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Thread: How to charge battery in camper as well as 2nd onboard battery

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by drivesafe View Post
    Hi again POD, if your current setup adequately charges your auxiliary battery, then as long as you have decent sized cabling running from your auxiliary battery to the house battery in the van, then there is a very good chance that is all you will need .

    This will allow you to use both the auxiliary and house battery together while camping, if you keep the vehicle and van connected.

    Then when driving, you should be able to recharge both batteries.

    This setup will also allow you to charge both batteries with your solar setup while camping.

    Just a suggestion and might be worth testing.
    That's interesting, I thought that the whole idea behind dual-battery isolators was that you couldn't just hook up two batteries in parallel and expect to charge both? Long time since I last looked into this and it is way outside my expertise. it would certainly simplify things if I can just connect the camper into the vehicle via the (already insitu) anderson plugs.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by POD View Post
    That's interesting, I thought that the whole idea behind dual-battery isolators was that you couldn't just hook up two batteries in parallel and expect to charge both?
    Hi POD and yes there is a lot of B/S out there.

    You can connect any type of lead acid battery with any other type of lead acid battery in PARALLEL. ( totally different story with batteries connected in SERIES )

    Plus, when charging with an alternator, all the batteries will charge pretty well independently of each other and if you drive long enough, all the batteries can be fully charged.

  3. #23
    oldie is offline Fossicker Silver Subscriber
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    Hi Pod

    We have had a Trayon (#715) on our 110 cab chas for 11 years now and have found it wonderful. We have done over 100,000 km mostly in the outback and it has been a great set up.
    I added a simple battery isolator to the truck and a simple dc-dc to the "Box" and that worked well for many years. I then swapped out the 3 way fridge to a compressor one and added a light weight semi flexible solar panel to the roof to allow charging while pulled up but not camping. This was fastened with wing nuts so that after we opened the Box up, it was easy to remove the solar panel and put it out in the sun. This charged the battery through an older PWM regulator.
    After the 2nd SLA battery died I decided to go lithium (200 ah ) and also moved the batteries into the back left hand cupboard. The people at Itek told me I would not need to change any of the other parts of my system.
    The Box is stored in a shed so no solar. I have found I need to put a charger on the batteries every couple of months as it seems the various amp and volt meters take a bit out.
    We sometimes go camping with our kids and grandkids and we act as "Mother ship" often running 3 fridges for up to 4 days using an additional portable solar panel. All good.
    Hope you get as much enjoyment from your Trayon as we have.
    Keith, Oldie

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by towe0609 View Post
    Peter - one feature to consider ... I have a Ctek D250S and run my portable solar into it. Something it does not do is charge the 'starter' battery, even if the 'house' battery is fully charged. I was frustrated by that for many years.

    I recently acquired a second hand Ctek smart pass and one of the side benefits of that is that it will direct charge back to the 'starter' battery - so this shortcoming is no more.

    I only carry 1 portable panel, and want it to be able to charge the house battery, and when that's full, also charge the starter. If you continue with just a single source of solar, then you may want to make sure that whatever does the 'isolating' of your starter and house batteries allows charge to flow to the car to keep the battery servicing the car fridge in tip top shape.
    Personally, I am very pleased with the CTEK combo. It costs a heck of a lot less then a certain red colored brand and can do practically the same. The D250SE I have does charge the starter battery from solar, eventually. When the aux battery has been fully charged and is in float operation basically then the solar input will have nothing to do basically and charge the starter battery every 3 seconds. The smartpass does the same but the D250 should do this as well when stand alone.

    -P

  5. #25
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    I've bought the D250se, have not managed to get it installed yet. I have a fair bit of work to do to marry the Defender to the Trayon camper (like building a tray to put it on) so might be a while before I get to try the setup out properly, but it appears that it should serve the purpose.

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