So, I just got back from a 6 day trip with the new solar system and I thought I'd give a report. We spent a night in Kofa Wildlife Refuge and the rest of the time was in Mojave National Preserve, both great areas to spend time in. The weather was great at the beginning and towards the end of the trip it was overcast and raining. The last night, the winds were wild and the rain was sideways and the truck/camper was rocking and rolling all night! It was great!
The first thing I noticed after arriving in camp in Kofa that first night, was that the camper batteries were at 100%. I don't think that happened once with my original FWC 85 watt panel setup. We usually had 3 red lights out of 4. Hard to believe now, that that was the only monitoring device we had! Every day on this trip, we arrived in camp with the batteries at 100%. By morning, we were usually down to about 83%. One morning we had 80%. Granted, it wasn't hot out, in-fact it was quite cool, so the frig probably didn't run near as much, but we ran the heater a lot. On one occasion I had my wife start the truck while I watched the trimetric. As soon as the ACR paralleled the truck battery to the camper batteries, the charging amps shot up to 24 and then backed off to about 18 or so. That seems pretty good. Much better than the original setup, I'm sure.
There were a couple of hiccups. First, around noon each day, the propane sensor was going off. I checked my propane sensor manual and it says that it will do that if the voltage goes above 16.2. Bogart Engineering's manual for the trimetric says to use charging profile 9 for Concord Lifeline AGM batteries. It sets the max charging voltage at 16.5. I noticed that the batteries were being brought up as high as 17.1 volts. Also, I noticed that the ACR's remote battery switch, would have 2 red blinking lights, indicating over voltage lockout, isolating the truck battery from the camper batteries. It does this at 16.2 volts. This didn't really seem to be a problem though, because after a while the voltage would drop back down and the ACR would allow the batteries to parallel again. It's all automatic.
But here is one thing that I am not sure if I am doing right. At the end of the driving day, I would check the trimetric to see how the batteries are doing. They were at 100 %. The ACR remote battery switch (set to auto) would have no blinking lights, indicating that the trucks battery and the camper batteries were tied, even though the truck was shut off. The solar was charging fine, which is why, I believe that the batteries remained tied. The ACR manual says that it will keep the batteries tied if a charging source is detected. Well, I knew the truck battery was fine and I wanted all of the solar charge going into the camper batteries, so I would switch the ACR's remote battery switch to "isolate". Then in the morning I would put the switch back to auto. Not sure if I really needed to do this or not. I could allow the solar to top off both the truck and the camper batteries. Then, at night when there is no charging from the solar, the ACR would isolate. For those of you who use the Blue Sea ML-ACR and the remote battery switch, how do you use it? Do you just leave it in auto all the time?
As far as the propane sensor going off, my dog was freaking out, so I disconnected it. I still have to figure out a solution to that problem. A stand alone battery powered propane sensor? I could lower the max charging voltage allowed, by changing the P15 value in the trimetric to something lower, but I'd rather not. I did call Ralph at Bogart Engineering and asked why the voltage goes to 17.1 when it is limited to 16.5 by the profile. He said it is because of the battery compartment temperature sensor that I ordered with the SC2030 solar charger. As the compartment temp gets colder, allowed battery voltage goes higher. All perfectly normal and desirable for proper battery upkeep.
Anyway, I think the setup is a great success and there is much less stress not having to worry about the frig quitting and the batteries dying. And the whole solar/battery/ monitoring thing seems like a normal and natural part of camping off the grid. Sort of fun watching it all work! If you get a chance to go to Mojave National Preserve, go there. Definitely worth spending time there!