Recent content by Martinjmpr

POSTSCRIPT: FOR THE FUSE COPS J/K. ;) I know safety is important and the last thing anybody wants is an electrical fire next to two lithium batteries and 2 propane tanks. :oops: First step was to fuse the big 2AWG cable running from the truck battery to the 175A Anderson connector. After...

I think what he was saying is that it was smart for me to wait until LiFePo prices went down before I started my journey. Yeah the charger apparently senses the battery type and adjusts voltage accordingly. I think it charges at 14.3 or 14.5v when hooked to a LiFePo battery. The display on...

Eh, I don't know that I see that as being necessary. I mean I COULD put a big 40A or 50A fuse block on it where it connects to the battery but why? I mean, I guess in theory the Anderson connector could break if I hit a bump and ground the positive to the trailer frame but I think that...

Well, the project is finally "Done" done. Obviously having to connect the 120vAC battery charger to the camper using alligator clips was not a viable long-term solution. I didn't want to have to pop the top off my battery cover every time I charged them so I made a small "pigtail" with a...

Also you have to remember that using the inverter to charge the camper battery is something that only happens when we are stopped. I don't use this setup when we are moving down the road. In theory I suppose I could use a setup something like this while moving (as Burleyman did above.) As...

As we used to say in the Army, "If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid." My only concern about what you posted above is having the inverter permanently mounted behind the grill. Did you do anything to waterproof or protect it? I would be worried about rain, dirt, etc, getting into the...

I didn't notice any change in idle speed on the truck while the inverter was running. It's a 230A alternator and the inverter is only pulling about 33A so I can't imagine it would have much effect. Obviously I'm not running a lot of other stuff at the same time I'm charging the battery.

Just as an update, I finished my other project and now have the ability to use the truck's alternator to charge the camper batteries, using an 1100W inverter connected to a 30A 120vAC battery charger. See the last updates on the thread here...

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS: After 15 minutes I checked the battery charge status: Battery 33 went from 26% to 31%, and Battery 28 went from 28% to 32%, So by my math that's 9 AH into the batteries in 15 minutes (100AH battery so 1% = 1AH.) Pretty much the result I was looking for. This...

OK I'm happy to report full success on this project. When I started, I thought the best way to go would be to have a DC-DC charger attached to the truck's battery and then have that go into the camper batteries. However, after a lot of back and forth (some of which you can read about in the...

Also just adding that the DC-DC charger did a great job keeping the power pack battery charged on our recent 2 week trip to the Gulf Coast of Texas (Corpus Christi/Padre Island.) Of course, it wasn't much of a test since we were experiencing record cold temperatures almost the entire time...

Just a quick follow up: I let the battery in the power pack run down to 85% on a recent camping trip just to test the 20' 8AWG cable to see if the voltage drop was causing the lower amperage on charging. Here it is with the DC-DC charger connected directly to the LIFEPO battery with a short...

Dave: That's pretty much what I'm looking to do. I assume I'd need those big two-handed crimpers you have for wires of that gauge? Speaking of which, do you have a link to them? It seems that 8AWG is about the biggest wire I can crimp with my current crimper. I don't mind investing in a...

I like the idea of hard wiring an inverter but there simply is not enough space under the hood to put one and I don't want something that is connected all the time anyway, it's just not necessary. Obviously there are multiple ways to skin this cat but I'm looking for one that requires the...

Because this is intended to charge the trailer batteries when I am stationary for a long period of time. Essentially, what I am looking for is a potential alternative to carrying a generator to keep the batteries charged when we are boondocking for an extended period of time. On two recent...