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Shore power charging truck battery


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#1 Marblehead

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Posted 02 October 2021 - 05:17 PM

Greetings,

 

My 2018 Grandby Flatbed in storage is hooked up to 120V power for battery (2-6V) maintenance and my truck battery goes on a tender.

 

After my last trip, I noticed the tender for the truck battery would not enter the float stage.  Scratched my head and check the voltage a couple of days later and it was ~13.5V which didn't seem right to me.

 

Removed the 120V power from the camper and the truck battery started dropping voltage as of course my house batteries did.

 

It appears to me that power is coming from the camper when plugged in and charging my truck battery.

 

This is recent development and I've had no other issues, electrical or other wise with my rig.

 

I'm not sure where to start looking for the cause.  I emailed FWC service about 10 days ago but have not heard back.   Flatbed and Grandby installed in Denver.

 

Any comments, suggestions would be most appreciated.  If I've missed something really obvious, you can give me grief instead :D

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Steve

 

 

 

 


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Steve

 

2015 Ford F-250 4X4 6.2 gas Supercab.  2018 FWC Flatbed Grandby.  Norweld 8 ft. Aluminum Bed/Tray. Alu-Cab 270* Shadow Awning. Overland 160 Semi-Flexible Solar Panel.


#2 Jon R

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Posted 03 October 2021 - 02:35 AM

If you don’t have a circuit breaker or switch in the positive truck to camper wire, the easiest thing to do may be to disconnect the truck to camper connector when you want to store the rig with both chargers on.
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Jon R

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#3 Marblehead

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Posted 03 October 2021 - 02:45 PM

Thank you Jon for your replies.

 

I thought maybe something was going on with the isolator but not sure what.  When the camper was installed, a "thermal fuse" was used inline from the truck battery to the camper.  I seem to remember being told it was a resetable fuse.

 

I unplugged the camper from the truck yesterday and am headed over to check voltages, etc.

 

I can disconnect the 2 when in storage but am concerned if I am camping off grid that my solar system will try to keep my truck battery charged which I don't want.  AND, being a starting battery, it might not like the charging profile set up for my house batteries.

 

Thanks again,  off to learn more.


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Steve

 

2015 Ford F-250 4X4 6.2 gas Supercab.  2018 FWC Flatbed Grandby.  Norweld 8 ft. Aluminum Bed/Tray. Alu-Cab 270* Shadow Awning. Overland 160 Semi-Flexible Solar Panel.


#4 Jon R

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Posted 03 October 2021 - 04:01 PM

If your isolator is working correctly you shouldn’t have that problem when not using the tender on the truck battery. Testing it will tell you for sure.
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Jon R

2021 Grandby Slide-in Front Dinette

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1993 Chevrolet K2500 Ext Cab LB


#5 Vic Harder

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Posted 04 October 2021 - 02:53 AM

Then again, some of us LIKE having the solar charging both battery banks!


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#6 Marblehead

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Posted 04 October 2021 - 11:14 AM

If your isolator is working correctly you shouldn’t have that problem when not using the tender on the truck battery. Testing it will tell you for sure.

 

I checked voltage at the truck/camper connection plug.  The plug from the truck battery is showing the truck battery voltage and the plug from the camper is showing the maintenance voltage of the batteries.

 

Admittedly, I'm a bit fuzzy on the workings of the isolator other than it is to prevent the camper from drawing power from the truck battery.  Is voltage at the camper plug indicative of a problem with the isolator?

 

I may have a wonky truck battery. After unplugging the camper from the truck, I put the truck battery on a tender but it never went into float mode.  And I did have an "issue" with battery about the time this problem came to light.

 

Will have the truck battery checked out today and look into trouble shooting the isolator.


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Steve

 

2015 Ford F-250 4X4 6.2 gas Supercab.  2018 FWC Flatbed Grandby.  Norweld 8 ft. Aluminum Bed/Tray. Alu-Cab 270* Shadow Awning. Overland 160 Semi-Flexible Solar Panel.


#7 Marblehead

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Posted 04 October 2021 - 11:20 AM

Then again, some of us LIKE having the solar charging both battery banks!

With different battery types, wouldn't you need different profiles?

 

Again, I've not gone that far down the "rabbit hole" of the various aspects of solar.  But from my reading on this site, I know you and several others have. I've much to learn.


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Steve

 

2015 Ford F-250 4X4 6.2 gas Supercab.  2018 FWC Flatbed Grandby.  Norweld 8 ft. Aluminum Bed/Tray. Alu-Cab 270* Shadow Awning. Overland 160 Semi-Flexible Solar Panel.


#8 ntsqd

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Posted 04 October 2021 - 01:08 PM

Then again, some of us LIKE having the solar charging both battery banks!

That would be me. I also like that when I plug the camper into shore power the charger that I installed in the camper will eventually also charge the truck's batteries.

 

I have the charger set for the AGM's in the camper and don't worry too much about it matching the inexpensive FLA starting batteries. Before one of the DieHard Platinum starting batteries shorted a cell (just before a planned trip of course!) it wasn't a concern at all. The solar controller that our camper came with looks to be stupid enough to not have different charge settings. It's next on my list to upgrade.


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Thom

Where does that road go?

#9 Vic Harder

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Posted 04 October 2021 - 03:45 PM

With different battery types, wouldn't you need different profiles?

 

Again, I've not gone that far down the "rabbit hole" of the various aspects of solar.  But from my reading on this site, I know you and several others have. I've much to learn.

Yes, the different battery types mean that the charging profiles are not ideal.   

 

And to clarify, the battery separator is designed to prevent either the camper or the truck from discharging the other.  Meaning if you left your truck lights on, the separator would disconnect the camper battery once the truck battery got too low, and vice versa, if you are using too much power in the camper, the separator disconnect the truck battery so you can start it and go home.  

 

AND, it is designed to allow a charging source to charge both battery banks, regardless of where that charge originates.


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#10 Jon R

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Posted 05 October 2021 - 12:11 AM

I tried to edit my first post to correct what I said about only the truck side voltage closing the Blue Sea ACR, but accidentally hit the delete post button. Vic is correct (as usual) that sufficient voltage on either side of the ACR closes the relay. The voltage specs are on the Blue Sea web site. That explains the behavior seen by the original poster.
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Jon R

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