Printable View
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by 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>
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulyg
Flame suit on.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulyg
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
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.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk
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...
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk
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.
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.
A range of fuses on ebay, just one example here;Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuppa
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320840775...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
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.
If you have a DC/DC in the Camper then the feed cable does not need to be very big at all.
What size cable and fuse should I use?
What DC/DC charger do you have?Quote:
Originally Posted by paulyg
If it is a 20 amp jobbie then a 30 amp fuse at the 2nd Battery Terminal into 10 AWG cable would be fine.
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?Quote:
Originally Posted by the evil twin
10 AWG will easily handle a couple of hundred watts of Solar PanelQuote:
Originally Posted by Robo
I have a 30 amp dc to dc charger and a 255 watt solar panel.
Go to 8 AWG.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulyg
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.
Thanks a lot.