I’ve ordered the Victron 30a Blue Smart charger.
Since my original post, after talking to Progressive Dynamics, if I purchased PD’s Charge Wizard ($15) the existing Progressive Dynamics 6245 charger that came with the camper would charge the two SOK 100 ah batteries to 80-90%, but not balance the cells. This winter I’ll use the Victron charger to initially get the batteries to 100%, but then disconnect till I get home and use the PD charger for the rare times we’re in full hookup sites.
Our new Bigfoot has 160 watts on the roof, with a GoPower controller identical to the one installed by ETI when we purchased our 5.0. We also have our Renogy 100 watt portable and the matching Victron 100/20 controller with a SAE port that will be installed when we get to Gilbert Ray Campground near Tucson. I doubt that’s enough solar to balance the cells though. At least 400 watts will be added to the roof this summer.
Electrically, the Bigfoot is basically the same as our 5.0, but with a larger 12,160 btu furnace vs 9,120 btu in our 5.0. It uses 3.5 amp an hour same as 5.0’s Atwood. Don’t complain about the noise from the smaller Atwood furnace Escape installs! This furnace is quite loud, but a low, earthy loud.
Since we mainly boondock we want those 200 ah batteries full when we leave full hookup sites. We’re expecting the existing solar to try to keep up, but losing 5-15 ah’s a day when boondock. We currently have no inverter, but one will be added this summer (2023). In 2021 I thought I was done with camper projects.
Enjoy,
Perry