Its been a bug bear for me since I started with motorhomes... Having enough power without running a generator and only free camping..
Let me just say that its tame me many years to finally get to this stage where I feel comfortable with passing on these recommendations..
I have always had a 12 volt fridge and they consume a lot of power..
Over the years I have upgraded my batteries to 4 X 100amp deep cycle batteries, I then added as many Solar Panels as my roof could fit... which turns out to be 720 Watt..
The last thing I did was add a DC to DC charger.
That last add-on made an enormous amount of difference to my batteries.. Batteries which were 3 years old and I thought may need replacing.
My experience with the DC to DC charger is that even on 60 Kilometres a day sometimes more and sometimes less.. The charger works extremely well...The first few days the DC to DC charger worked hard to shove the amps into the batteries and I noticed that by the time I went to bed at night the holding voltage was still good....
Before I added the charger I would have to go to bed when the battery voltage was 12.2 (my personal lowest limit to get maximise battery life) Now after fitting the DC to DC charger the batteries would still be sitting on 12.5 late into the night.... So the improvement in the charging regime has been enormous..
When I start the vehicle the charger waits until the start batteries are charged and then kicks in to charge the house batteries.. The charging amps will climb to 25 amps and sit there whilst the engine is running or until the 4 stage charger kicks into automatic....
All in all I strongly recommend the use of the DC to DC charger...
Explorer said
08:35 PM Sep 10, 2014
Hi,
What brand and model DC/DC charger are You using? I am thinking that I probably need to go that way myself.
Thanks Mike.
KFT said
10:48 PM Sep 10, 2014
I have found the same and use a redarc BCDC1240 which is a 3 stage 40amp charger.
The charger also isolates my start battery from the house batteries.
very good bit of kit.
frank
manxmann said
09:33 PM Sep 27, 2014
I give in .......... what's a DC/DC charger ?
Happywanderer said
03:18 PM Oct 1, 2014
Sounds like you are on the right track, my intention is to put in a 3rd battery and also a Dc to DC Charger, probably not till I get back to Vic where I can get it fitted.
03_troopy said
05:22 PM Oct 4, 2014
manxmann wrote:
I give in .......... what's a DC/DC charger ?
The redarc BCDC type chargers take the 14.3V (actually a bit less after it has travelled down your cables to the batteries) and through electronics, changes it from DC->AC->DC at a higher voltage than the input. So, in effect, it boosts the voltage applied to the house or auxiliary batteries to a level that can fully recharge the batteries. The output of the BCDC can be set to suit the type of batteries being charged and also has a built in solar regulator so you can also plug solar panels into the charger.
justcruisin01 said
08:05 PM Oct 7, 2014
Been running the Redarc's for some yrs now, only way to go particualy with todays hi-tech vehicles.
SnowT said
06:34 PM Oct 24, 2014
Hey I like the topic..
but one question for ALL of you..
- What is the size of your Battery's [Ah's and voltage of the system] And on top of That do you have solar to recharge them..? if you say Yes.. HOW MUCH SOLAR...? Permanent or Portable..?
One of the biggest Issue that I'm hearing of these day's is that people seem to need to add another Battery to their system, but they will not considering installing extra SOLAR...
I can seriously say that people seem to be under powered when it comes to charging from Passive system's.. ie the SUN...
So if you want to help out answer the question's...
On a final note the DC/Dc charger are good..
Juergen
isuzuswag said
12:23 PM Oct 25, 2014
SnowT wrote:
Hey I like the topic..
but one question for ALL of you..
- What is the size of your Battery's [Ah's and voltage of the system] And on top of That do you have solar to recharge them..? if you say Yes.. HOW MUCH SOLAR...? Permanent or Portable..?
One of the biggest Issue that I'm hearing of these day's is that people seem to need to add another Battery to their system, but they will not considering installing extra SOLAR...
I can seriously say that people seem to be under powered when it comes to charging from Passive system's.. ie the SUN...
So if you want to help out answer the question's...
On a final note the DC/Dc charger are good..
Juergen
Covered my roof in solar panels... it adds up to 720 watts of solar.
My battery pawer is 12 Volts at 400 amps total (AGM)
I run a 12 volt compressor fridge.
The rest is LED Lights, water pump, and Satellite TV.
The magic comes in when you get quality Solar Converter and a DC to DC charger. It maximises the battery capacity and therefore the life... I NEVER let my batteries get below 12.2 volts (an arbitrary figure used by glancing at my battery voltage when the fridge is running)
Isuzuswag, on reading info on the Sterling website, re their Battery to Battery chargers, I found this statement For best effect use open lead acid batteries, avoid gel, sealed and AGM batteries
Peter_n_Margaret said
05:29 PM Nov 7, 2014
Mr Sterling has a "bee in his bonnet" about any battery except wet cell LAs.
He makes some great products, but is completely out of touch on this issue.
Let me just say that its tame me many years to finally get to this stage where I feel comfortable with passing on these recommendations..
I have always had a 12 volt fridge and they consume a lot of power..
Over the years I have upgraded my batteries to 4 X 100amp deep cycle batteries, I then added as many Solar Panels as my roof could fit... which turns out to be 720 Watt..
The last thing I did was add a DC to DC charger.
That last add-on made an enormous amount of difference to my batteries.. Batteries which were 3 years old and I thought may need replacing.
My experience with the DC to DC charger is that even on 60 Kilometres a day sometimes more and sometimes less.. The charger works extremely well...The first few days the DC to DC charger worked hard to shove the amps into the batteries and I noticed that by the time I went to bed at night the holding voltage was still good....
Before I added the charger I would have to go to bed when the battery voltage was 12.2 (my personal lowest limit to get maximise battery life) Now after fitting the DC to DC charger the batteries would still be sitting on 12.5 late into the night.... So the improvement in the charging regime has been enormous..
When I start the vehicle the charger waits until the start batteries are charged and then kicks in to charge the house batteries.. The charging amps will climb to 25 amps and sit there whilst the engine is running or until the 4 stage charger kicks into automatic....
All in all I strongly recommend the use of the DC to DC charger...
Hi,
What brand and model DC/DC charger are You using? I am thinking that I probably need to go that way myself.
Thanks Mike.
The charger also isolates my start battery from the house batteries.
very good bit of kit.
frank
The redarc BCDC type chargers take the 14.3V (actually a bit less after it has travelled down your cables to the batteries) and through electronics, changes it from DC->AC->DC at a higher voltage than the input. So, in effect, it boosts the voltage applied to the house or auxiliary batteries to a level that can fully recharge the batteries. The output of the BCDC can be set to suit the type of batteries being charged and also has a built in solar regulator so you can also plug solar panels into the charger.
Been running the Redarc's for some yrs now, only way to go particualy with todays hi-tech vehicles.
but one question for ALL of you..
- What is the size of your Battery's [Ah's and voltage of the system] And on top of That do you have solar to recharge them..? if you say Yes.. HOW MUCH SOLAR...? Permanent or Portable..?
One of the biggest Issue that I'm hearing of these day's is that people seem to need to add another Battery to their system, but they will not considering installing extra SOLAR...
I can seriously say that people seem to be under powered when it comes to charging from Passive system's.. ie the SUN...
So if you want to help out answer the question's...
On a final note the DC/Dc charger are good..
Juergen
Covered my roof in solar panels... it adds up to 720 watts of solar.
My battery pawer is 12 Volts at 400 amps total (AGM)
I run a 12 volt compressor fridge.
The rest is LED Lights, water pump, and Satellite TV.
The magic comes in when you get quality Solar Converter and a DC to DC charger. It maximises the battery capacity and therefore the life... I NEVER let my batteries get below 12.2 volts (an arbitrary figure used by glancing at my battery voltage when the fridge is running)
Isuzuswag, on reading info on the Sterling website, re their Battery to Battery chargers, I found this statement
He makes some great products, but is completely out of touch on this issue.
Cheers,
Peter