I'm a fulltimer and my 2017 5er is almost always hooked up to shore power. I have 2 12v batteries. I 'believe' one is strictly for the inverter circuit (residential frig and possibly WH). The other batt powers everything else 12v in the rig. The converter cables go to a Magnum Energy Smart Battery Combiner for charging. I'm having some charging issues now that are just confusing the sh** out of me but here's the question I would pose to folks with more electrical knowledge. Would it be beneficial to change the current setup to use 2 individual charge controllers instead of going through the combiner?

Hi,Generally speaking it is best to have both batteries in parallel, assuming they are identical in chemistry, amp-hours, and age.Charge controller is a device used in the solar industry. Do you mean converter? or inverter/charger?May I ask you to share the problems that are occuring?

I will second Piano on this.There is a little known battery rule Peukert's effectThe short version is this: The faster you draw down a battery the faster still it runs down,,,, So if you are drawing say a steady 10 amps a 200 amp hour battery bank should hit half full 10 hours down the road. "Now you would think if you parallel two such banks for 400 amp hours total it would take 20 hours to get to half full but surprise, suprise, it takes LONGER,

pianotuna wrote:Hi,Generally speaking it is best to have both batteries in parallel, assuming they are identical in chemistry, amp-hours, and age.Charge controller is a device used in the solar industry. Do you mean converter? or inverter/charger?May I ask you to share the problems that are occuring?From the factory, the batteries were placed on opposite sides of the compartment and treated as separate power sources.The Smart Battery Combiner gets power from the converter then apportions it between the batteries. The problem I'm currently having is that the SBC will not operate continuously. It's designed to operate within certain voltages. At times it will give a low voltage disconnect indication and stop charging either battery. I've already replaced both batteries. I've been using a standard battery charger to charge the main house battery when the SBC quits. I think tomorrow I'll try hooking up that battery charger on the outbound wires from the converter. If the SBC works fine that way then I'll know that I also need to replace the converter.

HappyKayakers wrote:I've been using a standard battery charger to charge the main house battery when the SBC quits.Which "standard battery charger" are you using?

I agree. It makes no sense to me to have two divided like this.Running a residential fridge off an inverter off one battery? Yikes! For that reason alone I would connect the two batteries. They do not have to be exactly side by side to connect them, but use a very heavy gauge wire to connect them. Many trucks will have their two batteries on either side of the engine bay.How are the batteries connected? Is there a solenoid that connects both to each other when plugged in and disconnects them when not? Or the charger has two outputs?Or a large diode?

Charge controllers | Good Sam Community

HappyKayakers
Explorer III
Jan 01, 2022
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Generally speaking it is best to have both batteries in parallel, assuming they are identical in chemistry, amp-hours, and age.

Charge controller is a device used in the solar industry. Do you mean converter? or inverter/charger?

May I ask you to share the problems that are occuring?

From the factory, the batteries were placed on opposite sides of the compartment and treated as separate power sources.

The Smart Battery Combiner gets power from the converter then apportions it between the batteries.

The problem I'm currently having is that the SBC will not operate continuously. It's designed to operate within certain voltages. At times it will give a low voltage disconnect indication and stop charging either battery. I've already replaced both batteries. I've been using a standard battery charger to charge the main house battery when the SBC quits. I think tomorrow I'll try hooking up that battery charger on the outbound wires from the converter. If the SBC works fine that way then I'll know that I also need to replace the converter.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 01, 2022
I will second Piano on this.

There is a little known battery rule Peukert's effect

The short version is this: The faster you draw down a battery the faster still it runs down,,,,

So if you are drawing say a steady 10 amps a 200 amp hour battery bank should hit half full 10 hours down the road. "

Now you would think if you parallel two such banks for 400 amp hours total it would take 20 hours to get to half full but surprise, suprise, it takes LONGER,
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 01, 2022
Hi,

Generally speaking it is best to have both batteries in parallel, assuming they are identical in chemistry, amp-hours, and age.

Charge controller is a device used in the solar industry. Do you mean converter? or inverter/charger?

May I ask you to share the problems that are occuring?

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