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07-07-2016, 02:10 AM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 28
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DC to DC House Battery Charging?
I need new house deep cycle batteries and am thinking of getting serious deep cycle units rather than the marine/deep cycle hybrids I have been using. The latter have not served me well, although my lack of attendance to maintenance surely has not helped matters.
I am a backwoods truck camper and in the backwoods, I charge exclusively, and directly, via the alternator on my truck, which is capable of providing about 40 amps of power at 13.4 volts at the house batteries. The alternator puts out power at 14.0 volts, but it is down to 13.4 at the house batteries due to resistance losses.
Anyway, I have found appropriate flooded lead-acid 12v batteries from Trojan (J150s), but note that these require charging at 14.8 volts and will not fully charge at 13.4 (or even 14) volts. Indeed, the batteries will be damaged by charging at 13.4 volts on a regular basis (true, probably, for the batteries I have been using as well). Thus, I would need an electrical device that goes between the batteries and the alternator, to jack the bulk charge voltage up to 14.8 volts and, ideally, to provide three stage, microprocessor controlled charging. No such device is available, as far as I can tell.
OR, I could go with two 6 volt batteries in series, which charge at about 7.35 volts, and would need an electrical device that went between the alternator and batteries and provided appropriately regulated 7.35 volt controlled charging for at least 2 batteries. Again, as far as I can tell, no such product is available.
I do not have solar or a generator, and for practical reasons, these are not good options for me. Are there others in my situation who have cracked the problem?
Thanks!
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07-07-2016, 03:42 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 35,349
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Look into "Sterling" battery to battery chargers.
Along with that, you may need to up-size the gauge of the wire carring the charge. If you go with an independent 8 or 6 gauge wire, you can cut your loss's. Don't forget to upgrade the ground too.
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07-07-2016, 07:02 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 113
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Using two six volt batteries in series is a fine idea, and highly recommended for house battery. However they charge as a pair and are the same as one 12 volt battery.
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07-07-2016, 07:23 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 4,569
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If you're going to spend money on new batteries maybe you should consider at least a portable solar setup. You could use the alternator and when home you could use the portable to properly charge and float your batteries.
Good luck!
__________________
1996 Tioga Class C
2007 Monaco Diplomat 40 PDQ
TOAD 2012 Cadillac SRX 4
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07-07-2016, 07:50 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SoCal
Posts: 15,749
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Not electrically efficient, but one could run an inverter off the truck battery that is being charged by the engine - and then a quality 3 stage converter/battery charger run via the inverter to charge the house batteries.
__________________
Vince and Susan
2011 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH (Cummins ISC/Freightliner)
Flat towing a modified 2005 Jeep (Rubicon Wrangler)
Previously a 2002 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37A and a 1995 Safari Trek 2830.
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07-07-2016, 09:47 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Buxton, North Dakota
Posts: 3,940
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An automotive electrical shop may be able to alter your existing alternator or provide you with an adjustable voltage output. It is possible on some to convert from internal to external adjustable voltage regulator.
__________________
2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38G F53/ V10 605 watts of Solar
1999 Winnebago Brave 35C F53V10 Handicap Equipped
1999 Jeep Cherokee, 1991 Jeep Wrangler Renegade and 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel
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07-07-2016, 10:21 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 35,349
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There are dual alternator kits avalable for some engines. It still makes it nessessery to use a heavy gauge charging harness.
I do like the inverter powered charger idea. Just run a light gauge extension cord from the truck mounted inverter to a camper mounted charger. Remember to disconnect the original charge line while doing it, so you don't charge the battery that is running the inverter.
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07-07-2016, 10:44 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Buxton, North Dakota
Posts: 3,940
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I believe he has a truck mounted camper, so no need to run a line to the camper. It can be hard wired. I believe that the amount of time to run the truck engine to complete a full charge is some what impractical. I think a small inverter generator would be the best solution.
__________________
2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38G F53/ V10 605 watts of Solar
1999 Winnebago Brave 35C F53V10 Handicap Equipped
1999 Jeep Cherokee, 1991 Jeep Wrangler Renegade and 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel
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07-07-2016, 11:01 AM
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#9
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Community Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 6,186
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I agree with the previous advice.....get a generator to power a good three stage charger like the two presented here
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07-07-2016, 11:22 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Outdoors RV Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Nowhere, now here. Freedom!
Posts: 4,602
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You don't even need 2000 watts. A smaller quiet gennie (you'll drive yourself crazy first with a loud gennie, and if you have any neighbors they'll hate you for the noise) and a good battery charger will be much more efficient and practical for taking proper care of any batteries you put in that camper vs charging with the truck alternator. Even cheaper batteries will be better off this way.
__________________
ORV 19B Full Timer from '15 to '20, '14 Ram 2500 Diesel and a GSD. Vancouver, WA
de K7NOL 146.52Mhz Safety? (CLICK ME!)
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07-07-2016, 12:30 PM
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#11
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twinboat
Look into "Sterling" battery to battery chargers.
Along with that, you may need to up-size the gauge of the wire carring the charge. If you go with an independent 8 or 6 gauge wire, you can cut your loss's. Don't forget to upgrade the ground too.
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Wow Twinboat, the Sterling charger looks to exactly what I have been looking for! How did I not find it in the ~50 Google searches I ran? Not all that expensive either. Thanks!
I did wire the system with 6 guage wire, from the battery to a separator to the house batteries, a run of about 12 feet. This calculates to be a 0.44 volt drop, a little less than I am seeing in actual practice (~0.5-6 volts), perhaps the difference is the separator. I have to look at what I did with the ground, I don't remember off of the top of my head.
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07-07-2016, 12:34 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Outdoors RV Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Nowhere, now here. Freedom!
Posts: 4,602
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cv4wheeler
perhaps the difference is the separator.
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Every component and connection will have some resistance/loss.
__________________
ORV 19B Full Timer from '15 to '20, '14 Ram 2500 Diesel and a GSD. Vancouver, WA
de K7NOL 146.52Mhz Safety? (CLICK ME!)
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07-07-2016, 12:42 PM
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#13
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vsheetz
Not electrically efficient, but one could run an inverter off the truck battery that is being charged by the engine - and then a quality 3 stage converter/battery charger run via the inverter to charge the house batteries.
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vsheetz--This had occurred to me, but as you indicate, it is not likely to be efficient and would appear to require some interesting wiring (i.e., I would need somebody's help to figure it out) if I planned to continue to use my inverter when camping to run appliances. Thanks!
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07-07-2016, 01:06 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 35,349
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cv4wheeler
Wow Twinboat, the Sterling charger looks to exactly what I have been looking for! How did I not find it in the ~50 Google searches I ran? Not all that expensive either. Thanks!
I did wire the system with 6 guage wire, from the battery to a separator to the house batteries, a run of about 12 feet. This calculates to be a 0.44 volt drop, a little less than I am seeing in actual practice (~0.5-6 volts), perhaps the difference is the separator. I have to look at what I did with the ground, I don't remember off of the top of my head.
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If your using a diode type seperator, the engine battery is controling the alt. output, not the lower voltage house battery.
There is a better mousetrap. Its called a combiner. "Yandina.com" or "Cyrix", among others make them.
Yandina has a lot of info, in the FAQ section, on their site.
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