CONVERTER's OPTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER
 

I HAVE A 78-HI-LO AND MY CONVERTER IS A MODEL CS-830 MADE BY CONVERTER SYSTEMS INC. THE MANUAL SAYS OPEN THE COVER AND ITS PREWIRED TO ACCEPT A PLUG IN BATTERY CHARGER,THAT CHARGES THE BATT. BY USING HOUSE ELECTRIC TO RECHARGE IT. IF ANYONE IS PARTING OUT THEIR HI-LO & HAS ONE FOR SALE.PLEASE CONTACT ME,OR IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW I CAN GET A HOLD OF THE COMPANY OR IF IT STILL EXISTS,PLEASE WRITE ME I NEED TO KNOW,Thanks,FHILO

Couldn't find any info on the company. Either went out of business or bought out by another company. Someone on ebay is selling the manual for the CS 830 converter. Another site mentioned the CS 830 converter "with a 5 amp charger, if provided". Guess the charger was an optional piece of equipment. You might be better off buying a new unit with the built in charger.

Bob

If you want a good battery charger for RV get one of these, PROGRESSIVE DYNAMICS INTELLI POWER 45 AMP RV CONVERTER
PROGRESSIVE DYNAMICS INTELLI POWER 45 AMP RV CONVERTER | eBay

The manual i have will do,i just don't like replacing things that still work flawlessly ( if it aint broke).As i'm sure you know Hi-Lo put some of the camping worlds best appliances in these campers or they wouldn't still work after over thirty years, of course care & maintenance are two determinating factors.. The charger was an option therefore not a necessity ,so it can wait. I was just going over the manual & thought , that would be nice to have. Only to discover that option was omitted on mine. Perhaps someone will be parting out & have one i could purchase,the way it looks for now i'd have to buy the whole hi-lo to get a part..

I think you need to investigate more, since all the lights inside most of the hilo's (if not all still) were run from the 12 battery, plus the pump that raises the camper, the water pump, and the fridge's control cuircuits & exhaust fan, plus the fan in the vent of the bathroom is so equipped run off the "house" battery wich is a car sized deep cycle battery. So, it seem unlikely that the inverter you have doesnt send 12v to the battery in some way... otherwise while you camp the battery (lights and lift pump, and all that) would become inoperable when the battery was drained, even though you have the camper plugged into 120v. IMHO, and a guess, the "battery charger" option, I would only speculate to say maybe some camper/inverter combo that has a generator that has it's own battery in its own location, would been in need of this circuit?

FWIW, my generator also uses the same house battery to run it's starter, so again if battery is dead, everything I can think of is dead, except the air conditioner, but you know it doesnt run off the battery, only the power cord.

A bit late, but ran across this while searching. My 1979 Hi-Lo Funlite has the "Recreational Vehicle Power Converter" by Converter Systems Inc., Battle Creek, MI, Model "CS-830". Mine has the optional "5A Battery Charger Module" PN 800-10-002. It is a tray with an aluminum faceplate ~4"W x 1.5"H with that label, which slides in above the fuses w/ 2 screws securing it. There is a 3-wire Molex-style connector to the module: red (to BATT+), wht (ground), and blue (12.6 VDC Vout, when 120 VAC is ON?).

I pulled mine out since no output to the battery (disconnected battery temporarily to check) with 120 VAC power ON. I recall it charged my battery before, but nothing now (12.2 VDC at battery after using some load). The charging module looks a bit burnt (never saw it "before"), though no smell. It has a relay ("ShortStop" and "12V" on metal can, rusty so hard to read), ceramic rectangular ballast resistor, 3 quality capacitors (not tantalum), 2 small 3-leg transistors?, 2 small glass diodes, 6 metal-film resistors, potentiometer, and TO-220 package S1020L which googles a datasheet for Teccor SCR rated 70 A.

My guess how the module works is that if the blue wire is hot and the battery voltage (red) is <14.5 VDC (or so), the relay connects the blue (Vout) to red (BATT+) to charge the battery. Otherwise it is disconnect. The pot sets that threshold voltage for "over charge". It is similar to the old electro-mechanical voltage regulators in 1960's cars. I don't know why the big ballast resistor is needed.

Anyway, I am pondering replacing the charger with modern 6A battery charger, as might be room inside the converter box. I might even change all the box guts since it is a linear power supply with a very heavy transformer, whereas a much lighter switching power supply is better today. I think when the AC if off, most modern chargers just shut off and don't draw any load from the battery, so need to design a switch.

I vote for upgrading
 

Convertors don't cost that much. You also will also be getting an upgrade. Divide the cost by how many years it lasts you. When our furnice kicked in the lights dimmed. That is how we knew it needed replacing. Two HiLo's and had to upgrade to the boondocker. Try Best converter out of CA. Great technical support. Have your old model # handy.

I checked ebay and Amazon. Cheapest I find for similar output is PowerMax PM3_35, 35 Amp for $114, and not much weight or size savings, plus no battery charger output. Instead, I'll reinstall the OE converter which outputs 30 A fine. I'll just leave the optional 5 A battery charger board disconnected and use an external 2 A charger. I'll connect it to incoming shore power before a (new) selection switch so the charger will only be ON with shore power. "Should work".

In other electrical work, I kicked the Dometic fridge to the curb since it stopped working years ago (if ever did, forget). I tried all the tricks of taking it out and leaving it upside down for weeks. They are very costly to fix or buy new. Instead I installed a "residential fridge", which only runs on 120 VAC and is what most new RV's now use. I picked a Frigidaire EFR492 4.6 cu ft, which was the only largish mini that was short enough to just fit after removing the front feet and fiberglass on top of the opening. Seems it rejects heat thru the top, so you don't want insulation there anyway. It just barely squeezed in over the bottom water tubes (w/ pry bar help). Only 1.5" gap on the sides, which is easy to fill, and doesn't protrude as much as the Dometic. I paid $220 on Amazon, then too-late saw for $189 at Walmart.

To power it w/o shore power, I bought an inverter, actually tried 5 before I found one which worked, a DATOUBOSS 1000W pure-sine inverter, $99. The fridge draws only 65W steady, but must have a large startup current since even a 500 W pure-sine didn't work. I first tried an old 400W regular inverter (square wave I assume) I had on hand. Since in the utility cabinet, I ran 2 wires from its ON switch to a DPDT switch next to the water pump switch, labelled "AC INVERTER": "ON" - "OFF". One side turns on the inverter and the other side simultaneously switches the AC outlets from the shore input (cable in box below trailer) to the inverter output. You don't want to leave the inverter on when not needed since it draws 0.7 A from the 12 V battery with no load. As with the Dometic, you want to chill down the refrigerator and contents on shore power before leaving, then switch to inverter on the road to keep it cool, which is like switching the Dometic to "DC". While driving, the tow vehicle will provide 12 V power (plus charge trailer's battery). Once stopped, if dry camping, the 12 V battery can keep the fridge cool if you go easy on door openings. I measured 7.4 ADC draw with compressor running (slightly higher than spec, but a hot day), which allows only 7 hours compressor running on my ~50 A-hr battery, but the compressor shouldn't run continuously. Some people carry a generator or solar panels when dry camping. You lose the ability to run the fridge off propane, but also lose the inefficiency of absorption refrigeration.