CPT Davenport
El Pescador
I have been doing quite a bit of camping with my new Hawk. Everything has been working great! My only issue is that when I put something on my roof racks it covers 1/2 of my solar panel. this brings my input down to 0-4watts.
My set up is:
175w panel on roof
130w aux panel when at camp
Victron MPPT CC
100ah lithium
Because of all the information I have gathered here, I disconnected my alternator from the camper battery so solar is my only source for charging. I know the best solution is to upgrade wire from truck to camper and install a DC/DC unit.
My consumption has been very low and I'm not using a lot of battery (maybe 20% at most). Even on cloudy days my solar (when not covered with surfboard) is keeping up fine.
Question:
On trips when I have something on roof racks and panel input is diminished, can I simply hook my alternator back up to camper for the drive? I know by the math, and wire size this is not optimal, but some power coming to battery from alternator is better than none right?
I have read a lot of information on this and that "could" happen. Has anyone tried this first hand, and have any concrete results?
My set up is:
175w panel on roof
130w aux panel when at camp
Victron MPPT CC
100ah lithium
Because of all the information I have gathered here, I disconnected my alternator from the camper battery so solar is my only source for charging. I know the best solution is to upgrade wire from truck to camper and install a DC/DC unit.
My consumption has been very low and I'm not using a lot of battery (maybe 20% at most). Even on cloudy days my solar (when not covered with surfboard) is keeping up fine.
Question:
On trips when I have something on roof racks and panel input is diminished, can I simply hook my alternator back up to camper for the drive? I know by the math, and wire size this is not optimal, but some power coming to battery from alternator is better than none right?
I have read a lot of information on this and that "could" happen. Has anyone tried this first hand, and have any concrete results?