Batteries

[CLynn85]

Just wondering what auxilary battery setups ya'll are running? I'd rather have the camper power attatched to a different circuit and just trickle charge it when there's shore power available, but not sure where to put a second battery. There's not really adequate space under the hood, and there's minimal clearance around the bottom of the camper in the truck. Is anyone using sealed/gel cells inside the camper?

 

[EdoHart]

Dual battery setup

This may not what your looking for, but for what it's worth..

My gas powered Dodge had a ready made place for a 2nd battery in the engine compartment, so I bought a factory battery tray, a "backup" battery and the most important part, a Hellroaring Bic-95300B battery isolator. I have drained the "main" battery so low that the starter just makes "tick" sounds (which is not good for a normal automobile battery), yet I throw a switch in the cab and the "backup" battery gives me a built in jump start as it combines the 2 batteries. The setup hasn't failed me once.

Note that the "main" battery is a deep cycle type and the "backup" battery is a regular automotive battery.

 

[craig333]

I have an optima agm battery by the water tank. I use a marine battery switch so its either in parallel with the truck batteries (normal position) or just that battery or off. The plan was to switch it to just run on the agm battery when camping, but so far with three batteries in parallel I haven't been able to drain enough juice to bother.

 

[Brian]

batteries...

By moving things around I made a place under the hood of my Mazda B4000 for a second battery, opposite of where the main battery resides, and used an aftermarket battery tray and holdown setup. I also use a "constant use" solenoid which cost a fraction of what the solid state isolaters cost. I carry a spare just in case but have never had one go bad. I have a solar panel controller wired in with a plug for the cable I use with my solar panel, a 1 amp AC battery charger, (I wired into the camper AC circuit a cord that terminates under the hood) and a heavy duty plug that I have bolted to the front bumper for my jumper cables made from welding leads. My vehicle battery is a standard lead-acid batery and the camper or secondary battery is a deep-cycle lead acid.
Brian

 

[HERR42]

one of the benefits of a solid-state battery isolator is that it consumes no power itself. in a solar system this is important because a 50w panel would spend a chunk of its output "holding up" a solenoid.

 

[pvstoy]

Hi CLynn85,

Congrats on your camper.

I use SurePower Dual Battery Isolator and put it under the hood next to the battery and alternator where it will fit. You will need to know what your alternator puts out to determine what AMP size to get. You can look here for info:

http://www.surepower.com/pdf/isolator1.pdf
http://www.surepower.com/pdf/isolatorguide.pdf

The battery placement in the Taco, there is not room in the bed with the camper to put it there from pictures I have seen. I have not looked under the hood of one to see if you could place one. Another place to hide one is under the bed, but you would have to weld up a support and place for it.

Where ever you put it don't forget to use proper wire diameter size and an circuit breaker.

I have seen the Optima gel type AGM, Blue Top that FWC put inside under the couch. I have had the Blue Tops in my set up for many years with no problems. these you can place at any angle, even on it's side under the hood.
http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/

 

[camelracer]

I just finished modifying my system by adding a second Optima blue top to the FWC system. I removed the battery from inside the camper and placed it and the second battery under the truck bed between the frame and drivers side of the bed in front of the rear tire. There is plenty of room on a Dodge long bed. I also moved the battery separator from the camper to the firewall.

I like this system because it will keep the batteries charged when the camper is off the truck. It also frees up a little bit of that oh so valuable space inside the camper. Including the 2 batteries under the hood for the diesel I now have 4 on board.

 

[kcowyo]

My camper battery sits in the black box pictured, bolted to the floor -

I put it on a trickle charge after every 10 nights or so of camping. I also carry a small portable solar panel charger with alligator clips and a cig lighter adaptor. In theory, it should help maintain the current battery level of the truck or auxillary battery if I'm going to be parked for a few days.

 

[Brian]

Batteries...

Jeff....regarding "holding up a solenoid", the only time a solenoid is in use is when the rig is running and there is plenty of juice to hold it "on or closed". once you turn off the engine, the solenoid returns to "rest or open" where it uses no juice and your batteries are isolated. A solenoid cost from $12 to $18, a solid state isolater, from $29 to $115. Your choice.
Brian

 

[HERR42]

youre right. what was i thinkin! too many beers.

 

[pvstoy]

FWC has been using the SurePower battery Separator and has been putting it in the camper. It is not a bad unit; I feel it is not the correct unit for our application. The unit should be in the engine compartment near the alternator and main battery, not in the camper. They generate heat, so air space is important. This unit will charge your main battery first and then after it see's a high enough voltage then it will charge the second battery. If your main battery is going down hill then you might not get the charge you'll need for the camper battery. Here is a PDF on what it is:
http://www.surepower.com/pdf/separatorinterconnect.pdf

Have a friend with a Toyota Tundra / Hawk combo and had problems with the Separator not getting the camper battery to charge enough while driving and running the refrigerator on DC. He had me change it out to the SurePower Dual Battery Isolator and he has had no more problems.

In my opinion the battery isolators with the diode is best to use. The metal can solenoids work but when you turn on the key both batteries can see each other. When they go bad the spring holds open. They are cheap and easy to replace. These units were used for years and you may never have a problem. The diode units the batteries never know there is another battery on the system. For either unit both batteries get charged at the same time unlike the SurePower Separator.

 

[benburnett]

battery information

Here is a site that I just found on information about batteries, inverters and a lot of other stuff. Might be useful to some and a headache to others.

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

 

[HERR42]

Patrick,
i would think that an alternator on a truck ... a single alternator....does not have much excess current capacity to feed much more than whats under the hood.

they dont engineer safety margins like they used to.

what kind of capacity does one of those toyota alternators have these days?

 

[HERR42]

Ben,

what do you think of the articles comment that "the converter in your RV really isn't designed to be a decent battery charger."

???

i like the charge capacity chart. i will print that out for ref.

 

[benburnett]

Well from his research on batteries I would have to agree with him. He did live full time though in the RV and learned a lot about the charging rates and battery maintaince that most of us would not be worried about.

I just thought the articles were some good information if someone wants to keep their system in good shape.