Search results

  1. DiploStrat

    Is the Blue Sea 7605 battery charger/isolator a good base for a simple dual battery system?

    To avoid being too much of a Blue Sea phanboi, you may find this article interesting; http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/choosesb2.html With the car stereo wars, there are lots of relays out there and some may be great, but there is a reason that some of us are conservative curmudgeons.
  2. DiploStrat

    Is the Blue Sea 7605 battery charger/isolator a good base for a simple dual battery system?

    What you may be missing: ampacity and, perhaps, reliability. The bigger Blue Sea units can hold 500A. This may or may not matter for your rig. The Wirthco product may be excellent and your system may only need a smaller relay. Many of us use various Blue Sea products because the failure rate...
  3. DiploStrat

    Composting toilet for family of 4?

    No experience with more than two adults and two young children. But the rate of composting has no impact on odor. There is no odor because of the separation of urine.
  4. DiploStrat

    Deep Cycle Battery Setup: Your Experience + Why?

    You may get more traction moving this article to the 12v forum. https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/power-systems-12v-solar-gen.48/
  5. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    Remember one drawback when using a dual solar/alternator charger like the REDARC or CTEK - total amps do NOT increase, that is, a 20A charger will still only give you 20A. Solar will spare your alternator a bit, but this is usually not that much of an issue. For all out, best performance with...
  6. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    To be precise, the REDARC is not infinitely adjustable, but it does have four profiles which match most batteries that you are likely to use. Note that all run a bit hot to help compensate for lower (25A or 40A) output. The CTEK does not offer different profiles...
  7. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    Slightly different spin. 14.2v is probably fine - the exact voltage will depend on temperature, state of charge of the battery, etc. The rule of thumb for solar is 100w per 100Ah of battery, but more is always better. If you add solar, and you should if you can, then make sure that your solar...
  8. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    Sorry, but you don't. At least not yet. This is not hard, but it can be complex. Depends on the charging voltage of your vehicle. If it is high enough and your cables short/big enough, then maybe, because your alternator can probably provide more amps. But if your vehicle voltage is too low...
  9. DiploStrat

    Charge controller needed?

    Yes. Done it for years.
  10. DiploStrat

    Is the Blue Sea 7605 battery charger/isolator a good base for a simple dual battery system?

    This isn't hard, just a bit complex. Your comments suggest that you do not understand some of the basics. This may help. https://cookfb.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/dual-battery-slides-2016.pdf There are additional guides to system design and lead acid battery charging on the same page. To...
  11. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    The usual rule of thumb is that the charging rate for lead acid should be 20% of the battery capacity in Ampere Hours. So, with a 100Ah battery bank, you would want a charge rate of 20A. Lifeline, on the other hand, calls for up to 5x the battery size. Thus a 500A charger for a 100Ah battery. (I...
  12. DiploStrat

    Trouble searching.... DC to DC charger for larger battery banks

    ??? With the usual caveat to be sure that you really need a DC to DC charger ... My 40A REDARC works well with my 600Ah battery bank and Sterling Power has models up to 100A. In the end, the highest output is going to be a direct connection to a 200A+ alternator, again, assuming the correct...
  13. DiploStrat

    National Luna Split-Charge System Charging Issues?

    Some of us would quibble with National Luna about the 13.9v. Ideally, you would like to see lead acid batter reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 14.4v before dropping and holding to a float of around 13.Xv. (13.9v is the default for many alternators [including GM] unless overridden by the...
  14. DiploStrat

    National Luna Split-Charge System Charging Issues?

    The key thing is to be sure that the wiring from the starter battery to the camper battery is large enough. (Low resistance) As long as the camper battery can draw down the starter battery, the vehicle's charging system will respond. Now, wether it will respond with a sufficiently high charging...
  15. DiploStrat

    National Luna Split-Charge System Charging Issues?

    With the HUGE caveats that I had a 2013, not a 2018 Chevrolet, I would offer some comments: -- For a relay based system (aka "split charge") to work, the resistance between the primary and secondary battery has to be low enough that the alternator/regulator "sees" the second battery. If the...
  16. DiploStrat

    Anyone use a genny along with solar?

    Semantics - by shore power charger I mean an onboard charger powered from an external source; not a charger external to the vehicle. I should have been clearer. Now, if I could actually mount my solar charger on the sun ...
  17. DiploStrat

    Anyone use a genny along with solar?

    Good advice. The Magnum Energy line of inverter/chargers is another option, still, I believe, made in the US. As others have noted, this shouldn't be hard. You should have a good shore power charger - just plug your generator into that.
  18. DiploStrat

    24 Volt stand alone A/C units?

    Call these folks and ask for Steven Anderson. I have one of their 24v units in my cab. http://dcpowersales.com
  19. DiploStrat

    Aux battery charging issues

    You could not have a bigger mismatch than I did, 150Ah of starter and 600Ah of camper battery. As long as the batteries are grossly of the same type, e.g. lead acid, and only combined when under charge, size doesn't matter. You can have the...
  20. DiploStrat

    Blue Seas ML ACR 7622 questions

    Isn't that what I said? " … and why many Toyota owners use a B2B rather than a relay based system.)" ;) Mechman used to sell a nice plug-and-play adjuster for Toyota regulators, but with that off the market, a B2B/DC-DC charger may be the easier option. Or, of course, you can play the Aussie...
Top