I found that you can fool the WFCO autodetect by 1) turn off the converter, 2) disconnecting your battery, then 3) turn the converter on. This makes it think the battery is dead, and kicks it into lithium mode. If you don't have a battery switch to disconnect, then this is too much work. Now that I have had it for a year, I found that it tends to fail when the weather is cold, say less than 50 degrees. During the summer it always charged all the way up in lithium mode.
I just took delivery of a new travel trailer with the WFCO autodetect unit and have been reading about the problem with getting it to actually detect a lithium battery. I have a battery disconnect switch on my unit so I can try using your "fool the WFCO" method. So after your step 3 where you turn the converter back on, do you leave the battery disconnected for any length of time before you switch it back on or can you turn the battery back on as soon as you've turned the converter back on?
@@omcbob37 Did it work?, I checked mine and I have a green light. I do not have shore power right now. I tried the disconnect switch turned off then back on and I am not getting a blue light. any suggestions?
Di you need to be connected to shore power when you do these steps? I have a green light right now, no shore power, I cannot drain by battery. What can I do to get it to go to a blue lithium light?
Some trailers have wiring limitations - Too much distance between converter and battery and/or too small wire gauge to support the higher charging amperage that lithium batteries can accept (vs. lead-acid). That leads to excessive voltage drop between the converter and battery. In these cases, the autodetect function may not detect lithium. When I called WFCO tech support, they sent me a jumper to plug into my WF-8740-AD that forces the converter to stay in lithium mode.
@@supernautica If you remove the cover surrounding the DC fuse block (the fan is attached to this), there's a 6-pin plastic connector located at the bottom right side of the motherboard, just to the left of the lowest fuse slot. The jumper plug from WFCO snaps into that connector, after gently bending the motherboard a bit to the left for access. I suggest calling WFCO Support if you need one. They sent me the jumper at no charge. The jumper plug can be removed later to bring the converter back to original operation if needed for a lead-acid battery.
I wish WFCO had offered that solution to me when I called them with the same problem! I bought a Progressive Dynamics PD9360 converter to replace the WFCO but I still want to upgrade the wiring from the power center to the batteries (a distance of about 25-30 ft, or 50-60 ft electrically).
@@allan6021 On my Aliner Expedition, with battery on tongue and WFCO behind rear axle, there was about 15 feet (30' round trip) of 10 gauge (factory) wire connecting them. I upgraded to 4 gauge wire and was able to bulk charge at 40 amps with the WF-8740-AD, whereas with original wiring the bulk charge would start around 35 amps and quickly drop down to 15-20 amps. With this setup I'm feeling good, except that if I were to consider adding a 1,500 watt inverter close to the WFCO and newly added Victron Lynx Distributor, I would need to rip out the 4 gauge wire and probably upgrade to at least 2/0 to carry 125 amps with voltage drop under 3%.
My fifthwheel also came with the WFCO AD and I tried all the tricks to put it back in lithium mode. I usually had to connect a air compressor and other high use 12V accessories to trick the converter after a restart. Mine was a deck mount version and I couldn't even see the lights. Because of where it was mounted, it was a chore to get to it by removing a false wall in my storage area. I decided the next time I got back there I was just going to replace it. I did replace with the progressive dynamic lithium model and now I don't have to mess around with the converter at each stop.
Thank you for this helpful video. I have been trying to decide whether to replace my WFCO-8735-P Power Center (which the converter has failed on) with the WFCO-8735-AD or the Progressive Dynamics Power Center with a simple on/off switch to convert between lead acid or lithium. I currently have a standard lead acid battery in my trailer, but would very much like to convert to lithium some day. Which model Progressive Dynamics is best - the 4100 or the 4135 for a situation like mine? Will the Progressive Dynamics fit into the exact same hole as the WFCO?
Thank you! I would do the 4135, almost a direct replacement for the 8735. The only difference is the mounting holes, but all other dimensions are the same.
@@BradKoester personal I would call them again and tell them that it's still reverting back.The unit my be faulty and should be under warranty. They are pretty good too work with. You can also try searching their you tube channel, I believe they have a couple of trouble shooting videos and set up videos.
This auto-detect has just been designed and implemented terribly. I think it's a marketing gimmick as well a deployment-cutting corner to allow dealers to get the RV with a factory converter that fits whatever they install. This way the dealer doesn't need to do anything and the customer is fooled into thinking the converter is forward-compatible when they upgrade to lithium. A simple $1 manual switch on the board would have solved the issue. WFCO actually do sell a board that has that switch... I found one temporary workaround - turn off the CONV circuit breaker, turn off the battery switch (red knob, if you have one), wait ~30 seconds (I think the converter has capacitors that drain during this time), turn on the battery switch, turn on the CONV circuit breaker. It 'reboots' the converter. But it keeps going back to the wrong lead acid mode, every other day.
I found that you can fool the WFCO autodetect by 1) turn off the converter, 2) disconnecting your battery, then 3) turn the converter on. This makes it think the battery is dead, and kicks it into lithium mode. If you don't have a battery switch to disconnect, then this is too much work. Now that I have had it for a year, I found that it tends to fail when the weather is cold, say less than 50 degrees. During the summer it always charged all the way up in lithium mode.
I just took delivery of a new travel trailer with the WFCO autodetect unit and have been reading about the problem with getting it to actually detect a lithium battery. I have a battery disconnect switch on my unit so I can try using your "fool the WFCO" method. So after your step 3 where you turn the converter back on, do you leave the battery disconnected for any length of time before you switch it back on or can you turn the battery back on as soon as you've turned the converter back on?
@@omcbob37 you can turn it back on right away.
@@mrgehring2 Great, thanks.
@@omcbob37 Did it work?, I checked mine and I have a green light. I do not have shore power right now. I tried the disconnect switch turned off then back on and I am not getting a blue light. any suggestions?
Di you need to be connected to shore power when you do these steps? I have a green light right now, no shore power, I cannot drain by battery. What can I do to get it to go to a blue lithium light?
Some trailers have wiring limitations - Too much distance between converter and battery and/or too small wire gauge to support the higher charging amperage that lithium batteries can accept (vs. lead-acid). That leads to excessive voltage drop between the converter and battery. In these cases, the autodetect function may not detect lithium. When I called WFCO tech support, they sent me a jumper to plug into my WF-8740-AD that forces the converter to stay in lithium mode.
@@supernautica If you remove the cover surrounding the DC fuse block (the fan is attached to this), there's a 6-pin plastic connector located at the bottom right side of the motherboard, just to the left of the lowest fuse slot. The jumper plug from WFCO snaps into that connector, after gently bending the motherboard a bit to the left for access. I suggest calling WFCO Support if you need one. They sent me the jumper at no charge. The jumper plug can be removed later to bring the converter back to original operation if needed for a lead-acid battery.
I wish WFCO had offered that solution to me when I called them with the same problem! I bought a Progressive Dynamics PD9360 converter to replace the WFCO but I still want to upgrade the wiring from the power center to the batteries (a distance of about 25-30 ft, or 50-60 ft electrically).
@@allan6021 On my Aliner Expedition, with battery on tongue and WFCO behind rear axle, there was about 15 feet (30' round trip) of 10 gauge (factory) wire connecting them. I upgraded to 4 gauge wire and was able to bulk charge at 40 amps with the WF-8740-AD, whereas with original wiring the bulk charge would start around 35 amps and quickly drop down to 15-20 amps. With this setup I'm feeling good, except that if I were to consider adding a 1,500 watt inverter close to the WFCO and newly added Victron Lynx Distributor, I would need to rip out the 4 gauge wire and probably upgrade to at least 2/0 to carry 125 amps with voltage drop under 3%.
@@SandhillWebStudiodid the jumper work? I'm waiting for mine.
@@loumusa9124 - Yes the WFCO jumper was easy to plug in and it worked. If you ever want to go back to lead-acid charging, just remove the jumper.
My fifthwheel also came with the WFCO AD and I tried all the tricks to put it back in lithium mode. I usually had to connect a air compressor and other high use 12V accessories to trick the converter after a restart. Mine was a deck mount version and I couldn't even see the lights. Because of where it was mounted, it was a chore to get to it by removing a false wall in my storage area. I decided the next time I got back there I was just going to replace it. I did replace with the progressive dynamic lithium model and now I don't have to mess around with the converter at each stop.
Would love to have seen the unit you replaced it with
Hi! The new converter/charger is the one that you see towards the end of the video.
Thank you for this helpful video. I have been trying to decide whether to replace my WFCO-8735-P Power Center (which the converter has failed on) with the WFCO-8735-AD or the Progressive Dynamics Power Center with a simple on/off switch to convert between lead acid or lithium. I currently have a standard lead acid battery in my trailer, but would very much like to convert to lithium some day. Which model Progressive Dynamics is best - the 4100 or the 4135 for a situation like mine? Will the Progressive Dynamics fit into the exact same hole as the WFCO?
Thank you! I would do the 4135, almost a direct replacement for the 8735. The only difference is the mounting holes, but all other dimensions are the same.
Thanks, Brad! How did you make your decision to go with the Progressive Dynamics Model #4135 over their Model #4100? How do they differ?
Call wfco , they can walk you through the process for the auto detect for lithium
I did call them and go through the steps. This worked for about a day before the mode switched back. Never could get it to stay in lithium mode.
Did you set it up when your batteries were fully charged or when your batteries were partially depleted?
Tired with them mostly empty, partly and fully charged. Thought I had it a few times, but ended up reverting back.
@@BradKoester personal I would call them again and tell them that it's still reverting back.The unit my be faulty and should be under warranty. They are pretty good too work with.
You can also try searching their you tube channel, I believe they have a couple of trouble shooting videos and set up videos.
@@BradKoester sorry I don't have any more to offer
What model did you replace the Wf-8735-ad with?
Hi I installed this one, it is a direct replacement. amzn.to/3KfxPK9
This auto-detect has just been designed and implemented terribly.
I think it's a marketing gimmick as well a deployment-cutting corner to allow dealers to get the RV with a factory converter that fits whatever they install. This way the dealer doesn't need to do anything and the customer is fooled into thinking the converter is forward-compatible when they upgrade to lithium.
A simple $1 manual switch on the board would have solved the issue.
WFCO actually do sell a board that has that switch...
I found one temporary workaround - turn off the CONV circuit breaker, turn off the battery switch (red knob, if you have one), wait ~30 seconds (I think the converter has capacitors that drain during this time), turn on the battery switch, turn on the CONV circuit breaker.
It 'reboots' the converter. But it keeps going back to the wrong lead acid mode, every other day.