power converter hook-up for hydraulic frame house

[CraigM]

I have a hydraulic framed fish house with a converter to run the generater to charge the battery and run a microwave and coffee pot. My question is, should the converter be hooked up directly to the battery and everything else that's 12volt be hooked to the battery or also to the converter? The reason I ask is that the person that I bought the house from has everthing hooked up to the converter. It seems to me that when a generator is not running then the current has to reverse direction to power everthing from the battery. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the pump,lights etc. come directly off the battery without going to the converter first? Hope this makes sense.

[End of the Line]

I'm not sure what your really asking and just so I unnderstand you this is a converter not an inverter we're talking about right? Doesn't it have a switch right on the converter? Mine has a switch to pull power off the 12V DC batteries through a protected circuit in the converter. Then switch it to 120V AC when power from the generator is provided to convert it to 12V DC. I think what you might be missing is you'll charge the batteries more effectively if your not drawing power off them if the converter has enough power to supply the house already from the converted 110V AC to 12 Volt DC. Hope that makes sense....

[Whoaru99]

Quote:

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I have a hydraulic framed fish house with a converter to run the generater to charge the battery and run a microwave and coffee pot. My question is, should the converter be hooked up directly to the battery and everything else that's 12volt be hooked to the battery or also to the converter? The reason I ask is that the person that I bought the house from has everthing hooked up to the converter. It seems to me that when a generator is not running then the current has to reverse direction to power everthing from the battery. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the pump,lights etc. come directly off the battery without going to the converter first? Hope this makes sense.

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Huh???

[CraigM]

Ok, I realize this isn't worded well. My basic question is, should all of my accessories be wired into the converter (Not inverter) or wired to the battery? Is that simple enough?

[Capt. Don*]

The purpose of a converter is to supply DC voltage to accessories when you have AC voltage available, some are automatic sensing and have no switch for AC to DC. There are wires that go to the battery out of the converter that will allow it to charge the battery when AC voltage is available, when no AC is there the battery supplies the DC voltage and the converter becomes a power distribution box to the various loads. There are typically fuses in the converter to protect the various circuits, a fuse panel similar to the one in your house except it is DC. You are far better off supplying the accessories through the converter rather than direct from the battery, it is what a converter is designed to do, current doesn't care what direction it moves. Do an internet search for the brand and model of your converter and you may find a manual to print off.

[CraigM]

Thank you, That's exactly what I was looking for. Electrical stuff isn't exactly my specialty.

[Whoaru99]

What is the brand and model of this converter thing? I wanna see what you are talking about.

[CraigM]

Sorry, The house is up at Red Lake and I don't know what brand it is. I'll be up there this weekend and will check on the brand/model. I do know you can buy them at many places such as Northern Tool, Radio Shack etc.

[Whoaru99]

Hmmm...

I'm not sure that is the type of conversion system Capt. Don is talking about.

I think the Capt. is talking about a combination inverter/charger that has some DC passthrough capacity. If that is the case, then I agree 100% with what he is saying.

However, if this converter you are talking about is plugging into an inverter so you are essentially going from 12V to 120V and back to 12V again, I'd say get rid of the extra conversion step and put those 12V loads direct to the battery (through fuses, of course).

[CraigM]

it's not an inverter at all. Converts 120 from the generator to 12 volts to charge batteries run lights etc.

[Whoaru99]

OK. So, now I think I'm getting the picture.

You have a generator supplying 120v to the house. This is used to run a coffee pot, microwave, etc.

You also have a 120V to 12V converter plugged into the 120V from the generator to charge batteries and run some 12V devices like lights and some kind of pump.

So, the converter is connected to the batteries to charge them, and you are wondering if the other 12V devices should be connected to the battery terminals or to the converter terminals, yes?

If the wires from the converter to the battery are of sufficient gauge/thickness to handle the load from the other 12V items, there would be essentially no difference from an electrical standpoint where you connect them - battery or converter, no difference.

[Capt. Don*]

No "inverter" involved, a "converter", used to convert 120AC to 12DC. These are very common in smaller campers without multi circuit switch panels, they generally have two or three fused circuits housed in them. They work great for power distribution and reduce the need to connect multiple wires and fuses to batteries and make for a clean installation. If you have AC available and the battery is dead or even not there you still have the capability of running 12 volt items.

[Whoaru99]

Sure, we used to have one of those in an old pop-up tent camper - but the OP mentioned you can buy them at Radio Shack. So, I got the impression it was just a standard 12V power supply plugged into the generator.

Anyway, no big deal. The OP seems to have an answer that suits him.