New Grandby Charging System Question

[camper rich]

I just sold my 1998 Ranger ll shell model and have ordered a brand new Grandby with Isotherm 130 fridge, furnace, water heater, shower, cassette toilet, and 160 watt solar panel. We ordered the duel battery wiring but did not order the batteries as I intend to purchase two Trojan T105 AGM 6 volt golf cart batteries which are rather expensive.

My question is this: Is the camper charging system going to properly maintain these batteries without killing them early? I would hate to put all that money into the batteries and then have them die because of an inadequate charging system. The camper will be on a Dodge 2500 with heavy duty alternator.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

If the Iota converter has the IQ4 module, you should be fine. I believe that is what FWC is supplying now. When the batteries are charged, it puts things into float mode. The solar (within reasonable limits) will do a good job any time you're not on shore power.

 

[strayDog]

Some good information on on this web site. It also has the "Battery State of Charge" chart. Don't let the batteries get below 40-50%. Your Zamp controller will tell you your current battery voltage.

Nice thing about the 6-volt system as you probably already know is you'll get a lot more amp hour capacity.

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/alternative-energy/battery-state-of-charge-chart/

 

[Beach]

lota and IQ4 is a good setup for when your plugged in. As for proper charging by solar, that will depend on the efficiency of the controller, your wiring size and quality connections, panel position, etc. Be sure the controller volt output is set per battery manufacturer spec. Check out the recent post on this site by Vic, another good read is Handy Bobs solar Blog

 

[Vic Harder]

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13230-i-need-more-power-scotty/

Batteries are indeed expensive. And learning how to prevent early failure can melt your brain!

+2 for the IQ4. You need to figure out how long you will be going between charges, and for a start - keep an eye on the battery monitor - and try to stay above 50% charged at all times. Add more solar and stuff as you need, and spend some sleepless nights reading the thread referenced in this post, among others.

 

[longhorn1]

We have a 2014 Grandby, with 2 AGM batteries, 100W solar on the roof and 80W portable panel. We have never come close to getting batteries close to the danger area. In fact in the morning we are around 12.2 or 12.3 on the Zamp display. We have an F-250 with heavy duty alternator and FWC wiring. We also have the Dometic 80L compressor fridge and I use CPAP Machine at night and lmited use of lights. The water pump is on and the heater set to run periodically. You should be fine. jd

Sent from my SM-G900V using Wander The West mobile app

 

[camper rich]

My gut feeling is that I should give it a try with the FWC setup. I will have to trust that they would not put out a faulty product. Could it be better if I do $3000 dollers in upgrades? Probably, but I will do upgrades if I have problems and feel that they would be necessary. We will be heading to Baja for a couple of months in January and that should give us a good feeling as to how it all works. BTW I have a portable 100 watt panel to supplement the 160 watt on top.

Thanks for your replys.

 

[longhorn1]

Camper rich, we waited to year 2 to purchase the 80W Zamp portable until we saw how we did. We could have continued with the 100w. The year after we purchased the camper FWC upped the roof panel to 160w. The rear plug was wired to the Zamp controller so the portable didn't need a controller. I stuck with Zamp for everything. jd

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