Stockton Booster, Fresh-Fried. (Would you like Cole Slaw with that?)

[rickst29]

Kevin just took a pretty long trip with no plugins. Solar was not effective, due to trees. For recharging, he plugged in his idling TV and turned on his 'Stockton Booster' switch. It ran well on the second day, providing a pretty fast recharge from something unspecified and kinda low (55% SOC)? back up to 85%, according to Trimetric. But for morning of the 3rd day, with Battery back down to about 60%, the 12V-24V "Booster" wasn't providing any boost at all; output Voltage matched TV "input" Voltage ~13V.
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Our "Voltage Booster Module" is only capable of about 12A maximum output. But the MPPT Controllers are capable of generating 21-22A at up to 14.4V, on the output side (we use different brands and models of MPPT.) So: If the 'demand' side wanted to pull up to 330W (@ , but the "Booster" could not present about 334W at the MPPT input (which becomes 340-350W of "demand" at the Booster device, due to wiring losses) then Booster protective circuitry will either "cut back" or blow up.

The waterproof, sealed "Voltage Booster Module" which we both used cannot be opened to replace a blown fuse or other failed component. (I'm not sure why the Module still presented 13V input Voltage on the output leads, rather than zero. But the lesson is: We need to limit the maximum draw, with MPPT power loss and "Voltage Drop" power loss added to MPPT output, to a value significantly less than maximum capability of the Booster.
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My own setup hasn't fried. But I've ordered a 20A "480 Watt" replacement for my 'Booster Module' unit, that's an increase of about 190W. My replacement unit is a bit "cheap", and may need to have some RF output filtering Caps and/or Inductors added in. (But it's not waterproof/sealed, so I can probably unscrew the cover and add those Caps inside the same box... or just buy a new metal project box to hold "more stuff".)

An alternative is programming the MPPT 'Output Amps' limit to a lower value... but I'm not going there. I think that my Alternator can dish it out, and my batteries can take it - so there's no good reason to "slow down".