lawrosa wrote:
Golden_HVAC wrote:
It looks like you used the right things to get this project done. It should quickly fill your battery. However know that while the engine is at idle, there is not a lot of oil flow (volume) to the upper end of the valve train. So while you might not think it will do any damage to idle the engine for a hour, it can. Ford says not to idle their diesel trucks, even while hitching up the truck to the trailer.
The gas trucks can handle more idling, but still it is not 'good' for them.
That said, you can plug in your truck to the trailer for say 10 minutes, and some of the truck's battery power will go into the trailer. Then a short run of the truck will provide max amperage from the alternator. 10 minutes at 130 amps will provide 2 amp hours per minute, or upwards of 20 amp hours in 10 minutes.
Your RV will consume 35 amp hours per day to just run the propane detector and CO detector, and refrigerator. Add lights to this, and it will be around 50 AH daily.
Fred.
I have two duracell 75 ah batterys... No way am I using 35 ah a day IMO... Like I said I have 50 amp breakers that will limit charge from the alt... Again I have 105 amp alt.
My lights are all led with a draw of .7 amps per light.
Cars and trucks idle all the time in traffic so I dont know what damage is possible I can do to my motor...
This is a gasser...
Why idling my truck for 3 hours is not good? Can you explain?
Check out what I wrote in Red
Lack of oil volume can lead to a flat camshaft.
You also wrote:
Also note my truck has a 105 amp alt. I want to limit the amps out why I used 50 amp breakers. Truck runs alone at about 20 amps. So it should not do more then 70 when charging.
I may change the breakers to 40 or 30 amperes...
if you where to use a 40 amp auto reset circuit breaker, and it draws say 45 amps for 30 minutes or 50 amps for 3 minutes, it will trip the 40 amp CB and it will auto re-set after about 10 - 15 minutes when it cools down. Stick with the 50 amp CB, or go to a 60 amp if you need to, the wire is good for about 80 amps in free air, but will not move nearly that much power with only a 2 volt difference in the battery from the truck to the trailer.
I have a E-Meter in my motorhome. My battery draw at night when 'everything' is off, except the refrigerator, CO meter and propane leak detector is 0.8 amps and when the refrigerator burner is on 1.2 amps per hour. This is at least 24 amp hours per day, average around 35 AH daily to just calculate it safely.
I have used as much as 120 amp hours in one night, and recharged all the way by 6 pm the next day with my 415 watt solar system.
Don't worry much about your water pump power. Mine can pump 2 GPM while using 7 amp hours of power, or empty a 120 gallon tank with only 7 AH of battery power.
I would not recommend letting your truck idle more than about 30 minutes at a time. Yes it is a very expensive generator. You will probably be using over 2 gallons per hour, while a typical Onan generator is less than 1/2 gallon per hour and can produce 4,000 watts.
By plugging in the trailer to the truck for 10 - 15 minutes before starting the truck, you will allow the alternator to put out all the amperage it can, and in 10 - 15 minutes you will have a 'decent' charge on your trailer battery.
Good luck!
Fred.
