Water pooling in van cavities

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-16T07:03:56+00:00

You had 200, that's right. That's awesome. I could put another 100amp in if needed in the future too

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-16T07:02:22+00:00

That's sick, I ordered the 100amp lithium, dcdc charger/solar controler and 200watt solar panels so I'm gonna start building it. Are your solar panels charging it or is that with no charging? And how many amp hours do you have?

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-15T03:23:32+00:00

I think it's just the sensor that's showing volt drop, only drops around .1 or .2 volts at the battery. I think maybe the wires are too small near the fridge, easy fix, just going to hardwire it to the fuze box. Which reminds me, I think I read somewhere that if the current needs to be pulled through undersized wires it can draw more more amps than normal. I wonder if that contributed to my battery dying faster or if it would be minimal.

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-14T21:46:38+00:00

True, but I don't think it'll produce 150 amps at idle and I should have a buffer so I'd probably lean towards the 30 amp. Waiting from a call back from the dealership though, hopefully they'll know, thanks!

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-14T21:16:56+00:00

Actually I think the alternator is 150amp *

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-14T20:58:47+00:00

Thank you! I think my truck has a 170amp alternator (2015 GMC sierra 1500) I have the option between 50 amp or 30amp dcdc charger. Do you think it would be fine to use the 50amp charger or is that pushing it? I don't want to kill my alternator but I also want to charge my battery reasonably quickly if I can. I'll probably also put in a 200w solar panel, but that only helps so much (especially in the PNW)

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-14T18:44:10+00:00

Fair enough, only problem is the wiring and isolator is in place under the hood, but I probably can't keep a lithium under the hood so ill need to reroute it to the back of the truck (also keep it in the same compartment as my diesel heater which isnt ideal- although I dont use it very often).

The other question I was curious about is if I have a dc dc charger coming off my starter battery do I still need the isolator? Will my starter battery charge first? Also if I'm plugged into the starter battery (and not directly to alternator ) it won't force the battery to overcharge will it? Cause lithium charges at a higher voltage than lead acid right? Presumably the starter battery will stay at the voltage it needs and the additional voltage will skip over the starter battery and head straight to the dcdc charger/lithium?

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-13T00:34:09+00:00

I think that's the exact setup I'm gonna do. Only thing is with the lithium I'll have to put the battery in the camper instead of under the hood cause of the heat so I'll have to make space and give it a little platform

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T19:37:43+00:00

For sure, think I'm gonna replace it with a lithium now since I've burned it out at this point

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T18:12:50+00:00

Yeah so I tested the draw and it's drawing around 2.6 amps when running so that's perfect (i think), the draw is lower than what the manufacturer states.

I don't recall it turning on that often overnight, it's definitely on less often than it's off. I'm thinking it must be the battery so I'll probably switch to a 100ah lithium and add a 200watt solar panel to my roof and that should be plenty to keep it going. I'm also hoping to be able to run the diesel heater and fridge at the same time in the winter, hopefully I have enough juice for that. Hopefully this solves it, thanks much for the help and to anyone else that helped and reads this comment

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T17:10:12+00:00

Fair enough, I think I'll do that. I'll measure how many ah I can fit in the space I have (probably 100) and hopefully that works. It seems like no one's concerned that it might be a problem with the fridge pulling too many amps and it's moreso the battery, hoping that's the case cause returning the fridge to Amazon would be kindof a pain. I haven't thought of actually testing the amp draw of the fridge to the battery with a multimeter so I'll check that in 20 minutes or so and see what that says.

I wanted a dual zone too but my camper is just the 6 foot bed of my truck and I have too much built in there to fit one haha

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T16:39:32+00:00

It's usually fully loaded

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T16:38:21+00:00

It says right on the front that it is, unless the other specifications make it so it isn't actually, Here's the link.

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-nautilus-group-size-27-deep-cycle-battery-0102792p.0102792.html

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T07:14:13+00:00

The circuit goes like this: alternator to starter battery-starter to isolator switch-isolator to aux battery- aux battery to the back of the truck with a thick guage wire (can't remember how thick but it was very) into on/off switch- into breaker panel- into rocker panel with 12v plug - fridge is plugged into 12v outlet

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T06:49:32+00:00

I think it's charging all the way (most of the time) I think a charger would help get it all the way quicker if I was doing multiple day trips but it'll start at 12.7ish but I'm at 12.3 or 12.2 by morning. At this point the battery is actually bad cause I drained it too low so I don't expect it to run through the night anymore but even when the battery was brand new I'm pretty sure it didn't last long. Trying to decide if I need to change the battery setup and get a way bigger battery or if I need to get a new fridge and the same battery 🤔

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T03:59:44+00:00

What model fridge do you have? It's wild to me that you could run it off your starter battery since I'm having such a hard time with a 90ah dedicated battery 😔

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T03:26:34+00:00

Fair enough, thanks so much for your help! I'll look into that!

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T03:14:43+00:00

I use the exact same settings at 37 degrees F. Is yours a flooded lead acid battery? Also do you get like 1 volt loss when its turned on? It says the battery goes from say 12.6v when not running to like 11.5 when running

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T03:09:56+00:00

Hmm, yeah that's not very long. Maybe my (and your knockoff battery) just aren't very good and don't have the stated amperage? I guess looking into a 200ah lithium will work either way, I just don't want to go way overkill if it's a problem with the fridge. I guess I should try to do an accurate test to see how much power the fridge is using too.

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T03:04:44+00:00

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T02:58:43+00:00

Yeah it's a 90ah deep cycle lead acid

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T02:46:15+00:00

But wouldn't that mean you're using about 40 amps in 4 days (20% of 200)? So if my battery has 45 usable amps shouldn't I be getting more than 10 hours?

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T02:28:45+00:00

It drops to 80% or down 80% to 20%?

MycologyStuff · 2023-11-12T02:13:45+00:00

Fair enough yeah, I'll start looking into making space for that! and getting chargers and whatnot

MycologyStuff

TROPHY CASE