Another Battery Question

[PJorgen]

So, my camper is a 2014 Hawk with the Sure Power 1314A battery separator.

Assuming the camper is mounted on the truck and connected to the truck's charging system, if I attach a battery maintainer to the truck battery, will it maintain the camper battery as well?

And conversely, if I plug the camper into shore power, will that also charge the truck truck battery?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[PaulT]

Answer to the first part is Yes in my experience with AGM in truck and camper.

Answer to second is maybe depending on if you switch to LiFePO4 in the camper. After switching camper to LiFePO4, I found that the 1314a did not disconnect as expected and even at night, the 13.3 volts of the camper batteries kept the relay energized such that there was a two+ amp transfer from camper to truck batteries, part of which served to heat up the 1314a relay coil that was always energized whether or not there was solar input.

Paul

 

[Jack]

PaulT, that does not seem right. The 1314A relay is only energized by the input from the truck (per 1414A spec). The Iota voltage at the battery is 13.6 V so you should see the same issue with shore power. Is the 1314A wired correctly? https://fourwheelcampers.com/Sure_Power_%201314A_Battery_Separator.pdf

The 1314A does have an override using the spade connectors. Previously, I installed a switch (and a blinking LED to alert me) to energize the relay and allow the Iota to charge the truck battery.

 

[PaulT]

The camper battery is always at least 13.1 volts. This, apparently, keeps the coil energized after driving the truck. I don't think that the camper initiates the switch over. But when the truck ran and switched the relay because the truck voltage was >13 volts and the camper battery doesn't drop below 12.8 volts, it appears that the relay doesn't turn off.

At least, that is what I suspect is going on.

Paul

 

[PJorgen]

Thanks for the info. I should probably add that the camper battery is the original AGM installed by FWC. I seems to be going strong at about 5.5 years of use.

Truck battery is a standard issue Wal-Mart FLA.

 

[ntsqd]

New owner of our old camper asked me at the last race about the VSR in that camper. Said that he had noticed that his truck, which frequently sits for long periods, seemed to start much better since the camper got plugged in.

I built that system with a dual sensing BEP Marine VSR. When the camper batteries are topped off and the solar is outputting it does close the VSR and charge the truck batteries. I see this as a good thing for camper trucks that sit for a while between uses.

 

[rando]

So, my camper is a 2014 Hawk with the Sure Power 1314A battery separator.

Assuming the camper is mounted on the truck and connected to the truck's charging system, if I attach a battery maintainer to the truck battery, will it maintain the camper battery as well?

And conversely, if I plug the camper into shore power, will that also charge the truck truck battery?

Thanks for your advice!

The 1314A is a uni-directional separator, meaning it only monitors the voltage on the truck side of the relay. As a result, if you attach a battery charger to the truck, the separator will close and the camper will also be charged. If you attach shore power, the separator will not close and the truck battery won't be charged.

However, if you were to start the truck for a few minutes after plugging in shore power, the relay will close and the truck battery will continue to charge for as long as shore power is available.