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GoFish's avatar
GoFish
Explorer
Jul 28, 2014

Charging the camper batteries with the truck motor

I have not been able to get a good charge to the camper house batteries using the truck alternator. I have the dual 105 amp alternator option on my 2004 Duramax for total of 210 amps of potential outp...
Truck Campers
DiploStrat's avatar
DiploStrat
Explorer
Aug 01, 2014
eb145 wrote:


OP, I'm pretty sure this is exactly what you are looking for.

Ed


Ed, with deepest respect, the CTEK is exactly what he does not need. The CTEK 250 Dual is a B2B with a solar controller built in. It does have a nice, multi-stage charger and it does raise the charging voltage to over 14v, but his Chevrolet already has a multi-stage charger and already runs at over 14v.

The CTEK has a maximum charge rate of 20A while his truck is already capable of charge rates well above 100A.

This kind of device does work well if you have an older truck with a 13v system. (A friend of mine uses a pair of 40A B2B's on his Unimog.)

In either case, he will have to significantly upgrade his wiring.

Finally, if you are determined to use the CTEK system, you really need to add the Smartpass, which boosts your charge rate up to 100A and allows for bidirectional charging to maintain the starter batteries when using solar or shore power. Smartpass

Or, you could simply use THIS with properly sized wire, call it 100mm2.

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