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rbertalotto

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Posts posted by rbertalotto

  1. Electrical Engineer Wanted!

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    Totally agree on Marine Grade cable. Use nothing but tinned MG cable on my boat that lives in salt water. But on the truck and camper, all the other factory wire is simple copper. My last truck was 13 years old and 225,000 miles, up here in salted road New England, and all the auxiliary wring I installed for winch, truck camper, etc was fine.

    If you use good wire routing and proper glue filled, shrink wrap,  protected connections....you will be good to go with quality welding cable.

  5. Electrical Engineer Wanted!

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    Here's the deal......I need to run a 2AWG wire from the front of my pickup to my travel trailer for a DC to DC charger

    I have a number of spools of 10g THHN wire from many past electrical jobs

    I believe 6 #10 wies equals a #2AWG

    Is it advisable to make up cables like this to run 30'.

    I could twist all 6 wires together and then use plastic conduit to cover

     

    Thanks!

  6. Temporarily Adding Third Battery to System

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    Thanks John,

    The dual battery systems of which I think you are referring, are a simple high current, continuous duty relay that is activated only when the truck is running and simply switches between the trucks battery and the aux battery. Or a simple set of large diodes in the more vintage devices.

    Many modern vehicles ( since about 2006), might have a “ smart” alternator and these relay type systems or diode based systems will not work properly.

    My 2018 Ram has a VERY smart alternator and therefore I’m forced to use a much more sophisticated Dc to Dc Charger that I sourced through Renogy. My understanding is that these DC to DC devices do incorporate some type of advanced charge profile. The reviews from the road have been extremely positive. We shall see when I head Southwest in a January.

  8. Temporarily Adding Third Battery to System

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    Here's the deal.....

    I have a Ram pickup as my tow vehicle. In the bed of the PU I have a 100Ah AGM battery to power a portable refrigerator , a winch and other electrical demands when away boondock tent camping from the travel trailer. This battery is charged with a 120w portable panel and a 40a Renogy DC to DC alternator powered charger while the trucks engine is running

    In the travel trailer I have two 110Ah AGM batteries charged by 420w solar on the roof.

    Is there a way I can safely, without damaging the batteries, connect the trucks aux battery to my trailers system to increase 12v electricity storage. The trucks battery is not the same age, make and model as the two batteries in the trailer. 

    I've searched this and am not finding any device that would accomplish this.

    Thanks

  9. Amps For Vehicle Charge

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted · Edited by rbertalotto

    Your best solution is a DC to DC charger. These used to be huge $$ but Renogy recently introduced one that would be perfect for charging a toad at $129. They make two units currently. A 20AMP and a 40AMP. The 20AMP would be all you need. Do a YouTube search on the Renogy DC to DC Charger. Great product at an affordable price and no mickey mouse relays or screwing up your main engine battery.

    And....Many modern vehicles have the alternator controlled by the computer. They can be damaged with a simple relay solution and you certainly don't want to just parallel the toads battery.

  11. directvnow aka ATTtv

    in Satellite TV and Radio on the Road

    Posted · Edited by rbertalotto

    The advantage of ATT-TV is if you have an ATT hotspot, there is no hit on your data. So a simple Mobley and ATT-TV and you can stream all you want for about $70 a month.

    I also have T-Mobile hotspot that also allows unlimited streaming of ATT-TV for when I can't get a good signal grom ATT...But recently in the past year or so this hasn't been an issue. ATT has worked everywhere I traveled.

    I hate to give up the T-Mobile hotspot because I'm a beta user and it only costs me $23 a month

    I also have Unlimited data on Verizon phone but only 15G is I use it as a hot spot.

    Streaming is still the future....but it has some serious growing pains....

     

    Oh...and I tried YouTube-TV for a couple months. Didn't have the channels I wanted that ATT-TV had. Worked fine though.....Currently I unsubscribed from all streaming channels except ATT-TV and Amazon Prime Video

  12. RTT small solar system...My Way

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    I recently answered another post where a reader was asking about simple, inexpensive solar. I responded and thought maybe it would be helpful over here:

    Athough this system is being used in a Rooftop Tent, it would be applicable to any small travel trailer or camper...

    I recently bought a small system to be used with my new Rooftop Tent.
    My existing toy hauler trailer has all top shelf equipment.

    http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects/solar-install-grey-wolf-19rr-toy-hauler.html

    But I didn't want to spend that much on the RTT system. A whole bunch of research and here is what I bought:

    ECO Worthy 120W 12V foldable panels (Ebay $150) These will be used in portable deploy to take full advantage of the sun location
    ECO Worthy 10w X 2 solar panels (Amazon $21 each) These will be permanently mounted on the camper cap on the truck to maintain the battery
    PowMr 40A Charge Controller (Amazon $20) See my article on portable solar on my web page about this unit ... www.rvbprecision.com
    Weize 12V 100AH AGM Deep Cycle battery (Amazon $160)
    AiLi Battery Monitor (Amazon $43) Great reviews and tells me absolutely everything I need to know about the system
    8Ga Welding Cables, 25' Red/25'Black (Amazon $42)
    Misc connectors, fuses etc ($20)

    Total $477

    The plan is a battery box containing all the distribution, battery and controllers. Easily secured in the truck for long term use and removable for winter storage and/or other use.
    I do not want to tie into the trucks electrical system as I'm concerned about tapping off the alternator causing issues with the computer. (2018 Ram 2500 6.4L gas)
    Simple buss panel in the RTT for lights, USB charging, fan etc...connected by one 10g connecting cable with quick disconnect to the portable battery box.

    I have been using the ECO portable panels and the PowMr solar controller in the Toy Hauler. The ECO Worth panels were a gamble, but they have been working great as additional solar gain to the 420w I have on the roof. A few friends have also bought the same panels and are very pleased with performance.

    http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects/adding-more-solar-to-existing-system-portable-panels.html

    The Weize battery is also a gamble. But it was the least expensive, AGM / 100AH battery I could find. In my trailer I have two Group 31 AGM Duracell batteries. Sourced from Sam's Club over 5 years ago. The trailer has over 50,000 miles and I spend three months a year in NM/AZ and just about every other weekend at various events. I've turned the generators on four times in 5 years. Only for AC and wife's hair dryer. 2000w Inverter, for Coffee(Keurig) and Toast, 12V for Computers, TV(2) , cell boosters, etc are going all the time. Batteries have never been below 70%....Still going strong. At the time of purchase they were $160 each. Smok'n deal!

    Hope this helps!

  20. Quick question...solar

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted · Edited by rbertalotto

    So here is what I did today.......

    Since the charge controller that cam with the portable panels is mounted to the back of the glass panels with some type of adhesive, I didn't want to remove it and risk breaking the panel.

    I purchased a Generic solar controller that I feel is at least as good as the one on the panel and actually gives me more information.

    I mounted it in my electrical cabinet which is connected to the batteries by 18" of #2 cable

    From the high current, quick disconnect plug, I ran 8" of #10 wire to the controller and using another 10" of #10 wire to the shunt and the main battery cable. Short sections of this 10g wire should have negligible loss?

    For now, I just ran the wire that came with the panel to another high current connector to just test it out. I ordered 25' of #8 welding cable that will be here on Sunday.

    Everything works great! I can read the additional current from the portable panel on the trimetric. 

    Its interesting that up here in the Boston area, at this time of year, the 420w of flat panels on the roof were only giving me an indicated  2 amps and the 120w panel aimed directly at the low sun (3pm) was showing 1 amp! 

    Can't wait to try it out under real conditions in a couple months boondocking in New Mexico and Arizona

    Read more here:

    http://rvbprecision.com/

  24. Quick question...solar

    in Technical Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    Just so we understand, my trailer has 420 watts on the roof. This 120 watt panel is to augment the rooftop panels and give the entire system a bit of a boost. 
     

    after reading the above, I will place the charge controller at the batteries with the negative into the Bogart TriMetric shunt and the positive to the battery. In this way I understand I’ll be able to see total charge performance on the TriMetric monitor.

     

    i will be using 24’ of number 8 wire from the panels for a total 48’ run.

     

    thank you for all the assistance. Greatly appreciated

     

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