Alternator Charging ? Again
I need to use the truck to recharge the batteries for the truck camper when off grid because there is no room for a generator, and solar can't always keep up. I know you are supposed to upgrade to...
Forum Discussion
This is not that complicated!!!
First off, the current tapers down as the battery gets closer to full charge. This is NORMAL. You can't force 20A if the battery won't take it, and you don't want to, because it will boil the acid right out of the battery.
At its most basic, a dedicated charging circuit requires a red + cable from the "jump start" lug in the engine compartment to the + on the battery. Next it needs a black - cable from a good ground in the engine compartment to the - on the battery. 6ga, 4ga or even 2ga wires. If you want to go totally boogots, use 0ga.
Now that you have the basic circuit set up, you want a way to disconnect it when you unload the camper. Put a heavy Anderson connector like the one pictured earlier in the thread in the cable somewhere convenient, probably in the bed of the truck.
You probably don't want that live 12V connection in the bed of the truck, and you may want to isolate the camper battery from the truck battery while camping, so you don't run the truck battery dead and strand yourself. Something as simple as this:
installed in the red + cable, and mounted somewhere convenient, is all you really need. You can get sophisticated and install battery isolation relays that operate off the truck's key switch, or off a toggle that you manually actuate in the cab, but the concept is the same.
Running an inverter to power the converter is just silly. You can't mount the inverter in the engine compartment because of heat. You can't mount it under the cab because road debris and water will destroy it. You can't mount it in the cab because the fan noise will drive you insane. The only place you can mount it is in the camper, so you're running big heavy wires all the way back there anyway. Why not just hook them straight to the battery, save yourself $1500 on the inverter, save the space and weight, and not make unnecessary conversions back and forth from DC to AC and back?
First off, the current tapers down as the battery gets closer to full charge. This is NORMAL. You can't force 20A if the battery won't take it, and you don't want to, because it will boil the acid right out of the battery.
At its most basic, a dedicated charging circuit requires a red + cable from the "jump start" lug in the engine compartment to the + on the battery. Next it needs a black - cable from a good ground in the engine compartment to the - on the battery. 6ga, 4ga or even 2ga wires. If you want to go totally boogots, use 0ga.
Now that you have the basic circuit set up, you want a way to disconnect it when you unload the camper. Put a heavy Anderson connector like the one pictured earlier in the thread in the cable somewhere convenient, probably in the bed of the truck.
You probably don't want that live 12V connection in the bed of the truck, and you may want to isolate the camper battery from the truck battery while camping, so you don't run the truck battery dead and strand yourself. Something as simple as this:
installed in the red + cable, and mounted somewhere convenient, is all you really need. You can get sophisticated and install battery isolation relays that operate off the truck's key switch, or off a toggle that you manually actuate in the cab, but the concept is the same.
Running an inverter to power the converter is just silly. You can't mount the inverter in the engine compartment because of heat. You can't mount it under the cab because road debris and water will destroy it. You can't mount it in the cab because the fan noise will drive you insane. The only place you can mount it is in the camper, so you're running big heavy wires all the way back there anyway. Why not just hook them straight to the battery, save yourself $1500 on the inverter, save the space and weight, and not make unnecessary conversions back and forth from DC to AC and back?
