Alaskan solar and additional external solar panel

[Vic Harder]

yes, the alternator should be able to charge the truck and camper batteries.

Good monitoring is critical. Just letting the alternator (or solar panels for that matter) "do their thing" isn't enough, as you are relying on someone else's ideas about what constitutes a fully charged state, when they had no idea what kind of load or battery bank size/type you have.

Yes, if you are charging (both truck and camper batteries) off of the alternator while driving, the rooftop solar will have a better chance of finishing off the charge.

LVD (low voltage disconnect?) doesn't seem applicable here. That's for disconnecting the load (fridge) if the batteries drop too low.

What you really want is monitoring in the truck cab of your battery state (Victron BMV712). And a way to disconnect/connect the alternator from your camper batteries (Blue Sea ML-ACR 7622).

 

[rando]

I think I confused thinks by mentioning PWM speed control, not PWM charge control. I meant for adjusting the speed of the fantastic fans (which come stock with 3 speeds, all too fast for me and a wasteful resistance speed control system). Here is the thread talking about this: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/10848-fantastic-fan-variable-speed-control/?hl=%2Bspeed+%2Bcontrol

I halved my fan power usage using this mod.

 

[BillTheHiker]

Thanks guys for your help, it has been great.

Since the TB18 is small and has the DC plug, I will have the fridge in the truck while driving and move it to the camper when I set up camp. Camper already has a DC outlet for it. I have the FWC battery installation with the Blue Sea Isolator -Vic, is that the one you referred to?

Next problem is best way to monitor the battery. If I install the battery monitor in the camper, I think some of them have bluetooth so while driving I could monitor via my smartphone. Will that work?

 

[rando]

Yup, that will work well - Victron BMV-712 has bluetooth built in.

The stock Blue Sea isolator is not the one VIc was referring to, but it will work perfectly for your application.

 

[Vic Harder]

Yup, that will work well - Victron BMV-712 has bluetooth built in.

The stock Blue Sea isolator is not the one VIc was referring to, but it will work perfectly for your application.

+1

 

[nixfwc]

Removable additional panel installed. Seems to be working fine. Fridge running for several days and battery voltage staying above 13 volts. Both CCs working together fine thus far. Additional solar panel sticks up above the camper more than I would like but I don't notice any additional wind noise or other problems. I may modify the mount at some point to get a cleaner profile above the camper but for now it is good enough. Thanks for all the help and input.
Now lets see if I can ad the photos to the post.

 

[nixfwc]

I upgraded to a VictronConnect 20 amp MPPT CC and combined the input from the two panels in parallel to feed the CC. Have not been on a trip yet but seems to be doing a better job keeping the batteries up. Is the VictronConnect AGM battery setting close enough for the AGM batteries? Or do I need to manually adjust it via the blue tooth app? If so what should the voltages be?
Also the GMC charging system charges the house AGMs through an isolation solenoid but it looks like the voltage jumps to 15 volts as the truck starts. Seems way to high for AGMs? Would it be best to put a manual switch on the solenoid that I could operate from the dash? Hope to make my batteries last as long as possible. Learning through this process. Thanks for the help.