Inverters, two batteries and furnace burn time

So if I were to add another battery to my 09 hawk/03 Toyota Tundra AC, would I need to examine my alternator on my truck to ensure it is putting out enough to charge the two in the camper and one in the truck. What is enough? Another question, would adding a second to my set up give me more time with a charge. My gosh I am not too intelligent when it comes to this stuff, thanks for the help in understanding this......
 
So if I were to add another battery to my 09 hawk/03 Toyota Tundra AC, would I need to examine my alternator on my truck to ensure it is putting out enough to charge the two in the camper and one in the truck. What is enough? Another question, would adding a second to my set up give me more time with a charge. My gosh I am not too intelligent when it comes to this stuff, thanks for the help in understanding this......


Check out this website. Most of your questions can be answered by reading the information in sections one and two.
Ohm's law will give you all you need to do the math.


http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

Dsrtrat
 
So if I were to add another battery to my 09 hawk/03 Toyota Tundra AC, would I need to examine my alternator on my truck to ensure it is putting out enough to charge the two in the camper and one in the truck. What is enough? Another question, would adding a second to my set up give me more time with a charge. My gosh I am not too intelligent when it comes to this stuff, thanks for the help in understanding this......


Main issue with adding more batteries is any batteries that are connected whether in parallel or series should be as close to the same battery as possible (type, brand, age, etc.) otherwise they'll function towards the lowest battery. If they are separated via a battery switch or such then this isn't really an issue but then they need to be manually switched in.

Secondary issue of charging batteries properly is getting the right voltage to them which alts aren't always suited to do on deep cycles. Factors of consideration there are alt output voltage, ideal battery voltage for the various charging profiles, and line losses between the two. I consider this a bigger issue than others though as not getting the battery fully charged all the time or on the flip side over charging it an boiling it out will limit battery life.

However to answer the question in a round about way if you have an alt. rated over 90amps like many trucks do I likely wouldn't bat an eye about having enough charging power. Then you can just concern yourself with how you're going to set it all up. ;)
 
Make sure you check out page 2 of this data sheet, I toasted mine because I wasn't aware protection was needed (wish they would have just offered an add on module for a buck or two to cover this): http://www.lascarele...cg7pclubb5chol1



Thanks pods8. I'm not an electronics guru. Where did you get the protection resistors? Are you an electrionics guru? Did you build it yourself?
 
You could probably get those from radio shack. Do you know how to solder?



No, I don't solder. Maybe I'll look for another brand of voltmeter that is simpler to deal with.
 
Thanks pods8. I'm not an electronics guru. Where did you get the protection resistors? Are you an electrionics guru? Did you build it yourself?


You missed the part where I toasted mine. :p I found this protection page later but haven't bought a new one yet.
 
You missed the part where I toasted mine. :p I found this protection page later but haven't bought a new one yet.



Pods,

Do you know why your meter got toasted? Was it noise or voltage spikes from the alternator or one of your appliances?

I haven't had any problems with my meter but I have it switched so it's only on momentarily. Maybe this helps.
 
Pods,

Do you know why your meter got toasted? Was it noise or voltage spikes from the alternator or one of your appliances?

I haven't had any problems with my meter but I have it switched so it's only on momentarily. Maybe this helps.


I poached it off the water pump circuit so it was on the meter board, I'm under the impression the water pump likely threw a voltage spike (it literally went dead if front of my wife's eyes when I installed my new surflo faucet/pump and was testing them out). When I brought this up before it sounded like it happened to a couple other people too. If I get around to getting another I'll run a dedicated strand of speaker wire for it from the battery and/or use the resistor design. Currently I just do a quick check with a multimeter on the battery side posts of my DC-DC charger which are easily accessible and connected directly to the battery via 10 or 12 ga wire (forget off the top of my head). Multimeter is sitting in the drawer right to the side of the charger so its an easy grab and check for now.

DSC03056small.jpg
 
Pods,

Do you know why your meter got toasted? Was it noise or voltage spikes from the alternator or one of your appliances?

I haven't had any problems with my meter but I have it switched so it's only on momentarily. Maybe this helps.



camelracer,

Could you please give more details on how you wired the meter? Thanks.
 
camelracer,

Could you please give more details on how you wired the meter? Thanks.



leadsled9,

Sorry I took so long to respond but I've been out playing in the desert.
I mounted the meter on the cabinet next to the 12vdc outlet. I then wired it to the outlet switch. The only thing I use the outlet for is running a small inverter to charge batteries and this hasn't damaged the meter. Normally I leave the switch in the off position. Now that I know these meters are sensitive to voltage spikes I'll be careful what I plug in there.
 
leadsled9,

Sorry I took so long to respond but I've been out playing in the desert.
I mounted the meter on the cabinet next to the 12vdc outlet. I then wired it to the outlet switch. The only thing I use the outlet for is running a small inverter to charge batteries and this hasn't damaged the meter. Normally I leave the switch in the off position. Now that I know these meters are sensitive to voltage spikes I'll be careful what I plug in there.


Thanks camelracer. You've given me an idea. The stock set up from FWC on my Hawk has a panel monitor, with a small momentary switch that needs to be held down to turn on, which displays the water level and the level of charge. Do you (or anyone else) see any problems with mounting the meter there? I could wire it so the meter would only work while holding down that switch.

Another point. I see that the meter in question is also offered in a model that takes a maximum of 45 volts, as opposed to the maximum of 25 volts models I've seen in this thread. It might prove to be more robust.
 
Thanks camelracer. You've given me an idea. The stock set up from FWC on my Hawk has a panel monitor, with a small momentary switch that needs to be held down to turn on, which displays the water level and the level of charge. Do you (or anyone else) see any problems with mounting the meter there? I could wire it so the meter would only work while holding down that switch.

Another point. I see that the meter in question is also offered in a model that takes a maximum of 45 volts, as opposed to the maximum of 25 volts models I've seen in this thread. It might prove to be more robust.


As long as you don't run the water pump at the same time (just in case there are any issues with the shared neutral on that circuit board) it should be fine I'd think. Mine was almost the same way except for using the water pump switch instead which bit me in the rear. I don't think the voltage rating is the major issue in the voltage spike world but I'm not well versed in it.

When/if I get a new one I was just planning to use a dedicated line right to the battery so it'd be isolated from everything else (if you look in that picture of my chargers above you can see some red wiring that I added for that purpose when doing the rest of the wiring).
 
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