Battery Seperator and solar

[GPAY]

Does anyone know if the battery seperator in a 2015 Hawk shell model lets solar charge the battery when the truck is not running?
Thank You,
Gary

 

[craig333]

Are you referring to the truck battery or the camper battery?

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

If the "separator"is the Surepower line then I think no.
The Surepower line are only "one way".
They work on a solenoid type system.

You need something like an electronic "isolator".

Anybody feel free to correct me.
I replaced my Surepower separator after some models were recalled back in 2011.

I now use a isolator and it does charge the truck battery when the truck isn't running,from the solar.
Frank

 

[Wallowa]

If the "separator"is the Surepower line then I think no.
The Surepower line are only "one way".
They work on a solenoid type system.

You need something like an electronic "isolator".

Anybody feel free to correct me.
I replaced my Surepower separator after some models were recalled back in 2011.

I now use a isolator and it does charge the truck battery when the truck isn't running,from the solar.
Frank

One better than an Isolator...get an Orion DC/DC... Isolator goes away...my replacement Blue Sea is sitting on a work bench..

 

[Outnabout]

If the "separator"is the Surepower line then I think no.
The Surepower line are only "one way".
They work on a solenoid type system.

You need something like an electronic "isolator".

Anybody feel free to correct me.
I replaced my Surepower separator after some models were recalled back in 2011.

I now use a isolator and it does charge the truck battery when the truck isn't running,from the solar.
Frank

Agreed. The Surepower will not allow charging from camper to truck. I replaced mine with a Blue Seas that does allow solar charging of the truck batteries

 

[PaulT]

It isn't entirely true that the SurePower doesn't allow charging the truck from the camper. I have an AGM battery in the truck and LiFePO4 in the camper. I found that when the truck has been running & charging both truck & camper batteries, The 13+ volts in the LiFePO4 batteries at rest did not allow the the SurePower to turn off its relay. This resulted in several strange symptoms.

Because the relay did not open, its coil drew a constant ~.9 amps and remained quite warm all the time which is how I discovered what was going on. The truck battery was being presented with the voltage of the camper batteries & some small charge was being delivered to the truck battery or more likely any parasitic loads on the truck battery was being delivered by the camper batteries. This did not happen with the original AGM camper batteries.

Rather than replace the SurePower isolator with a Blue Sea unit, I just disconnected the truck to camper wiring under the hood. I use only solar or shore power to charge the camper batteries now.

Paul

 

[UmkaAndHawk]

My 2019 Hawk Shell came with a Blue Sea separator and "wired for solar."
I have a Renogy solar suitcase which successfully charges the camper batteries, no issues found so far.

I didn't see in your post that you wanted to charge the truck batteries as many are responding, I don't believe it will allow this, if you were indeed asking about that scenario.

 

[Jon R]

The Blue Sea ACR sold with the campers closes its relay if either of the positive posts on the ACR has 13.6 vdc relative to the ground post of the ACR for 30 seconds or 13.0 vdc for 2 minutes. So the ACR can close due to a charging source on either side - it’s two way and simply responds to voltage. Whether you can charge your truck from the camper solar system will depend on your system characteristics.

Edit: see this web page for a good explanation about the Blue Sea ACR
https://www.bluesea.com/resources/1366

 

[ntsqd]

When did FWC switch from the SurePower isolator to the Blue Sea Systems ACR? OP's camper is a 2015

 

[Jon R]

I don’t know when they switched but I suspect someone here does.

You are right the OP was asking about Surepower. I was responding to UmkaAndHawk’s comment about thinking the ACR wouldn’t allow truck charging. I probably should have quoted it to be more clear.

 

[pvstoy]

I believe I was there at the factory early 2018 and on a tour with Stan he showed me the Blue Seas separator they just started using along with the Overland Solar panels with controller.

 

[ALL484000]

On the older hawk model. Rather than using the truck for power can you simply run the old connector wire into the output of your solar
controller?

 

[PaulT]

If you have the older Sure Power battery separator, you do not want it in the circuit between your solar charge controller output and the battery.

The reason for this is that it its coil will consume about 0.9 amps that is wasted as heat instead of going to charge the battery. You will need to remove the separator from the camper or, at least, bypass it in your wiring.

Paul

 

[ALL484000]

Thanks

 

[blitzkrieg3002]

Does anyone know if the battery seperator in a 2015 Hawk shell model lets solar charge the battery when the truck is not running?
Thank You,
Gary

Not sure, but if you have the Surepower 1315A it will. the 1314A will only draw power from the alternator not apply solar charge back to the truck power. I have a 1315A brand new available for sale and a slightly used but working 1314A if anyone is interested.