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Adding addition charging capacity
We purchased our 17B new last July with factory 190W solar panel and factory charge controller.
Once back home I replaced the charge controller supplied with a Trimetric system, RV 2030 battery monitor and SC 2030 charge controller. I felt this was a major upgrade allowing 4 stage programmable charging specifically to the battery manufacturers criteria for longevity of the batteries. The system works very well, I have the 6 V x 2 Escape supplied Interstate flooded cells.
I’ve been disappointed with the battery charging capabilities of the power converter supplied with the trailer. The output seems very low and I was concerned if it was not going to be practical to charge our batteries using our Honda EU2000 generator in the future.
A useful option with the Trimetric controller is that it can be used with any DC source as a sophisticated battery charger up to its rated maximum output of 30 Amps.
I purchased a 12 V, 30 A power supply from Amazon.com for about $20, a 40 A, 110V relay $38, a project box $20.
The power supply has a potentiometer that allowed the regulated output voltage to be increased to 15.2 V.
I have the full time rear bed option. The charge controller was installed under the bed, rear drivers side in order the keep the wire runs as short as possible. When I removed the factory charge controller I added a solar panel disconnect switch in the cabinet above the sink that I use when the battery bank must be disconnected.
I mounted the Siemens relay and a terminal strip in the project box, attached the power supply to the side of that. Mounted it all under the bed beside the Trimetric charge controller.
Activation of the Siemens relay switches the supply going into the charge controller from the 190 W solar panel to the 30 A, 15.2 V supply, as well as supplies the 110 V to the DC supply.
The batteries have been at 100% SOC for a few weeks in our driveway. I switched off the solar panel, unplugged the shore power, switched the refrigerator to 12V as a load, 15A draw. I ran the batteries down to a 65% SOC, turned off the fridge and plugged in the shore power.
The battery monitor indicated 18 A going into the batteries from the converter, then the current immediately began going down an amp ever few seconds. I switched on the DC supply to the solar charge controller the current jumped to 29.5 Amps. After about 5 minutes it came down to 26 Amps and held there. In a couple of hours it was back to a 90% SOC. I then switched back to my solar panel and was back to 100% late afternoon.
I intend to do some further testing but it appears it will allow me to minimize my generator run time and maintain the maximum life from my batteries, at minimal addition expense and adds a backup supply to the converter.
The switch to control the charge selector and power up the DC supply is mounted in the upper cabinet above the foot of the bed, the 110 V supply was taken off the TV plug at the other end of this cabinet, it was a factory install.
At the point I’m just using a labeller to indicate the function of the switch. I’m planning to make a aesthetic panel to replace this soon.
Bob
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