Ronanmd1
Senior Member
HI guys - wondering if any of you can help me with a charging issue on my camper. Background = I have a 2013 Ram 2500 diesel with a 2013 FWC Hawk camper. The Hawk has 2 AGM batteries and a Sure Power controller/isolator installed from factory. It also has the IOTA Q4 system for shore charging and an 85W solar panel (although it is shadowed a bit by my ski box).
I don't think the truck is charging correctly. On my current road trip, I seem to use up a fair bit of my battery charge over night using my Dometic 80L fridge and one of the inside lamps (on for maybe an hour per night). Each day the charge in the batteries loses a bit more ground. First night batteries start at 12.5V and then are 12.1 in the morning. After driving about 6 hours they increase to about 12.3 and then are 11.7 by the following morning. Charge up to 12.1 with 4 hours of driving and then drop to 11.4 overnight..etc. It seems like I am limping along with my batteries getting a fairly useless charge from the truck and are only getting what small amount of power I can provide with my solar panel and the 1-2 hours of generator time at camp (Honda 2000 W).
The solar panel shows an output of about 2.4 max amps at the solar controller with maximum sunlight (this is probably b/c the ski box shadows the edge of the panel). The shore power seems to work correctly. Plugged in last night. Was reading 13.5V at the batteries. By morning, both batteries fully charged.
Some observations:
1. The Ram has 2 batteries in the engine compartment. At idle after start up, both read 13.5V. A bit lower than what I expected (I thought they would be around 14.2V). Also, I am not sure which battery the FWC tech ran the wiring to during the install. If it is the accessory battery, then maybe this has a voltage controller? Not sure if that would affect things.
2. At idle, the batteries in the camper are only getting 12.5V through the Sure Power. It looks like the wiring from the truck is 4 gauge wire. Maybe this is leading to my voltage drop from the truck?
3. I am not sure that the Sure Power is working right. When I start my truck up, and the camper batteries are at 12.1V, the isolator keeps disconnecting and isolating the camper. Voltage at the batteries are at 12.5V for about 10 seconds, then the isolator clicks and the voltage in the battery drops back to 12.1V. 10 After a 10 sec delay, the isolator reconnects and the voltage at the campers jumps back up to 12.5V. This cycling just seems to continue. I expected that the isolator would engage based on the voltage at the truck battery? It seems to be sensing the low voltage at the camper battery and then isolating the system to protect the truck charging system. Is this functioning correctly? Maybe wired backwards?
I am a tool when it comes to electrical diagnostics...hoping you guys may be able to point me in the right direction. With 2 truck batteries, 2 camper batteries, a solar panel and generator I still can't seem to keep my beer cold! lol
Thanks,
Jason
I don't think the truck is charging correctly. On my current road trip, I seem to use up a fair bit of my battery charge over night using my Dometic 80L fridge and one of the inside lamps (on for maybe an hour per night). Each day the charge in the batteries loses a bit more ground. First night batteries start at 12.5V and then are 12.1 in the morning. After driving about 6 hours they increase to about 12.3 and then are 11.7 by the following morning. Charge up to 12.1 with 4 hours of driving and then drop to 11.4 overnight..etc. It seems like I am limping along with my batteries getting a fairly useless charge from the truck and are only getting what small amount of power I can provide with my solar panel and the 1-2 hours of generator time at camp (Honda 2000 W).
The solar panel shows an output of about 2.4 max amps at the solar controller with maximum sunlight (this is probably b/c the ski box shadows the edge of the panel). The shore power seems to work correctly. Plugged in last night. Was reading 13.5V at the batteries. By morning, both batteries fully charged.
Some observations:
1. The Ram has 2 batteries in the engine compartment. At idle after start up, both read 13.5V. A bit lower than what I expected (I thought they would be around 14.2V). Also, I am not sure which battery the FWC tech ran the wiring to during the install. If it is the accessory battery, then maybe this has a voltage controller? Not sure if that would affect things.
2. At idle, the batteries in the camper are only getting 12.5V through the Sure Power. It looks like the wiring from the truck is 4 gauge wire. Maybe this is leading to my voltage drop from the truck?
3. I am not sure that the Sure Power is working right. When I start my truck up, and the camper batteries are at 12.1V, the isolator keeps disconnecting and isolating the camper. Voltage at the batteries are at 12.5V for about 10 seconds, then the isolator clicks and the voltage in the battery drops back to 12.1V. 10 After a 10 sec delay, the isolator reconnects and the voltage at the campers jumps back up to 12.5V. This cycling just seems to continue. I expected that the isolator would engage based on the voltage at the truck battery? It seems to be sensing the low voltage at the camper battery and then isolating the system to protect the truck charging system. Is this functioning correctly? Maybe wired backwards?
I am a tool when it comes to electrical diagnostics...hoping you guys may be able to point me in the right direction. With 2 truck batteries, 2 camper batteries, a solar panel and generator I still can't seem to keep my beer cold! lol
Thanks,
Jason