Truck charge camper battery?
I tried a search on this but I didn't come up with anything, maybe wrong search words :) Anyway, for the past couple of years my fridge protocol has been to plug into shore power the night before we l...
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You are right that as a percentage it is a major voltage drop.
I haven't measured at the alternator and at the camper battery. Most alternators in my experience put out 14.1 volts. The camper plug goes through my guess is at least 20 feet of wire outside the camper, and maybe 10 feet inside the camper because it's on the other side of the camper from the battery and the Lance plug.
30 feet of wire should produce about a half a volt drop at 12 volts, see calculator here Use 15 feet and 8 ga wire.
Important point, for 10 ga wire you will lose 0.9 volts, almost a full volt, using the same numbers.
But, using 8 ga wire it is good enough so that at least the battery drain does get offset somewhat by the alternator charging. And the battery does charge, just not fully.
At least it will prevent it from being drained to the point where its life would be significantly shortened.
I haven't measured at the alternator and at the camper battery. Most alternators in my experience put out 14.1 volts. The camper plug goes through my guess is at least 20 feet of wire outside the camper, and maybe 10 feet inside the camper because it's on the other side of the camper from the battery and the Lance plug.
30 feet of wire should produce about a half a volt drop at 12 volts, see calculator here Use 15 feet and 8 ga wire.
Important point, for 10 ga wire you will lose 0.9 volts, almost a full volt, using the same numbers.
But, using 8 ga wire it is good enough so that at least the battery drain does get offset somewhat by the alternator charging. And the battery does charge, just not fully.
At least it will prevent it from being drained to the point where its life would be significantly shortened.
