Noob Needs Help. No solar involved, for now.

[larsfinley]

I'm building my own slide in truck camper and have sooooo many questions about electrical as it is so far from being in my wheelhouse.

I have bought two 100Ah SOK batteries (hoping the deliver in June when they said they would) as the basis of my 12V platform so far.

Looking into solar I think for now I'm going to skip it as I will be driving at least every other day in the setup so charging from the truck should be enough. However I do want my system to be able to add solar in the future if/when I decide it is necessary.

I attached a screenshot of the system that I just mocked up with wire gauge sizes inline.

Questions I have so far -

1) I need to have a quick simple connection system to go between the truck and the camper so I can take the camper on/off. Would this hook up to my 7pin trailer connection or be its own thing? While keeping in mind I will be using this with a trailer sometimes so the normal 7pin trailer hook up will be occupied.

2) I feel like I need a battery isolator for this setup. Is that correct? Will recommends this DC to DC isolator, will the 20A one work for my 2013 2500 HD Silverado?

3) Is this layout missing anything?

Thanks for the help.

 

[HRTKD]

If the truck is the sole charging of the camper battery then the 7-pin connection isn't going to cut it. It won't provide enough amps to give you a quick charge. A dedicated heavy gauge cable will need to be run from the truck battery. Instead of an old school battery isolator, a DC-DC charger that has a LiFePO4 charge profile, is the better way to go.

 

[larsfinley]

Something like this? https://www.renogy.com/12v-dc-to-dc...YGgRy8-5dhMsTgq56sMgpuMStitp2nQBoCc3UQAvD_BwE

 

[HRTKD]

Yes, like that. But I wouldn't use Renogy.

 

[larsfinley]

Would I need a converter between my truck and the batteries to make the charging of the batteries efficient?

 

[HRTKD]

There is a user on the forum that has a converter near the engine bay to up the voltage, so that the long cable run has less voltage drop. At the trailer he converts the voltage back down to what the trailer needs.

Figure out the length of the wire run and what the voltage drop will be for it.