Most reacted posts

I’ll go to the camper tomorrow so I’ll have a chance to see the model number then. To clarify: I’m not saying it has a 35 amp charger, I’m saying it has 30 amp shore power service. If the chargers were described by the input power, then it made no sense to spend an extra $100 for a 55 amp...

Ouch. That’s going to require some re-thinking. Thank you for checking. This probably means I have to run a wire to the truck battery. edited: ooooh! I read that wrong. I thought you had written amps. Great! I won’t take that as my definitive answer but it’s good news.

That’s right. I forgot that you can add DC to DC and it’s not like AC where you need to be in phase. Thanks. The current setup is a standard Jamboree setup. I don’t know much about it, but I’ve attached a few pictures here. Looks like a 12v interstate group 27. If I’m translating “reserve...

It’s “secondary” in the sense that it’s not my majority use case. But that’s because my camper trips are really bifurcated into two really different types of trips. On the one hand, I go to Baja where I camp for a week or 10 days (sigh, the days of 2+ weeks are behind me) in remote places. No...

This is not really a lithium DIY question, but I’m looking at putting together a heater and thermocouple for a lithium battery so it’s kinda DIY. Anyway, I’m looking at the SOK 100ah battery for a friend who wants to cold weather boondock camp. My understanding of the SOK is that it draws the...

I was just writing up that I was reconsidering using that controller, thanks. It's only about $40 cheaper than buying two separate controllers, and as you say, it's kind of limiting. If I use a separate charge controller, I can run panels in series, raising my voltage, and probably saving that...

I have a 24' Class C with a factory 4x4 option, so I can go to remote places. I also camp in the US. This gives me two distinct, but three separate use cases: 1. Baja California. I camp in remote beaches with fairly good sun, but sometimes bright overcast. There is never any way to plug in. I...

Took me a while to get to it, but the charger is an Intellipower 9140A. Opinions on whether this is compatible with LiFeSO4?

I guess I thought that the charge and discharge temps were the same. Thanks. That got me to look at the SOK site and they say both charging and discharging to -4F. Seems like there’s not a lot of value even to the heated battery either. As you suggested, he’s not interested in camping in...

That’s fantastic. I was trying to remember the name of the product and couldn’t remember “strut channel.” I found it at McMaster-Carr in several thicknesses. It looks like I can get low profile (13/16”) up to high profile (3-1/4”) which should allow me to make them nearly level without buying...

Yes, I get that. A heated battery in that case will keep from charging a too-cold battery because the heat is provided by the charge current. But my worry is if you’re camping and it’s well below freezing that the low temp cutoff would trigger on the discharge side. And that doesn’t seem to be...

Thanks. I wonder if there are some peak loads that are higher and shorter in duration than might be captured with the refresh rate. I’ll call Cummins and see what I can get. I have fairly low hopes, as others online have asked this question and not gotten a good response.

I took my camper with my new 400 watt solar system on the road for the last week. It worked great and I’m mostly pleased (an issue for another day). However, I found out that the guy who owns the property where I surf in very rural Mexico was robbed of his solar panels and other things. He...

That’s great advice. I’m in San Diego.

Wow. $600 is a bit pricey. As I reread the response from tech support, I see that he was not really suggesting I buy the wizard but instead suggesting that I buy the module that charges at a constant 14.6v. I’m still a little uncomfortable with understanding standing how these things operate...

My last camper had a 64-watt panel wired through a $20 controller and feeding a 12v 80ah FLA battery through the fridge wiring. Our family of four including two small children did fine with that for a week in Baja only running the generator fir about a half hour in the middle to use the hand...

Great, thanks! I’ll look into the wizard. In any case, nothing needs to be done for the trip I have coming up. AC (generator or shore power) isn’t likely to be a big part of my power mix so it can just give me a few Ah if it’s cloudy.

That’s good to know, thanks. Have any specific brands or models you would recommend?

I received an email response from their tech support line. Before I call them, I guess I need a bit more of a primer on the specifics of what charge profile is required for LiFeSO4 batteries. If you don’t feel like typing, pointing me to a good resource would be appreciated. But the net net...

Sorry, but could you explain that further?

I guess I don’t understand. Supposedly the advantage of that dc to dc controller is that it can manage the alternator charging as well as the solar charging, while isolating my truck battery from my house battery. Is that not correct? What does that relay add to the equation?

Is there a resource here that explains how to diy that? Or could you?

Ok, but how do I check for function? I bought myself new panels because I was in a time crunch and couldn’t spend the time learning. But here I’m looking at minimum spend. Is it just lay it in the sun and look for volts and amps at some percentage of rated? Is there a ratio of each? How do I...

I’m looking at AC to DC chargers to replace the one that’s in my ‘99 RV and I have a question about how they are labeled. Does a “35 amp” charger have 35 amps on the input (110) side or the output (12v) side? I ask because my camper has 30a service so it would make sense to save a few bucks by...

According to Christian at Cummins, they draw a max of 80 amps. Woo hoo! LiFeSO4, here I come!

I was just wrapping up my solar install and my brother got careless with a wire and it sparked short and killed my new SOK 206ah LiFePO4 battery. It was installed and powering a CD player through a fuse block and inverter (thanks Will, for the wiring diagram!). When the wire hit the aluminum...

I used the 400w blueprint on Will’s site for my own camper (I'm having a hard time inserting links without them all going to the beginning of my post). Based on this, I'm basically following it on my friend's camper. However, he has a smaller camper, a Lance truck camper, and the space fits 2...

Yeah, it was his video on the SOK that convinced me to get it. What charger would wake the BMS out of a protect shut down? I'm happy to buy one if it's available locally. The ones I have on hand are: old-school transformer 12v chargers some Battery Tender brand trickle chargers The...

So you are saying that on a cold night, you just turn on the heat and leave it on?

I was waiting to get the camper back from the shop before contacting Cummins, but it’s going to be a while. So I reached out just with the year and model number. I got a reply that they would contact me within 24 hours. But I’m inclined to agree with you, Richard. They can’t draw that much juice.