Generator vs Battery/Inverter/Solar
We have just purchased our first truck camper - a used 2007 Lance 845 and have a couple questions that I hope you can help us out with. The camper is still at the dealer and we're considering having a...
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My Ford alternator is spec'd at 157 amps max, keeping in mind that is almost certainly a cold rating and so it will not achieve that in practical use (warm).
#6 AGW at 100 amps over 25' is about a 1.2V drop, easily compensated by any good external regulator. The wire is rated to do this. Lifeline spec's their batteries at 5C charge, but they will never accept that unless near completely discharged, and then only for a couple of minutes. At 50 percent SOC, they will accept around 0.5C, that will drop to 0.2C and less at 80 percent SOC. Most campers have one or two batteries, so around 200 AH of capacity, 100A charge is all you can ever practically use. I have a 440 AH 24V Lifeline AGM bank on the boat, when run down to 40 percent SOC it will charge at around 280A for a very short period. That bank is now going on 11 years old.
If you used LFP batteries, then a larger alternator could be used, but the costs of the system might exceed the value of the camper :).
In my camper, I haven't gone that far. I have 200W solar on the roof with a good MPPT controller, a proper 3-stage shore cord charger which I never use, and a #6 charge cable from the truck charging the 220AH Lifeline batteries through a Balmar DuoCharge controller. I do not attempt to run an electric stove or air conditioning from it, but for all other uses it works fine, normally charged only from the solar.
#6 AGW at 100 amps over 25' is about a 1.2V drop, easily compensated by any good external regulator. The wire is rated to do this. Lifeline spec's their batteries at 5C charge, but they will never accept that unless near completely discharged, and then only for a couple of minutes. At 50 percent SOC, they will accept around 0.5C, that will drop to 0.2C and less at 80 percent SOC. Most campers have one or two batteries, so around 200 AH of capacity, 100A charge is all you can ever practically use. I have a 440 AH 24V Lifeline AGM bank on the boat, when run down to 40 percent SOC it will charge at around 280A for a very short period. That bank is now going on 11 years old.
If you used LFP batteries, then a larger alternator could be used, but the costs of the system might exceed the value of the camper :).
In my camper, I haven't gone that far. I have 200W solar on the roof with a good MPPT controller, a proper 3-stage shore cord charger which I never use, and a #6 charge cable from the truck charging the 220AH Lifeline batteries through a Balmar DuoCharge controller. I do not attempt to run an electric stove or air conditioning from it, but for all other uses it works fine, normally charged only from the solar.
