Found out the hard way - don't jump start another vehicle with this set-up! I finished up with one battery - the one used for jumping - tied to the center (alternator) post of the isolator. The current (second) unit is still working.
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| Electrical systems in a couple of the rigs. | |||||||||||||
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| The aircraft style spotlight was from J.C. Whitney. With a little trimming of the plastic, the unit slipped into the overhead light fixture in place of the plastic lens. It still has a 15W lamp, but the light is concentrated on the table, and whatever I�m reading. |
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| This expanded scale voltmeter is mounted in the 5th wheel. Out in plain sight, with the wiring protected in a cupboard, it's a reminder that the resource is not unlimited. | |||||||||||||
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| We had some high thin cloud drifting through during the test. Later got to see just over 6 amps for a charging current. Once I knew everything worked, this controller was solidly mounted in the battery compartment. Batteries? Two sealed 105 Amp/Hour A.C. Delco Deep Cycle RV units. Now (2002) five years old and may have lost a little of their capacity - I�m guessing between 10 and 15 percent. Our calculated �average� daily requirements are about 25 A/H, so we�re not worried about buying replacements just yet. |
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| As mentioned elsewhere, we used a �portable� photovoltaic panel for several years. One drawback - we didn�t leave it out in the sun if we were not in camp. In 2001 while at Quartzsite, we bought some more panels. These units - 2 at 22W(atts), and 2 at 35W - are intended for the 5th wheel trailer. I tested them on the ground first. |
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| In the Toyota. I installed a second battery, and a diode style isolator some years ago. There is a fluro light and 2 'lighter' type 12vdc outlets in the back of the vehicle. Our 'Kooltronic' portable 'frig' pulls almost 8 amps, so I didn't want to run the 'starting' battery down. Found out the hard way - don't jump start another vehicle with this set-up! I finished up with one battery - the one used for jumping - tied to the center (alternator) post of the isolator. The current (second) unit is still working. |
Takes you to a page devoted to testing the effect of tilting the solar panels towards the sun�.. | ||||||||||||