slide on camper wiring

PS - Yes fuse your lines, I used the the large blade type you can get from Repco or Super Cheap - any car part place. I brought the duel battery isolator from Repco, you can get it in a kit for a lot more, but you save heaps doing it yourself and by just buying parts. Have Fun - Tony

Bob , where do you get the warning idea from ? If the 2nd car batt [the auxillary] is separated by the controller from the main start batt what difference does the amp hr rating of the 2nd or 3rd or 4th battery have to do with draining , all the batteries bar the main start batt are in effect ONE LARGE battery ,IE; Aux 1=60 amp hr + 2nd aux of 90am hr + 3rd aux of 120 amp hr = in effect and use 1 battery of 270 amp hr capacity.......

Hi Axel

I may not be correct but I understand that when two batteries are connected they will equalise out in power - if one is only 10v and the other is 12v they will come to 11v.

So not counting the start battery which is held behind a battery controller - just the car auxillary battery and the two camper batteries. If the two camper batteries have been drained down while camping and you plug back into the car but not start the car the camper batteries will start draining the car battery - and if they are big deep cycle batteries and the car auxillary is a normal 10 or 11 plater you can drain it quicker than should be.

Again I may not be correct not being an auto electrician and only tinkering with my own kit. If someone does have some knowledge on this it would be good.

The other thing is there are a whole heap of good forum discussions on this previously submitted.

Bob

Bob

Bob, if "if one is only 10v and the other is 12v" replace the 10v one as it is stuffed already. 11.2-11.5 volts is your required minimum. If it is below that the life will be very short.

Bob,
you say: "Inside it goes through a fuse before getting to the batteries so another one is not needed"
May I suggest each battery (+) cable requires a fuse as close as possible to the (+) terminal of *each* battery.
The reason being, the current flows from *both* batteries with-in the power system.
If battery (a) has a fuse and shorts half way to battery (b) then the current from battery (a) will no longer run past the blown fuse, however - current from battery (b) will still run along the battery cable to the 'short' and may continue to do further damage !!



With your "equalisation" post, it is technically correct only if the 'isolator' is a dumb or manual switch.
Said *simplistically* with the modern 'smart' isolators, the cranker battery will start the vehicle, then when the crank battery is seen to be fully charged the isolator will then add the auxiliary battery into the charging circuit.
The isolator will automatically disconnect the cranking battery from the auxiliary battery system when the cranking battery is getting down to hypothetical low(ish) voltages (11.?v maybe 12.?v) because of the phenomenon you mention of "equalisation" depending on the type of battery isolator, as they use slightly different disconnect voltages.
Basically the crank battery and auxiliary battery will be reconnected again when the cranking battery is once again seen as fully charged
( for often only a few seconds as can be heard by the 'chattering' of a mechanical solenoid )
This continues till the auxiliary battery system is a similar voltage to the disconnect voltage of the battery isolator and all batteries will then remain connected and charge as just one large battery.

Mainey . . .

Hi Mainey

The anderson plug going into the camper has an inline fuse before getting to the batteries. This is how it came from new. The batteries in the camper then go to a control board that has fuses for everything.

When I was considering 'equalisation' I was only thinking of between the auxillary battery on the car to the two camper batteries. There is not an extra smart battery isolater between them so the camper batteries can just keep drawing on the one auxillary battery until they equalise. If it is like cups of water two against one will make the auxillary get empty fast. Only my way of thinking - not sure.

Bob

Hi
Its can carry be camper from Candy Canvas .
Thanks for the info