Hello to all. I have searched for days on this forum and elsewhere online to find an answer to my questions, to no avail.
Background:
I have a typical 2015 vintage bumper-pull RV parked off-grid for summertime recreation use. AC power comes from a generator. AC power is converted to 12V DC to charge the house batteries. Unfortunately the manual for the device that converts the AC to DC power is in the trailer far from where I am now, but I assume it is a fairly simple onboard battery charger. I also assume the 12V batteries in the front of my RV are connected directly to the onboard charger and then through a fuse bank to the 12V appliances in the RV. I am planning to add a 400W solar system to eliminate, or at least substantially reduce the use of generator power. With a solar system in place, when I connect the solar system to the RV batteries, the batteries will then be connected to both solar power and the DC power from the RV onboard charger (when the generator is running).
Questions:
What will happen when the solar system is powered-up by sunlight and the onboard charger is powered-up by generator power?
How do these two systems "decide" which one charges the batteries?
What if I decide to go with LiFePO4 or AGM batteries and the charging voltages from the onboard charger are not suited for them?
I'm thinking I may need to replace the onboard charger. This must be a common situation, yet I can find no mention of it anywhere.
Thanks for your interest.
Background:
I have a typical 2015 vintage bumper-pull RV parked off-grid for summertime recreation use. AC power comes from a generator. AC power is converted to 12V DC to charge the house batteries. Unfortunately the manual for the device that converts the AC to DC power is in the trailer far from where I am now, but I assume it is a fairly simple onboard battery charger. I also assume the 12V batteries in the front of my RV are connected directly to the onboard charger and then through a fuse bank to the 12V appliances in the RV. I am planning to add a 400W solar system to eliminate, or at least substantially reduce the use of generator power. With a solar system in place, when I connect the solar system to the RV batteries, the batteries will then be connected to both solar power and the DC power from the RV onboard charger (when the generator is running).
Questions:
What will happen when the solar system is powered-up by sunlight and the onboard charger is powered-up by generator power?
How do these two systems "decide" which one charges the batteries?
What if I decide to go with LiFePO4 or AGM batteries and the charging voltages from the onboard charger are not suited for them?
I'm thinking I may need to replace the onboard charger. This must be a common situation, yet I can find no mention of it anywhere.
Thanks for your interest.