Quote:
Originally Posted by Diamond_D
I'd like to get the DC-DC charger you linked, for the purpose of helping keep up with the fridge's DC draw during long drives (I'm planning on adding 100-200W solar and hopefully the combination will avoid getting to a dry campsite with depleted battery). I'm OK at least trying it with my existing tow vehicle wiring, understanding that the current will be relatively limited due to small gauge wires.
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Behind the fridge, where the bargman cable terminated, gets to warm for this device. At that spot, the TBC wire goes into a 3-way junction which you don't need to disturb at all, the other wire supporting the disconnect switch. Don't even look at it, your installation occurs behind the load center.
The other wire in that "behind the fridge" junction goes to the load center's 12v fuse board. You disconnect that wire from the DC fuse board, and instead plug it into into the "input 12v" of the Victron DC->DC charger - while the tow vehicle is NOT connected. The Vcictron is an isolating device two grounding ports, but you will simply connect both of those (using AGW-10 white wires) into the 12v grounding bus connection block (you may have just one of those, or you might have two). Any open ports on those ose are fine to use.
This is NOT the current carrying "120V-AC" connector strip near the 120V-AC circuit breakers, the grounding blocks are normally behind the load center.
The connector on the 12v fuse board where you disconnected the TBC junction wire receives a new wire from the the Victron "battery charge output". This one also provides power to the device in its normal jumpered configuration. Download the App into your cellphone, turn on the devices, and connect via bluetooth. Then program your current limit, and program output voltage boost to only about 13.4 volts, so that the fridge doesn't try to run "too hard".
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Just one solar panel of size 100 watts is not worth the trouble. At least 200 watts is enough to do a bit of charging, but most people with serious solar configurations have at least 300 watts of panels. The sum of rated power on my own panels is about 480 watts.