Solar Charger & Truck Power Question
I've recently installed a Go Power! GP-PWM-30 30 Amp Solar Regulator because the previous owner had solar installed but no charge controller (he just had a simple diode or voltage regulator that conne...
Forum Discussion
Agree with work2much in that I would focus on getting the solar charging instead of hybridizing the system. To drop back a bit, your truck should be able to put a peak charge into your camper batteries. The primary reason this often doesn't work is there is a load in the camper drawing current that is taking away from the current charging the battery. IF you have a heavy enough charge wire going from the truck to the camper this isn't a problem. But wire acts like a resistor. As current flows through a resistor a voltage is "dropped" across the resistor thus limiting the voltage making it to the load. Suppose the charge path between the truck alternator and camper batteries is 0.5 ohm. The truck alternator will put 14.7 volts onto the wire, but if there is a load in the camper taking 4 amps you'll lose 2 volts due to that resistance so the most the battery in your camper will see is 12.7 volts, even as the alternator is supplying 14.7.
The solution for the truck charge is to run heavy wire between the alternator and camper batteries to reduce this resistance, or to eliminate the stray current draw in the camper while on the road. Drop that 0.5 ohm to 0.05 ohm with heavier gauge wire and you'll now see 14.5 volts at the batteries with the camper still drawing the same current. Or, eliminate all loads in the camper and even with the light wire you'll now get the full 14.7 volts on the camper battery. A 3-way fridge set to DC can draw a lot of current and is the primary suspect in what's preventing your camper battery from getting a good charge on the road.
All that said, since you have solar and solar charges the battery with the engine running or not, I'd try to focus on that charging source. The fact it isn't already topping off the battery while on the road tells me either something isn't wired properly or the camper is drawing more current than the solar is supplying so the battery is never able to get topped off.
See if you can find what's drawing current in the camper (do you drive with the fridge on DC?) and get an idea how much current you need just to operate the camper. Adding a second solar panel may solve your problems and could be an easy solution since you've already installed a charge controller that'll handle much more than the single panel you have now can supply.
The solution for the truck charge is to run heavy wire between the alternator and camper batteries to reduce this resistance, or to eliminate the stray current draw in the camper while on the road. Drop that 0.5 ohm to 0.05 ohm with heavier gauge wire and you'll now see 14.5 volts at the batteries with the camper still drawing the same current. Or, eliminate all loads in the camper and even with the light wire you'll now get the full 14.7 volts on the camper battery. A 3-way fridge set to DC can draw a lot of current and is the primary suspect in what's preventing your camper battery from getting a good charge on the road.
All that said, since you have solar and solar charges the battery with the engine running or not, I'd try to focus on that charging source. The fact it isn't already topping off the battery while on the road tells me either something isn't wired properly or the camper is drawing more current than the solar is supplying so the battery is never able to get topped off.
See if you can find what's drawing current in the camper (do you drive with the fridge on DC?) and get an idea how much current you need just to operate the camper. Adding a second solar panel may solve your problems and could be an easy solution since you've already installed a charge controller that'll handle much more than the single panel you have now can supply.
