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I have a ranch that play at, that requires cutting our way to the cabin, for the first trip of the year. We also have occasional trees that fall while up there playing, that have to be cut, to get out. Took my big Stihl up a few weeks ago, and only got half way done before the saw decided to...

Verkstad, Thank you. That makes sense. My aux batteries and aux fuse panel are completely isolated from the van chassis and start batteries. So with my positive side rotary switch I have a: 1 in, 2 in, a single out. Switch positions: 1, 2, combined or off. If I run the positive from each...

Rando, I already have things set up for two lines, and right now I just switch plugs. If I decide to use my 100 foldable, I would be doing so when the Van is big time shaded. Trying to plug that in parallel with my glass would be harder than just plugging it in and using the switch. My...

Rando, The benefit of having a second solar input would be to 1) just use the smaller panels to trickle charge when the van is sitting in my driveway for extended times. With the panels behind the windshield, I can quickly remove snow/leaves/bird doo from the windshield exposing them. This is...

Another one of my oddball questions for which I have not seen previous discussion. In my van, I have two 135 watt glass panels on top, and I have a pair of Goal Zero 17's that I keep on my dashboard for driveway trickling to to a Sunsave Duo to top off my main and aux batteries. Currently I...

Looks like a project. I'll follow along. I have a "new" 2004 standard length Quigley that is my new project, same color as yours. What your PO's did with all that foam looks criminal. And sealing the back doors, wow. That was a mess. Thankfully the extent of my demo was removing the...

Herbie, Nice looking van. I just got into the van game a month ago. I went through this exercise with my cargo trailer last spring/summer. I could not find a lot of good brand "lesser" size mppt's. I settled on a Midnight solar controller, but my trailer has more mounting room than I would...

dwh, I was back at wiring this evening, and did the check you noted. Using my Fluke, I connected to the 1/0 wires at the big plug which is wired directly to the starter batteries. So not on the posts, as dropping takes a great deal of time and energy. So this was at the end of about 3 feet...

John, Good point about being one bank. I was a little tired when I posted last evening. The point of installing the ACR was to tie, but have switching to charge the house battery when headed out to camp, or when moving around while camping. I saw the switch noted in one of the DC-DC charging...

Whew, busy weekend with the van electrical. Have the main cover for the electrical installed, and Blue Sea Contura switch panels installed for switches and usb. The solar is not hooked up, but I am trying not to stress over what gets done, just that what is done is done correctly. King...

Joe, My van is a 6l turbo diesel. The start and run requires 12v battery voltage to be ramped up to 48v. This is handle by what is called a FICM. This is much like a normal vehciles PCM in that it contains a circuit board, is serialized, is pretty expensive, and is sensitive to reduced input...

Diplo, The advice I get here is always pretty solid. I have the led on my relay, and a 3 position switch. Normal operation, switched off, and switched on. The led is on and the relay clunks closed with the switch in Normal (voltage sensing) or On, with the led glowing. It is instantaneous...

John, Thanks, I think. I do not plan on breaking, but one never knows. Used 1/0 for all my wiring, as I had not planned on starter combining. That Blue Sea relay calls for 4/0. I have a ton of Blue Sea stuff, and really prefer their "goodies", but that ACR is more than I think I need. Craig

John, Thanks. Yes, dead nuts resting voltages. I have a couple of years experience with these AGM batteries, and know what they do. The van is new to me, but a couple of weeks of monitoring and resting is at 12.7 in the morning for the starter bats. And yes, I do understand that AGM and...

I did search for this specific question, but most I can find is the obvious caution about putting an agm and lead acid into a single bank. My situation is that I have a pair of lead acid starter batteries in my new van. I just installed a pair of agm batteries for a house bank. I installed a...

Well, when it's 4 o'clock in the morning, and you are trying to beat the elk to the high meadows and working by headlamp, they could be coffee grounds, crystals, last nights dehydrated peas that did not fully hydrate or anything in between. And good, no matter........;^) Those days were fun...

Nibbs, Yes, I think solar in the more northerly latitudes is much more challenging, especially in that time of the year. I too started out doing things from my back, so really appreciate things like not having to use perked coffee in my bowl of instant oatmeal, to facilitate weight, speed and...

Ok, I'll jump in. I am not the most experienced here as to giving advice, but have come a long way in the last couple of years. And, I run my setups much as you propose, 2-3 camp trips, and hunting trips. Off the top, you are probably going to have to give us some sense of location, as there...

Diplo, Looks like we were cross posting. There you are, reading my mind again... Yes,, I know I am over thinking, as one of my "regular" charge controllers will absolutely work. The Duo has the very nice dual battery monitor screens, and I thought it made sense to try and use what I have. I...

That makes more sense. Yes, the forced start option comes with a strong warning about all the amps through the relay, and frying it. I had no intention on wiring for a jump while starting, but being able to manually close the switch will be nice to have as an option. I had not snapped to the...