Let's talk 12v goodies

I have the same 12v power supply/distribution panel as the rest of you (WFCO?).  While fine for general purpose, I find it to be "RF" noisy - especially when it goes into bulk charge mode.  This is not good for a radio person, like myself.  But, it also makes me wonder how "clean" it is for other devises that some of you use, such as; laptops, TVs, etc.  I plan to change out the power supply with an Astron model and let a West Mountain PWRgate handle the switching/charging duties.  Also on the list is the MFJ battery booster and remote.  If you remove the front panel of the existing power unit (brown) the supply is in the lower portion.  If your set up is like mine (and my ex-RP173) there is plenty of room in the cavity behind the existing unit.  I am going to keep the existing distribution panel.  There are some other goodies that may be of interest to you, such as; the battery isolator, WHAT/MTR, LED light strip, etc.  I would not recommend the Astron inverters, as they are modified sine wave.

 

There is also a much cheaper alternative to the expensive "at the pole" plug in surge protectors - but that's for another installment.  So, what are your thoughts?  

 

Check the link on the West Mountain site; "Emergency power at W1ZR".  It has some good info.

 

 

Whenever I turn on a light in the camper, I hear an AC hum on my radio, at about "S3".  If I use more power, such as take a shower and use more power, I hear a "S9+" chirp about every second.  I'm thinking this is the charger pulsing a charge to the battery to recharge it.  It goes on for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (not a "smart" charger).  Because of this, I've been afraid to run the radio (or anything electronic) directly from the 12v system in the TT.

 

I could probably pull the existing power supply out, get out the soldering gun, and add some additional filtering, etc.  But, that would be far too cost effective and I wouldn't get to spend $$$ on gadgets .

 

I am also concerned in that the documentation on the power supply says it has (if memory serves) 2-3 charging modes, it appears to be linear (not smart) - it switches to bulk mode for 2 hours regardless.  I think I'm probably overcharging the battery much of the time.  It may meet FCC Class B specs, but.....

 

With the PWRgate type set up, it seems that all the power supply is needed for is to keep the battery charged when connected to shore power, as the two are isolated.  A small 10A supply would probably work fine, if one needed to purchase one.

 

The battery booster & monitor would be nice for those times when no shore power is available.  I also thought some might be interested in the isolator and maybe the LED light.  1/4A (.250ma) vs. approx. 4A could save some power.

But then again, I use switching power adapters for both devices (neither runs at 12v; the laptop is 19v, the speakers are 6v) that may be cleaning any line noise.