Battery Life and Low Temps
I have been having a ball up at Iris Meadow off of Rock Creek Road, Close to Mammoth Lakes, CA. It's the steeper side of the Sierras just East of Yosemite. It's a little known area comparably, but v...
Forum Discussion
NinerBikes,
FWIW, I have had a digital four-place voltmeter and three-place ammeter in my coach battery bank's heavy gauge negative lead for at least 6 years. They're mounted right on our MH's dash so I can see what's going on with coach battery volts and current any time while camped or going down the road. I wired the ammeter's shunt such that negative current readings mean the coach batteries are seeing a net amperage out-flow (getting drained) and positive current readings mean the coach batteries are seeing a net amperage in-flow (getting charged). When the ammeter reads under 2 amps positive for my 200AH battery bank, I call this "fully charged" enough such that the batteries can go a few more similar camping charge cycles before needing a true full charge from either some main engine alternator pre-charge exposure or a potload of home time on the converter with hookups from a stick house outside wall outlet.
Did you check out my link I posted earlier to the no longer available 7455T dual-voltage, timed-high-voltage converter? This converter reminds me of what many are now trying to do by combining an (inexpensive) adjustable voltage power supply on a timer with a another (built-in?) RV battery charger. The 7455T was available quite some time ago well before these recent combined-power-supply charging discussions ... which makes me believe that some engineer(s) inside Parallax Power Supply L.L.C. knew what they were doing way back when. ;)
FWIW, I have had a digital four-place voltmeter and three-place ammeter in my coach battery bank's heavy gauge negative lead for at least 6 years. They're mounted right on our MH's dash so I can see what's going on with coach battery volts and current any time while camped or going down the road. I wired the ammeter's shunt such that negative current readings mean the coach batteries are seeing a net amperage out-flow (getting drained) and positive current readings mean the coach batteries are seeing a net amperage in-flow (getting charged). When the ammeter reads under 2 amps positive for my 200AH battery bank, I call this "fully charged" enough such that the batteries can go a few more similar camping charge cycles before needing a true full charge from either some main engine alternator pre-charge exposure or a potload of home time on the converter with hookups from a stick house outside wall outlet.
Did you check out my link I posted earlier to the no longer available 7455T dual-voltage, timed-high-voltage converter? This converter reminds me of what many are now trying to do by combining an (inexpensive) adjustable voltage power supply on a timer with a another (built-in?) RV battery charger. The 7455T was available quite some time ago well before these recent combined-power-supply charging discussions ... which makes me believe that some engineer(s) inside Parallax Power Supply L.L.C. knew what they were doing way back when. ;)
