32 replies to this topic

[DMWI]

PVSTOY, I'm glad you mentioned the wall charger. I too am looking for a wiring diagram for a Hawk with 2 house batteries and no 30A shore power. Actually, having the diagram for the 30a also, would help if I update this system to include shore power.

Not to hijack the thread but after searching battery charging, this seemed like the closest thread.

The camper is connected direct to my vehicle battery and I plug the truck into a Battery Tender wall charger when in storage.

-Once the vehicle battery is charged, will the camper batteries take a charge? Or, should I isolate them with a disconnect to prevent this?

*The FWC factory said the camper batteries will charge via the alternator when running whether the push/pull disconnect switch in the camper is in the activated or disconnected position.

-If a charger is connected to the vehicle battery, will this duplicate the alternator once the truck battery is charged? Will the "excess voltage" will go to the camper batteries and charge them? Or will this wall charger sense the initial truck battery at max charge and go into float?

-Is a simple small Battery Tender brand trickle charger sufficient to maintain charge of truck and house batteries, assuming my drive home brings the house batteries to 100%, or do I need something with more power and specifically for AGM?

-Would it be better to physically disconnect the camper leads from my vehicle battery between trips and connect a separate charger like the Battery Tender or IOTA 30 to the camper batteries?

Since I don't have a wiring diagram for my system and the 30a shore power system, I'm unsure how the IOTA is wired. How is back-charging the truck battery avoided other than a diode within the Blue Sea isolator? I'm not sure if I'll damage the system by running two separate chargers without cutting the connection between camper and truck.

Again, sorry to post this here. Please advise if another thread would be better.
Thanks

Edited by DMWI, 19 April 2018 - 09:43 PM.

[Vic Harder]

Don't use just a cheap battery tender.  Get a Noco Genius 7200.  Hook that up to either the truck or camper batteries and it will charge both.

[ntsqd]

I see all of this as important, but I will admit to only sporadically monitoring the system while parked at home. I try hard to set systems like these up to not need much from me, and then accept that 7 years of battery life out of what should have possibly been a 10 year life-span as the price of doing so. For me obsessing over the various systems while on a trip detracts from the trip itself. Others want to keep on top of things like this and if that makes them happy then go for it.

 

We recently had a 'will not start' experience with our Die-Hard Platinum labeled Odyssey starting batteries. I have yet to track down the cause of their low SoC, but as our truck/camper sits outside in this Coastal Desert I am replacing the single sense BEP Marine VSR with a dual sense VSR. If it was simply a case of letting it sit for too long between starts and the few parasitic losses were enough to drag them down then this will take care of that. It is something that I've wanted to do for a while anyway, but had a hard time justifying the expense of.

 

I do have a Balmar ARS-5 that I intended to replace the alternator's regulator with. It is a simple thing to do with our truck. In further reading I've developed a concern that it might run the system voltage up too high for the on-board electronics. Still pondering that, needs more research.....

 

 

..........

 

As usual, we have done an excellent job obfuscating the solution to a simple problem. 

 

Eshew Obsfucation!
 

Edited by ntsqd, 21 April 2018 - 03:10 AM.