Charging While Towing
Newbie to the forum here. Looked around a bit and didn't see anything specific so worth a fresh post.
We just took our first long trip in my 16ft TT after I installed a new (4)6-volt 460AH system in lieu of the single group 27 marine battery. Installed a Victron 700-BVM which was/is the coolest gadget. Love the AH consumed/charged function as that and voltage were my real measurements of state of charge. Didn't quite like the percentage used so that'll take a little programming change (hopefully).
Overall on the six night trip we used 170AH with the kids watching DVDs every night, ending voltage when we got home was around 12.25V. Pretty respectable. Just the smoke detector, carbon monoxide, propane detector, propane fridge controls, and a USB that stays hot draws about .85A an hour and if we were out for the day I'd just shut it down.
To my surprise though I didn't get the charge I thought I would when we were out on the road. We relocated twice 2-3 hours each and drove home 8 hours yesterday and the change in AH and voltage was seemingly negligible each time.
I've got a 30A lead wired from a empty fuse slot to the 7-pin connector. My big battery system install is right to the original connection points on the TT to keep things simple. When I start the truck I can see the Amps inbound to the trailer peak at about 5A but then really quickly it dropped down to 1/0/-.85. The AH meter moves backwards and forwards so I recorded a little dent in AH used right at startup but that was it.
My simple math said even at 5A inbound I'd see a real dent in total AH consumed on our crazy long drive home and it was at 175AH when we left and 171AH when we got home. Every time it basically felt like it was a wash and I thought I'd see a 30-40AH pickup after a whole day on the road. Truck voltage the whole ride was considerably above (runs around 13.4 to 13.6 on the move) the trailer batteries in the mid/low 12's.
Only thing I can come up with is that I run full lights on (lights on for safety!) all the time and the running/marker/brake lights on the trailer are still incandescent and that's consuming most of that trailer feed?
Seems like I'm missing something. Any insight from you experienced folk would be appreciated.
We just took our first long trip in my 16ft TT after I installed a new (4)6-volt 460AH system in lieu of the single group 27 marine battery. Installed a Victron 700-BVM which was/is the coolest gadget. Love the AH consumed/charged function as that and voltage were my real measurements of state of charge. Didn't quite like the percentage used so that'll take a little programming change (hopefully).
Overall on the six night trip we used 170AH with the kids watching DVDs every night, ending voltage when we got home was around 12.25V. Pretty respectable. Just the smoke detector, carbon monoxide, propane detector, propane fridge controls, and a USB that stays hot draws about .85A an hour and if we were out for the day I'd just shut it down.
To my surprise though I didn't get the charge I thought I would when we were out on the road. We relocated twice 2-3 hours each and drove home 8 hours yesterday and the change in AH and voltage was seemingly negligible each time.
I've got a 30A lead wired from a empty fuse slot to the 7-pin connector. My big battery system install is right to the original connection points on the TT to keep things simple. When I start the truck I can see the Amps inbound to the trailer peak at about 5A but then really quickly it dropped down to 1/0/-.85. The AH meter moves backwards and forwards so I recorded a little dent in AH used right at startup but that was it.
My simple math said even at 5A inbound I'd see a real dent in total AH consumed on our crazy long drive home and it was at 175AH when we left and 171AH when we got home. Every time it basically felt like it was a wash and I thought I'd see a 30-40AH pickup after a whole day on the road. Truck voltage the whole ride was considerably above (runs around 13.4 to 13.6 on the move) the trailer batteries in the mid/low 12's.
Only thing I can come up with is that I run full lights on (lights on for safety!) all the time and the running/marker/brake lights on the trailer are still incandescent and that's consuming most of that trailer feed?
Seems like I'm missing something. Any insight from you experienced folk would be appreciated.
