On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 17:23:51 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/29/2018 3:11 PM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 07:11:55 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/29/2018 6:30 AM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 03:30:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/29/2018 3:18 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 03:13:55 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/28/2018 8:59 PM, justan wrote:
"Mr. Luddite" Wrote in message:
On 9/28/2018 8:44 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 17:31:26 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 21:19:50 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:34 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 08:12:14 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:


9:03 AMJohn H
- show quoted text -
Good to see you understood his whine. I'm still not sure what he means
by 'same bluegrass festival
on different sites'. Maybe because the music is similar at each festival?

It gets to where the music takes second place to seeing and having fun
with good friends.

.......

At least you?re getting fresh air, exercise, and sunshine.
Btw, I rode my Guzzi 400 mi this week...so far. Might get another 200
mi in before Monday.

I think I'll take mine for a ride tomorrow. I finished installing the new
converter, and now I'm
tired. Climbing in and out of that thing is a bitch.


Dc to AC is an Inverter.

Agreed. My converter converts 120vac to 12vdc.


The one I replaced in my Palomino camper did that also was called an
inverter.

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Converter_vs_Inverter

Maybe they were just calling it the wrong name.

Weigh it ;-)
If it does not have a big transformer in it is an inverter.
Inverters turn whatever you feed them into a high frequency square
wave (20kz or more) them get the voltage they want with a tiny little
transformer.
That can be up or down.


Switching power supply.

Problem is, some converters are now based on switching power supplies.
Most of the small, inexpensive, 3 stage battery chargers/maintainers use
them.




I'm having trouble distinguishing between converter and battery
charger.



For RV purposes, I think of it this way:

If you are at a campsite or whatever and connected to shore power
the converter is charging your house battery but is also supplying
12vdc to all your lights and other 12vdc devices. I suppose you
could say they are really all running off the house battery and
the converter is simultaneously charging it. But, you could remove
the house battery and the lights will still work.

Does the truck charge the house battery when it is running? If not,
why not?


Yes, I think it does.. . Come to think of it I am sure it does.
Even on the little travel trailer I just gave to my daughter and husband
the "house" battery on the trailer was being charged when my truck was
running. One of the pins on the 7 pin trailer plug on the truck
supplies the charging voltage.

I had a class C RV ... the previously mentioned Chinook Glacier. It had
two batteries ... one was the "engine" battery and the other being the
"house" battery. It had a sensing circuit that directed the alternator
charging output to the battery that had the lowest voltage whenever the
rig was running.

I suspect something like that is also used in diesel pickups that have
two batteries.



When new, the pin which enables charging of the trailer battery is not powered. If power is desired,
a fuse must be inserted in the truck fuse box. I learned this on a Silverado forum after wondering
why my trailer battery wasn't charging. Seems like the original buyer of my truck didn't tell the
dealer he wanted battery charging at the trailer plug.


The charging pin on the Canyon I have was "hot" from the day I bought it
new. Maybe it's because it came with the "towing package" that includes
the factory trailer brake controller.


Mine had all the towing stuff, but the pin was still not hot. Maybe they changed their process since
2009.



I became more curious so, for about the second time since I bought the
Canyon a year ago I got the owner's manual out and did some reading.

The way it works is 12dc (to charge RV battery) is available on pin 4
of the 7 pin trailer connection whenever the truck is running and is put
in the "Tow/Hall" mode. It's also available on pin 4 if running and you
have the headlights on.

I always used the Tow/Haul mode when towing the camper, so it was
charging. The little, lightweight camper I had didn't really need the
truck to be in Tow/Haul but it doesn't hurt to run it that mode even
when not towing. It's fun sometimes because it changes the shift points.

If I'm on the interstate, towing the rig (11,700 lbs) I always run in T/H mode with the cruise
control on. If not on the interstate I'm still using T/H mode, but if the road is hilly I'll shut
off the cruise control.