Keeping two batteries happy (separated)
Please excuse this long post, but I thought a more comprehensive discussion of this topic might be of interest. As is common with many RV's, I have two batteries in my RV, one for starting the veh...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
The smartgauge site has a great article on "in rush" current when a low battery is connected via a charging path. The conclusion is that it doesn't exist for the minor voltage differences between a charged battery and a discharged one.
I do have twin charging paths that are solenoid based and I chose to use automatic circuit breakers @ 50 amps (each) with them. The OEM solenoid from Ford lasted a bit over a year. I had it replaced with a much higher capacity unit which cost 1/5 of the OEM Ford one.
This gives me a "poor man's" boost system so long as their is sufficient voltage to close the solenoids.
My opinion is that the more complex the system the more likely it is to fail--and conversely the harder it is to trouble shoot. So I would not recommend a "smart switch".
Diode based isolation is more or less a guaranty of low charging current, so I'd not use that system.
I did add a trik-l-start for my chassis battery so that the solar system can maintain it between trips.
The smartgauge site has a great article on "in rush" current when a low battery is connected via a charging path. The conclusion is that it doesn't exist for the minor voltage differences between a charged battery and a discharged one.
I do have twin charging paths that are solenoid based and I chose to use automatic circuit breakers @ 50 amps (each) with them. The OEM solenoid from Ford lasted a bit over a year. I had it replaced with a much higher capacity unit which cost 1/5 of the OEM Ford one.
This gives me a "poor man's" boost system so long as their is sufficient voltage to close the solenoids.
My opinion is that the more complex the system the more likely it is to fail--and conversely the harder it is to trouble shoot. So I would not recommend a "smart switch".
Diode based isolation is more or less a guaranty of low charging current, so I'd not use that system.
I did add a trik-l-start for my chassis battery so that the solar system can maintain it between trips.
