Charging Strategy, 1994 RoadTrek
Hi all, I've been diving back into how to upgrade my battery system in my class B and was hoping someone here could sanity check me. I have a small 100AH 12V coach battery and I'm upgrading to a pai...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for the replies, I'm slowly gaining confidence in understanding the trade-offs.
1. I think the alternator on these conversions has been beefed up. That said, I haven't been able to figure out what I've got yet. It's a reman and their sticker covers the original info, so I'll need to peel that off.
2. I probably don't actually need 3000 watts. I was selecting the 3000 because it has a charger at 100A, and these 400AH L16s want C/4 in the first stage. Since I just spent $900 on these AGMs I want to make sure I don't undercharge and sulfate them.
3. That AIMS inverter gets 5 stars on Amazon. Are they known bad? If they are I'll probably go for something else. I'm glad to get this feedback because I was literally about to hit the "buy" button.
4. The whole idea is to boondock for 5-7 days at a time (in one or two locations), then pony up for full hookups at a site and recharge for 12 hours, then do it all over again. I know this is on the edge of the possible, but I'm a pretty lightweight user, and I have propane for most of my stuff if I need it (and a Honda 2000).
5. I'm thinking I'm not currently in a position to get the wiring done to upgrade the circuit coming off the alternator. And I'm not sure what kind of isolator I have at this point, but it's from 94, so it probably is the older type (I can see it, but can't quite make out a model number).
I'm planning on doing this upgrade next week, and I think I'm short on experience to do it myself (though I'm getting there, and would prefer to) and short on sufficient funds to pay someone to upgrade everything. Instead what I think I'll do for the interim (until I can upgrade the alternator/isolator and wiring) is just leave the existing 94AH house battery in place with the existing wiring and keep the inverter/charger solely connected to the 400AH bank in back. Then I can just run off the original coach battery for your basic overnights and switch to the inverter/400AH bank when I'm in one spot for several days (or need to run bigger items).
Does that sound like a reasonable solution/compromise? I know I'm giving up charging off the alternator on my big bank for the time being but it's pretty clear that this would require more extensive upgrades than I can do right now.
1. I think the alternator on these conversions has been beefed up. That said, I haven't been able to figure out what I've got yet. It's a reman and their sticker covers the original info, so I'll need to peel that off.
2. I probably don't actually need 3000 watts. I was selecting the 3000 because it has a charger at 100A, and these 400AH L16s want C/4 in the first stage. Since I just spent $900 on these AGMs I want to make sure I don't undercharge and sulfate them.
3. That AIMS inverter gets 5 stars on Amazon. Are they known bad? If they are I'll probably go for something else. I'm glad to get this feedback because I was literally about to hit the "buy" button.
4. The whole idea is to boondock for 5-7 days at a time (in one or two locations), then pony up for full hookups at a site and recharge for 12 hours, then do it all over again. I know this is on the edge of the possible, but I'm a pretty lightweight user, and I have propane for most of my stuff if I need it (and a Honda 2000).
5. I'm thinking I'm not currently in a position to get the wiring done to upgrade the circuit coming off the alternator. And I'm not sure what kind of isolator I have at this point, but it's from 94, so it probably is the older type (I can see it, but can't quite make out a model number).
I'm planning on doing this upgrade next week, and I think I'm short on experience to do it myself (though I'm getting there, and would prefer to) and short on sufficient funds to pay someone to upgrade everything. Instead what I think I'll do for the interim (until I can upgrade the alternator/isolator and wiring) is just leave the existing 94AH house battery in place with the existing wiring and keep the inverter/charger solely connected to the 400AH bank in back. Then I can just run off the original coach battery for your basic overnights and switch to the inverter/400AH bank when I'm in one spot for several days (or need to run bigger items).
Does that sound like a reasonable solution/compromise? I know I'm giving up charging off the alternator on my big bank for the time being but it's pretty clear that this would require more extensive upgrades than I can do right now.
