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Hi guys, I've been reading through the other threads on solar/deep cycle/chargers etc. and the more I read the more confused it becomes.
Last Sunday we purchased a 2011 Jayco Swan Outback camper, it has what looks to be a 100 watt panel on the roof feeding into a controller next to the 130 Ah AGM under the front seat, the battery is stamped 2014.
The panel still shows it's charging going by the LED indicator on the controller but I'm yet to test how many volts/amps it's feeding as I haven't had a chance to get in there properly yet.
There is no lead running from tow ball (Anderson) to battery yet so it appears the battery is just relying on the solar panel for charge.
So anyway, on Monday after work I plugged a battery tester into the 12v cigarette socket on the outside and it showed 10.4v, I crawled into the camper and realised I'd left the 12v switch on so the sockets were powered, I went to the shed and got my Maston 10 amp smart charger and connected straight to the battery expecting it to be completely flat, the charger went straight to Bulk as expected but changed to Absorb after about 5 mins, I thought to myself that it must still be good but put down the 10.4v at the far socket as just a voltage drop and thought all was still good, I left the charger on and headed off to work yesterday and returned this afternoon, I opened the door to the camper and immediately smelt a rotten egg or sulfur smell, quite strong and the charger was in Maintain mode but the fan on the charger was going.
I immediately turned off the charger at the wall and went to my work van and got the 4 gas analyser as I knew something was not right (I work in confined space on natural gas) and sure enough the CO reading went through the roof when I stuck the hose in the door.
I lifted the roof of the camper as far as I could in the garage and opened a couple of hatches for circulation and will get the van out tomorrow as I have a RDO, I called Battery World to see if they knew what might cause it and they suggested a dead battery which would make sense given the camper was stored in a garage, I expected to replace the battery anyway.
Soooo... Now that I have a cooked AGM it's a good opportunity to get the camper set up correctly.
I want to set this camper up as simple as possible for our needs which consists mainly of 12v lighting and charging of phones, detector batteries.
Currently my 100 series Landcruiser has only the single crank battery, I was intending to set it up as a dual battery/deep cycle but so far haven't felt the need because when I get away solo for a few days I only run my Engel 45 ltr and have a 160w folding panel out and it does me nicely so far, when I used to take the old camper out it had a 105Ah AGM in the tool box and I'd connect via Anderson from rear of LC100 to trailer while travelling then disconnect when set up and connect my 160w panel direct to a controller next to the AGM battery.
I modified my 160w panel to run through the supplied controller when connecting to my Cruiser or bypass the controller and run direct to a PWM controller next to the AGM in the old camper box, wasn't the best but realised now after reading threads here that the MPPT or DC/DC charger would have been better.
Now that we have the new (second hand) camper I'm looking at it as a blank canvas to set up, the panel on the roof would be from factory so 8 years old at least, I'd prefer to use a fold out panel as I have better control to keep it in the sun.
After reading through the threads and getting a sore head I've come to the conclusion that to suit my needs I would go with this setup:
- utilise my 160w fold out panel (or purchase 250w) and bypass the supplied controller
- run Anderson plug from tow hitch to battery compartment inside camper
- buy and fit a DC/DC or DC/Solar charger in battery compartment (or BMS)
- buy a new deep cycle, most likely a 150Ah AGM or Crystal
- have a batt monitoring display within camper
I currently have in my shed a unused big crank battery 4X4/Marine which I purchased from SCA a couple of years ago, can't remember why I bought it but it gets regular sessions on the charger to maintain it, I intend on putting it in a battery box and taking it along on solo trips and connect it to my rear Anderson at the tow ball (just taking the LC100), I am doing a 5 day detecting trip in early Nov so this should power my fridge and charge my phone and GPX battery with the 160w panel keeping charge to both batteries while away, while maybe not ideal it has to be better than just running the crank battery as I normally would, I'll be monitoring the voltage throughout the day(s).
I also have the 105Ah AGM from my old camper which is stamped 2008 but it seems to still be holding charge well, I will put this into the new camper for a 6-7 day trip with the wife at end of Oct, I plan to run cable from AGM to tow hitch so I can get some charge from vehicle while travelling to and from but also connect 160w panel while camped for the 6-7 days.
I have just ordered 10 new LED globe replacements for the 6 interior roof, 2 bed light and 1 external 12v lights in the camper.
The fridge in the camper is 3 way so will run it on 12v while heading out then swap to gas when set up, I'll also take the Engel 45 ltr and probably run it off the LC100 with the second battery connected via the Anderson at the rear and monitor each day, the vehicle will get some use during that time to explore and top up batteries.
This is all just a short term way to get through my 2 weeks leave utilizing what I currently have but really want to set up the camper properly to suit our needs, again it's mainly just 12v lights (LED), phone and detector battery charging so the aim is to keep it as simple and cheap as possible but still be effective.
Would the suggested setup be suitable or am I missing something?
I've always gotten by with minimal panels and Dual batteries (deep cycle aux) in the past but used vehicle during camps, this time I intend to set up for longer stays.
Showers and ovens are independent and gas.
Happy to look at dual deep cycle batteries in the camper if needed, but then we would need more solar to power them and so on and so on....
We were talking about buy a Honda or Yamaha 4 stroke 20i genny as a back up solution for charging which would probably be a preference to second deep cycle and panel.
Last Sunday we purchased a 2011 Jayco Swan Outback camper, it has what looks to be a 100 watt panel on the roof feeding into a controller next to the 130 Ah AGM under the front seat, the battery is stamped 2014.
The panel still shows it's charging going by the LED indicator on the controller but I'm yet to test how many volts/amps it's feeding as I haven't had a chance to get in there properly yet.
There is no lead running from tow ball (Anderson) to battery yet so it appears the battery is just relying on the solar panel for charge.
So anyway, on Monday after work I plugged a battery tester into the 12v cigarette socket on the outside and it showed 10.4v, I crawled into the camper and realised I'd left the 12v switch on so the sockets were powered, I went to the shed and got my Maston 10 amp smart charger and connected straight to the battery expecting it to be completely flat, the charger went straight to Bulk as expected but changed to Absorb after about 5 mins, I thought to myself that it must still be good but put down the 10.4v at the far socket as just a voltage drop and thought all was still good, I left the charger on and headed off to work yesterday and returned this afternoon, I opened the door to the camper and immediately smelt a rotten egg or sulfur smell, quite strong and the charger was in Maintain mode but the fan on the charger was going.
I immediately turned off the charger at the wall and went to my work van and got the 4 gas analyser as I knew something was not right (I work in confined space on natural gas) and sure enough the CO reading went through the roof when I stuck the hose in the door.
I lifted the roof of the camper as far as I could in the garage and opened a couple of hatches for circulation and will get the van out tomorrow as I have a RDO, I called Battery World to see if they knew what might cause it and they suggested a dead battery which would make sense given the camper was stored in a garage, I expected to replace the battery anyway.
Soooo... Now that I have a cooked AGM it's a good opportunity to get the camper set up correctly.
I want to set this camper up as simple as possible for our needs which consists mainly of 12v lighting and charging of phones, detector batteries.
Currently my 100 series Landcruiser has only the single crank battery, I was intending to set it up as a dual battery/deep cycle but so far haven't felt the need because when I get away solo for a few days I only run my Engel 45 ltr and have a 160w folding panel out and it does me nicely so far, when I used to take the old camper out it had a 105Ah AGM in the tool box and I'd connect via Anderson from rear of LC100 to trailer while travelling then disconnect when set up and connect my 160w panel direct to a controller next to the AGM battery.
I modified my 160w panel to run through the supplied controller when connecting to my Cruiser or bypass the controller and run direct to a PWM controller next to the AGM in the old camper box, wasn't the best but realised now after reading threads here that the MPPT or DC/DC charger would have been better.
Now that we have the new (second hand) camper I'm looking at it as a blank canvas to set up, the panel on the roof would be from factory so 8 years old at least, I'd prefer to use a fold out panel as I have better control to keep it in the sun.
After reading through the threads and getting a sore head I've come to the conclusion that to suit my needs I would go with this setup:
- utilise my 160w fold out panel (or purchase 250w) and bypass the supplied controller
- run Anderson plug from tow hitch to battery compartment inside camper
- buy and fit a DC/DC or DC/Solar charger in battery compartment (or BMS)
- buy a new deep cycle, most likely a 150Ah AGM or Crystal
- have a batt monitoring display within camper
I currently have in my shed a unused big crank battery 4X4/Marine which I purchased from SCA a couple of years ago, can't remember why I bought it but it gets regular sessions on the charger to maintain it, I intend on putting it in a battery box and taking it along on solo trips and connect it to my rear Anderson at the tow ball (just taking the LC100), I am doing a 5 day detecting trip in early Nov so this should power my fridge and charge my phone and GPX battery with the 160w panel keeping charge to both batteries while away, while maybe not ideal it has to be better than just running the crank battery as I normally would, I'll be monitoring the voltage throughout the day(s).
I also have the 105Ah AGM from my old camper which is stamped 2008 but it seems to still be holding charge well, I will put this into the new camper for a 6-7 day trip with the wife at end of Oct, I plan to run cable from AGM to tow hitch so I can get some charge from vehicle while travelling to and from but also connect 160w panel while camped for the 6-7 days.
I have just ordered 10 new LED globe replacements for the 6 interior roof, 2 bed light and 1 external 12v lights in the camper.
The fridge in the camper is 3 way so will run it on 12v while heading out then swap to gas when set up, I'll also take the Engel 45 ltr and probably run it off the LC100 with the second battery connected via the Anderson at the rear and monitor each day, the vehicle will get some use during that time to explore and top up batteries.
This is all just a short term way to get through my 2 weeks leave utilizing what I currently have but really want to set up the camper properly to suit our needs, again it's mainly just 12v lights (LED), phone and detector battery charging so the aim is to keep it as simple and cheap as possible but still be effective.
Would the suggested setup be suitable or am I missing something?
I've always gotten by with minimal panels and Dual batteries (deep cycle aux) in the past but used vehicle during camps, this time I intend to set up for longer stays.
Showers and ovens are independent and gas.
Happy to look at dual deep cycle batteries in the camper if needed, but then we would need more solar to power them and so on and so on....
We were talking about buy a Honda or Yamaha 4 stroke 20i genny as a back up solution for charging which would probably be a preference to second deep cycle and panel.