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Old 01-03-2019, 02:52 PM   #15
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For those that say the fuse is missing could be right as I had a towing fuse missing but mine was for the running lights. I bought a fuse and inserted it into an empty slot and then had running lights.

This was on a Ford truck.
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Old 01-03-2019, 04:01 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Menges View Post
Anyone know why my batteries in my Landmark are not recharging during towing. I have power to the outlet in the truck but don't know where it goes from there. Where do I look to check the power going to the batteries. Does anyone know where I can get a wiring schematic for 2014 Heartland Landmark?
See if this helps any. I used to own a 2013 Cyclone. I think the busbar is common in their lines, and the file name has LM in it. It could also be the 30A Auto Mini breaker. I had to replace a couple of them in my two years od ownership.
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File Type: pdf Buss_Bar_for_LM-BH-BC.pdf (694.4 KB, 29 views)
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Old 01-03-2019, 10:13 PM   #17
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the voltage drop in the feed will also increase in proportion to the current and the voltage at the bank will continue to drop until it hits that magic 12.9 level, after which no charging at all will occur.
That's not true. It's impossible to have a drop that goes below the point where batteries aren't charging because then they'd be drawing no current. No current = no drop. The drop will reach an equilibrium between current and terminal voltage. There will be current going into the batteries and they will be charging depending on what the source voltage is, the series drop and bank impedance at it's SOC.

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So, the operative question is "how much current can you provide...and still keep the applied voltage high enough to actually do anything to increase the SOC?" Lower SOC batteries will draw more and exacerbate the issue.
It comes down to time. The more series resistance you add and greater SOC you need to recover, the longer it will take to reach the end of the bulk phase. One can say there's a practical time limit (hours? days? weeks?) but you'll get there eventually if the source voltage is up to the level of the required bulk completion. So the correct way to approach it is to determine what current can be provided with a given series resistance and factor that to your recovery time based on Ah delivered. This can all be modeled in a spreadsheet if the constants are known.

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Old 01-03-2019, 11:44 PM   #18
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Fine, sure, but 12.9 is below the threshold of bulk completion, in fact it is below storage voltage. We are dunning a motor vehicle as well, so we don't have more than hours to get a decent increase in SOC.

I did build a spreadsheet...that is where the numbers came from and series resistance is actually what I am talking about...time stops at hours...

Besides working at the margins, is there a practical point?
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:42 AM   #19
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Fine, sure, but 12.9 is below the threshold of bulk completion
It doesn't stay at 12.9V forever, it will climb as Ah are replaced. As long as the connection series resistance isn't more than the battery impedance at the bulk completion point, it will get there. Whether this takes place in hours, days or weeks becomes a system level issue.

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we don't have more than hours to get a decent increase in SOC.
OK, but that is a system level issue. You can either accommodate that with the components in place or not and it's a worthwhile exercise to run the numbers and see.

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is there a practical point?
Your point of "no charging at all will occur" is what I took issue with. "Slow" charging to be sure, but definitely not "no". If the 20% SOC scenario is typical then it's a pretty challenging ($) goal to recover a large bank in a short time. Maybe part of the answer isn't coming up with a quick recovery but mitigating the situations where 20% SOC occurs through other supplemental charging or load shedding. Ah not used don't need to be replaced.

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Old 01-04-2019, 06:31 AM   #20
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Having a residential refrigerator and the same challenges, I think I have found the answer. Check out the charger in the link below.

My plan is to run #2 AWG from the battery to the seven way plug location in the bed of my truck. More of the same up through the king pin and into the front of the coach — with Anderson connectors. Of course I will put a catastrophic circuit breaker on both the truck and trailer side.

On the truck side, I will install a solenoid that will only supply power to the #2 wire when the truck is running.

Coming off the circuit breaker in the trailer, I will install an in-line 60 amp fuse in the trailer, and connect it to the charger on the link below.

I also plan to install 500 W of solar on the roof of the coach, and connect it to the charger in the link below.

In this configuration, between the sun and or the truck, my batteries should always stay topped off with 40a and correct voltage. ( I am installing two, 100 ah AGM, group 31, Trojan batteries. )

However, I have run into a snag, and I would appreciate the input of smart people here who have contributed above, or others, please.

I have a modern WFCO 75 amp supposedly smart converter/charger .

I called WFCO to run this past their tech support, and they told me any other charger and then theirs in the circuit will ruin their converter.

I find it super hard to believe, as my coach is prewired for up to 10 A of solar,and scouring the Internet for solar kits, I never see any kind of DC transfer switch to take the controller out of the circuit before solar charging begins.

Is there any validity to this? Or is it fine to have multiple ways of charging the battery without first isolating that WFCO converter?


https://www.etrailer.com/Battery-Cha...SABEgJMZ_D_BwE
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Old 01-04-2019, 09:34 AM   #21
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Update to above post:

After more research my original plan was correct and there is no danger to the converter/charger with my current plan.
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Old 01-04-2019, 10:36 AM   #22
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I think you're headed in the right direction. With 500 watts of solar I doubt that what you can get from the ruck will make enough of a difference to justify the costa and effort of that wiring setup. It's not hard to run few calculations to determine the sweet spot for amount of solar you would need.

I installed 1050 watts of solar with a Morningstar 60 MPPT controller last April. At that time I turned off the breaker to the 120 to 12 v converter and have not used it since. Sure I have the factory #10 charge lead from the truck while driving, but don't even consider that to be significant against the gain from the solar. I over sized the solar enough to compensate for leaving the panels flat and low solar angles when in Alaska and winter time down south. I checked yesterday on SoC since we've had several days of snow accumulation and heavy cloud cover, still at 100%. Even in Alaska this summer with heavy clouds and partial shading from trees the batteries reached 100% by 9-10AM after running the furnace fan all night. Of course having 20+ hours of some day light did not hurt those numbers. It was still generating limited solar power at midnight, nice. For reference, the rig has four 6 volt CG batteries with 460AHr total capacity.

My point is to forget charging from the truck and put that money into the solar system. Works while driving or stopped!
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Old 01-04-2019, 11:41 AM   #23
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Hummmmmmm
Wonder what happened to OP and HIS post


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Old 01-04-2019, 01:50 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by rarebear.nm View Post
I think you're headed in the right direction. With 500 watts of solar I doubt that what you can get from the ruck will make enough of a difference to justify the costa and effort of that wiring setup. It's not hard to run few calculations to determine the sweet spot for amount of solar you would need.

I installed 1050 watts of solar with a Morningstar 60 MPPT controller last April. At that time I turned off the breaker to the 120 to 12 v converter and have not used it since. Sure I have the factory #10 charge lead from the truck while driving, but don't even consider that to be significant against the gain from the solar. I over sized the solar enough to compensate for leaving the panels flat and low solar angles when in Alaska and winter time down south. I checked yesterday on SoC since we've had several days of snow accumulation and heavy cloud cover, still at 100%. Even in Alaska this summer with heavy clouds and partial shading from trees the batteries reached 100% by 9-10AM after running the furnace fan all night. Of course having 20+ hours of some day light did not hurt those numbers. It was still generating limited solar power at midnight, nice. For reference, the rig has four 6 volt CG batteries with 460AHr total capacity.

My point is to forget charging from the truck and put that money into the solar system. Works while driving or stopped!
Of course! Simply turn off the converter!

I will still probably do both because I like redundancy. Thanks!
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Old 01-04-2019, 01:51 PM   #25
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Hummmmmmm
Wonder what happened to OP and HIS post


If OP thinks I hijacked his thread, I would certainly apologize. I thought my posts were exactly on point.

:-/
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Old 01-04-2019, 02:01 PM   #26
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Originally Posted by rarebear.nm View Post
I over sized the solar enough to compensate for leaving the panels flat and low solar angles when in Alaska and winter time down south. I checked yesterday on SoC since we've had several days of snow accumulation and heavy cloud cover, still at 100%. Even in Alaska this summer with heavy clouds and partial shading from trees the batteries reached 100% by 9-10AM after running the furnace fan all night.
Your experience is considerably different than mine. Granted, I only have 160 watts of solar on the roof but in storage these days it is getting direct southern exposure for as many hours as we have sun and my solar charger is indicating maybe 5.6 Ah going in on a good day (but often only 1 Ah if overcast or raining), unlike the 50 - 70 Ah going in during our summer season.

Not meaning to be argumentative, just noting a very different experience with solar up here in the Canadian PNW.
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Old 01-04-2019, 03:11 PM   #27
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A friend of mine had the same problem with his landmark. The 30 amp fuse must be reset manually. It's not an auto reset.
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Old 01-05-2019, 06:02 AM   #28
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A friend of mine had the same problem with his landmark. The 30 amp fuse must be reset manually. It's not an auto reset.
That's the one coming from the converter that is notorious for tripping and not charging the batteries. It has a tiny reset button on the side. The one coming from the tow vehicle shows to be an AUTO Reset in the schematic in Post #10.
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