Hi guys, this engineer never stops!
One of the annoying issues with campervan/RVs is the parasitic drain modern electrical systems place on the vehicle battery. Mercedes Sprinters are notorious for this and to date I have been juggling a small 10W solar panel connected directly to the vehicle battery.
Necessarily, the only connection between the house batteries (LiFePO) and the vehicle battery (AGM) is one direction so that the vehicle alternator can charge the house batteries but power cannot go the other way.
This is not a big problem if the vehicle is being run every few days on a trip. I actually carry a small regulated solar blanket for trips where I am likely to stay in one position for a week or so.
The real problem occurs when the vehicle is parked up in my yard. The little solar panel is not enough over an extended period so I open the door to a loud warning ‘bing’ and “start the engine” message on the dash.
Enter the engineer… why can’t I use the solar panel on the roof somehow?
The solar panel feeds the house batteries via a DCDC converter and they are perpetually full as nothing is being used while parked up. All I need is another smaller DCDC converter between the house batteries and the vehicle battery.
So I did some online research and found a reasonably priced smaller sized unit at itechworld where I bought my house batteries and ACDC charger. Went to have a chat and totally confused the salesperson as I was attempting to use the product for a novel purpose. In the end the critical number was how many volts it required to initialise. House batteries are at 13.4v when full and the trigger point was 13.1v.
After some discussion on being able to return it jic I bit the bullet and bought one. I already had anderson connectors for both the vehicle and house batteries beside the passenger seat so it took 2 minutes to connect for a trial run.
Well… it works perfectly. No more ‘BING’🙂
Follow me for more useful advice with your Mercedes campervan/RV (this one applies to most makes)
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| Comes with 50A Anderson connectors plus a lighter plug as an option |
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| Trial connection to existing access points ‘H’ for house |
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| Up and running |
Hi, are you charging from house battery when camping or solar?
ReplyDeleteI use the small 10W solar panel as it’s ok for short periods but carry a larger blanket for extended stays. I avoid drawing from the house as I need the power.
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