry it
along, so I now have 2 of 'em. Trust me, I WILL carry one on long Winter
trips from now on. During the Summer, we have our solar panels and
ususally don't plug in even if power is available. The panels won't keep
up in the Winter because of low sun and lots of power draw from the
furnace. Our batteries were new in April of 2000 and I had checked them
with a load tester before leaving, so it wasn't an emergency to not have
a converter for one night.

Several lessons can be drawn:
1. Make sure your battery(s) are in good shape.
2. A $40.00 "10-amp automatic" battery charger makes a decent substitute
for a converter, but it won't keep up with the peak demand, so you do
need good batteries.
3. Even the fancy converter/charges can fail.
4. The eMeter or at least a good Digital VoltMeter can be more than a
luxury. If you have only the voltmeter, it should be permanently
connected and mounted where you can monitor it periodically. The builtin
metering in most travel trailers is useless.

                                         <<Jim>>