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You can also spend extra money on devices that are probably not required. They use a diode isolator which introduces a 1v drop at high current. The wiring is too small to move enough current during the time that the engine is running, or, None of this is hard, but it is a bit complex when you first look at it. With a properly sized system and reasonable solar, a self jump won't ever be necessary until the starter battery actually reaches the end of its life. A remote override, typically a switch on the dash or in the camper, is nice for special circumstances, e.g., self jumping or winching. Thus an intelligent relay will do exactly what you want. Discharge present, determined by voltage dropping, typically below 12.7v ("full" charge for a 12v battery), relay opens. Charge present, determined by voltage rising, typically above 13v for a given period of time, relay closes to share the charge. Intelligent relays differ in capacity and in the details of their algorithms, but basically they all sense voltage at one, or more commonly, both batteries. Add a solar charger or shore power and then an intelligent relay (smart battery combiner, voltage controlled relay, etc.) is a better bet. #REVIEWS FOR COLE HERSEE 48530 SMART BATTERY ISOLATOR 200A MANUAL#If you have only one charge source, your truck alternator, then a manual switch (which you can forget to turn) or a key controlled relay (which is automatic) is all you need. You want to tie the batteries together when there is a charge present and disconnect them when they are discharging. The starter battery gives you a big jolt to start the truck while the camper battery gives you less power but longer and is better able to withstand a deeper discharge without damage. The "good" reason is that the starter and camper batteries are of different types for different jobs. I.e., start your vehicle or chill enough beers for enough days. This is "bad" only because it misses the point you need to size BOTH batteries so that they are large enough to do the job required. The "bad" reason is so that you won't run down the starter battery while chilling your beer. (And I hope I don't have a fatal typo in here.)Ĭlick to expand.There are two reasons to separate the starter battery from the camper battery, one bad and one good: #REVIEWS FOR COLE HERSEE 48530 SMART BATTERY ISOLATOR 200A DOWNLOAD#You can download lots of mind numbingly pedantic information on this from my website, under "Documents." It is the old "Speed is money, how fast do you want to go?" I use 2x1/0 AWG and routinely see charge rates exceeding 150A. This converter will let you translate AWG into mm2. You can play with this calculator to see the impact of wire size on voltage drop as you change amperage and distance: So much slower that you will find lots of Internet chatter to the effect that: "You can't charge your camper (trailer) battery from your alternator." A better answer would be: "Small wires cannot flow high amperage." Will this work? Yes, but it will make a slow process much slower. Most of the RV industry uses 6 or 8 AWG wires and correspondingly small relays. So, bigger wire, clean contacts, etc., results in a higher amp flow. The speed that this happens depends on the resistance between them. Smartguage do not sell their relays in the U.S., but the concept is the same, avoid low quality, undersized relays.)īasically, two batteries connected together will come to the same voltage. Most of the time, assuming that all batteries are lead acid, I go with Gibson.ĭirectly to your question, this is why you might want to consider the Blue Sea relay: (N.B. They differ, greatly, on how best to do this for secondary (camper, house, domestic) batteries. are the two best gurus that I know of when it comes to charging batteries. Chris Gibson's site, Smartgauge, holds a wealth of information. ![]()
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