Need Shore Power Wiring Recommendation

W

WestCoast

Advanced Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
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So, after a year and a half of FWC ownership I have come to a point of needing shore power hookup in my rig. I'm currently running a fleet with 160w of solar and 2, 6v AGM batteries wired in series with 220 Ah storage. I run this with a trimetric charger and monitor. So far it's been great! I've run into issues after 3+ nights in winter weather running low on power. I'm going to need more power this winter as I'll be skiing more and living out of my rig part time for work. I'll have shore power available while at work but need to be charged before I head back to the mountains. I also want to add a pure sine inverter to run my laptop and other stuff too.
So, using shore power to charge batteries and as a power source while living at work what do I need to do to work with my system?
Thanks for all the help, as always!
 
It depends on your load. Are you adding anything, like an electric heater? Is your shore power connection 120v, and at what current rating? 15A or 30A? Will you only be running the existing appliances and stuff via 12v and/or propane like you have been until now?

With 160W of solar meeting your current needs (pun intended), and keeping in mind that you are likely not using more than 50% of your 220AH capacity, you are using no more than 110 AH. At 12.2v that's 9A for one hour or less amps for more hours, overnight. Your shore power connection should be able to do at least that for you, to replace the output of the solar panels, if needed.

If so, you basically you need a way to get 120v into your camper, and a way to convert that 120v to 12v to charge your batteries, and to get about 10A of DC charging going on.

This video might be a good place to start - https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/DIY-Shore-Power

1) For getting the 120v into your camper, you will need a marine grade plug on the outside of your camper, the appropriate dongle to convert to the current rating of the available shore power, a surge protector to keep the nasty stuff outside your camper.
https://no.co/gcp1
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/marinco--dockside-30a-to-15a-adapter-with-ground-fault-protection--10066835


2) Once in, you will need a big enough battery charger/converter to keep you running and a bit left over to charge your batteries. FWC uses the IOTA brand for their factory installs. Get the IQ4 as well to get better charging logic
http://www.iotaengineering.com/dls30.htm
http://www.iotaengineering.com/iq.htm

Or, others here (me included) like the NOCO Genius line. Note that the bigger NOCO units can charge multiple battery banks, but no one bank gets more than 10A, which is what this little unit does too.
https://no.co/gen1

That's a start. Then you can also add breakers and a 120v on board system so you can run 120v appliances (heater!) while plugged in....
 
Thanks so much! I was looking for that first video. I'll start here and report back.
 
So, if I were to put a shore power plug on, what would be wisest? Use a 30amp for versatility and use a dongle for 15amp (more common?) connections? Or just a simple 15amp?
The NOCO charger looks nice! Would I run this through my trimetric monitor setup? Does it have programmable charging profiles like the solar controller? Can I use it on two 6v batteries?
It seems like the IQ4 is he most sophisticated. So many questions...
Thank you for taking the time giving such a thoughtful reply to my first post, Vic. Much appreciated!
 
broverlanding_tacoma said:
the way i did it on my last camper is to put a marine charger on the camper, and wire in a 110v input plut outside into the charger. Charged while i used it.
Click to expand...
So, you had a separate plug to your battery charger? Or is it wired off the marine plug?
 
WestCoast said:
So, you had a separate plug to your battery charger? Or is it wired off the marine plug?
Click to expand...
wired off the marine plug

here are some pics
TCTeardrop 5x9 for sale by Grant Wilson, on Flickr

Power Box by Grant Wilson, on Flickr


I used this plug:
http://amzn.to/2xXtYL9
This charger (i actually have a brand new one since i was going to get a shell originally and was going to use another one for the camper. new in box for 175 bucks. can charge three banks)
https://www.firstchoicemarine.com/p-16467-promariner-protech-1220-i-12v-20-amp-3-bank-battery-charger-63320.aspx

Then use inverter of your choice and call it a day. worked great for us!
we use this one
http://amzn.to/2xXmE25
 
WestCoast said:
So, if I were to put a shore power plug on, what would be wisest? Use a 30amp for versatility and use a dongle for 15amp (more common?) connections? Or just a simple 15amp?
The NOCO charger looks nice! Would I run this through my trimetric monitor setup? Does it have programmable charging profiles like the solar controller? Can I use it on two 6v batteries?
It seems like the IQ4 is he most sophisticated. So many questions...
Thank you for taking the time giving such a thoughtful reply to my first post, Vic. Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
The IQ4 is actually relatively dumb, but does a good job for most folks. For safety, you should use a 30 amp plug in the camper and a dongle for 15A if that is what is provided, rather than the other way around. If it were MY camper I would use the 15A plug i linked to before.

Yes, you need to connect the charger to the shunt as well, so that the Trimetric can report SOC correctly.

The NOCO has limited charging profiles, but yes it does have one for AGM's that I find is quite close to what my batteries want.

I am using two 6v batteries. The charger works fine for the total 12V in series that this gives you.
 
+1 on Vic's comments.
I do like the Iota charger/power supply with IQ4 for several reasons.
Besides being a quiet power supply when camping with shore power. They provide 30 amps DC to run everything in the camper and charge the battery at the same time. After some time being in float mode without a load drawing down the battery as in storage in the winter, it reverts to bulk mode and runs through absorption, then back to float. Other smartish chargers remain in float forever and I have lost several expensive batteries this way. It is designed for an AGM profile that seems to work well enough. By quiet, I mean it doesn't interfere with my ham radio reception too much.

I also have a couple of the Noco Genius smart chargers. I use them for recharging my large ham radio batteries and our vehicle batteries. For this, the 7200 & 3500 do a great job for my 6 and 12 volt AGM, and the 12v liquid cell batteries. However, when either is running, there is little point to using the HF radio because of the noise they produce. Another drawback is that even the 26 amp version can provide only 5 amps to run the camper accessories as a power supply in which case it isn't charging the batteries.

Both units are good, they are just designed for different purposes and I need both.

For the camper, the 30 amp Iota restores a discharged battery quickly and the solar charge controller finishes the charge to full and keeps it topped off. However, solar doesn't work at night and has limited production in heavy cloud cover or if shadows cover even part of a panel.

Vigilance is required to get long life and good use from your expensive batteries. A battery monitor like the Victron or Trimetric will keep you informed about your battery's state of charge and reduce your stress after reading these battery threads. ;)

Paul
 
PaulT said:
Vigilance is required to get long life and good use from your expensive batteries. A battery monitor like the Victron or Trimetric will keep you informed about your battery's state of charge and reduce your stress after reading these battery threads. ;)

Paul
Click to expand...
2x :)
 
Follow-up question which has undoubtedly been answered before but I did not see it...

With the stock FWC IOTA/IQ4 and two FWC 12V AGM batteries ['16 Hawk in our case...] are there any downsides to leaving the "shore power" plugged in [with master power pull plug pulled out/on] continuously for many months and even for those periods when Hawk is taken out on trips? 160/80W FWC solar on-board.

If there are pitfalls to this what can be done to reduce or eliminate negative consequences. Being 'informed' and 'vigilant' probably would be wasted on someone such as myself with 'electrical illiteracy'.... ;)

Thanks,

Phil
 
OK, so a few more questions now that I've decided what to do. I have in my possession the IOTA IQ4, my plan is to use the 15amp plug linked above for plugging into shore power; and likely a generator this winter (GASP!!!). A wiring question I have is about the chassis ground for the IOTA? I called and spoke to Terry and he mentioned that the negative bus bar installed by FWC might not be a chassis ground because the shell model isn't wired for 110v (he was checking with the electrical guys at FWC to be sure). Since I have it all pulled apart and ready to work, anybody have an idea about this? Can I just use the negative bus bar as a chassis ground for the IOTA?

Also, what about the Trimetric shunt? There is a negative wire already heading from the batteries to the shunt and it reads accurately as is. Do I need another connection to the shunt for the Trimetric if its already has one from the battery back (for solar, obviously). My thought is no…but I am unsure.

So to clarify, if I were to do it right now without asking any questions I would: send the chassis ground from the IOTA to the negative bus, send the positive and negative connections from the IOTA to the battery in their respective locations. No need for an extra cable run from the batteries to the Trimetric shunt because there is one there already. Am I way off? I just want to be sure…it just seems too simple this way…lol
As always, THANK YOU!
Tyree
 
Tyree
Regarding the Trimetric and the shunt, all battery input/output has to go through the negative side of the shunt. If you charge from Iota directly to battery without the shunt in-line, the Trimetric won't be measuring the charging. Same for the charging coming from the truck alternator. I also have a shell model, that I ordered with 2 batteries and installed the shore power hookup and Iota w/ IQ4 myself.
Mike
 
TrapperMike said:
Tyree
Regarding the Trimetric and the shunt, all battery input/output has to go through the negative side of the shunt. If you charge from Iota directly to battery without the shunt in-line, the Trimetric won't be measuring the charging. Same for the charging coming from the truck alternator. I also have a shell model, that I ordered with 2 batteries and installed the shore power hookup and Iota w/ IQ4 myself.
Mike
Click to expand...
Ah, that's right. Its been a while since I hooked up the solar. Thanks for the reminder. I had a hard time telling just by looking in there, I need to clean up my wiring a bit, lol.
What did you use for the chassis ground for the Iota? Just the negative bus bar?
Where did you put the plug in for shore power? I was hoping to use one of the vent holes already drilled in the battery compartment as I have AGM's and two vents seem like overkill.
Thanks for the reply!
 
So, after all this I thought I’d wrap it up for those who may have the same questions down the line. All that needed to be done was a negative to the bus bar that was already set to the trimetric shunt. Ground chassis to the same bar and positive to the battery. I’m all set. Took about 30 min including getting all the tools. Now I just need to put the plug in the side of camper.
I’m going to get a Honda EU2000i for this winter. Anyone have experience setting these up to a transfer switch to run the essentials in my house. Gas furnace gas water heater and a fridge. I know it’s a stretch but I’ve seen others do it. Any advice on this?
Thanks to all that replied and Trappermike for the PM that helped clarify things.
Ty
 
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