Wireing up an Anderson plug

[paulyg]

I need to wire up an Anderson plug to the back of the Patrol to charge the camper trailer battery's while driving.
Which battery do I connect the wires to?
Would it be possible to connect a solar panel to the second battery in the Patrol when parked and charge the camper battery's as well, through a cable from the Anderson plug on the Patrol to the plug on the camper?

[Winnie]

I need to wire up an Anderson plug to the back of the Patrol to charge the camper trailer battery's while driving.
Which battery do I connect the wires to?
Would it be possible to connect a solar panel to the second battery in the Patrol when parked and charge the camper battery's as well, through a cable from the Anderson plug on the Patrol to the plug on the camper?
If you run a twin core cable of a decent size directly from your 2nd battery to your Anderson plug at the rear, then when you have a solar panel connected to that second battery it will also charge your camper. Fuse the positive cable close to the patrol battery.

[paulyg]

Thanks Winnie, Do you think it will be safe to run the cable under the Patrol?
I have no more room to run another large cable through the firewall>

[Bloodyaussie]

Thanks Winnie, Do you think it will be safe to run the cable under the Patrol?
I have no more room to run another large cable through the firewall>

Should be fine.. I do it, just make sure it will not rub against something causing it to be exposed and earth against the body.

Flame suit on.

[Winnie]

Thanks Winnie, Do you think it will be safe to run the cable under the Patrol?
I have no more room to run another large cable through the firewall>
Yeah run it on top of the chassis rail though not under it obviously. Make sure it is secured and cannot rub on anything and you will be fine mate.

[the evil twin]

Agree... the top of the left hand chassis rail is perfect for a nice protected run from the engine bay to the rear bumper etc.

I use it all the time for aux power runs.

Make sure the battery feed is protected (Fuse or C/B), use decent cable with good insulation, some conduit and thick cable ties were required

[mudski]

I have the lead wound up in where the jack lives. And just pull it out when i need it. Same goes with the trailer plug.

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[mudski]

Just to touch on which battery you should run from. I have mine from the main battery. Winnie has his from the aux battery. I suppose it all depends on your setup in your car and the camper. My thoughts to why i connect to the main and not the aux battery is because i have a dc to dc charger in the car and also in the camper. So i think i did read somewhere that if this is the case you shouldn't connect to the ct via the aux battery as the dc to dc charger in the car will sense the other charger. Or was it the dc to dc in the camper.... Maybe this doesnt matter on which battery you connect to but it might be something worthy to look at...

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[Cuppa]

Hi Paul, when running the cable under the car use some conduit to protect it from flying stones. Also I consider it wise to to have a fuse or circuit breaker as close as possible to both batteries. If the cable did ever get damaged an awful lot of amps can flow (think vapourising spanners for example). You wouldn’t want a short like that against the chassis, it could be catastophic. A fuse at each end will protect against this. Just at one end won’t.

Before installing the cable connect the full length (from battery to battery) to the supply battery, start the engine & measure the voltage across the supply battery terminals. Then measure the voltage at the end of the cable. If there is a difference of more than 3% to 5% then you need to do one of two things - either use a heavier cable or fit a dc to dc charger as close to the CT battery as possible.

[blocko05]

I agree with Cuppa. That's how I have mine set up. I run 4AWG cable from the battery isolator to the Anderson plug at the rear of the vehicle as well as 4AWG on my caravan and fused both ends.

[Nightjar]

Hi Paul, A fuse at each end will protect against this. Just at one end won’t.



A range of fuses on ebay, just one example here;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320840775466?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[paulyg]

Thanks for all the great reply's,
The camper has a dc to dc charger already in it, and the Anderson plug is fused,
I will run some big cable on top of the chassis and a fuse near the second battery.

[the evil twin]

If you have a DC/DC in the Camper then the feed cable does not need to be very big at all.

[paulyg]

What size cable and fuse should I use?

[the evil twin]

What size cable and fuse should I use?

What DC/DC charger do you have?

If it is a 20 amp jobbie then a 30 amp fuse at the 2nd Battery Terminal into 10 AWG cable would be fine.

[Robo]

If you have a DC/DC in the Camper then the feed cable does not need to be very big at all.

What about if he wants to solar charge back to aux battery, cable size then should be large enough to suit panel reg out-put and distance etc?

[the evil twin]

What about if he wants to solar charge back to aux battery, cable size then should be large enough to suit panel reg out-put and distance etc?

10 AWG will easily handle a couple of hundred watts of Solar Panel

[paulyg]

I have a 30 amp dc to dc charger and a 255 watt solar panel.

[the evil twin]

I have a 30 amp dc to dc charger and a 255 watt solar panel.

Go to 8 AWG.

10 will handle the Solar easily but is a bit marginal for the max spec on the Charger as a 30 amp Charger will pull closer to 40 from the supply if it tops out.

[paulyg]

Thanks a lot.