Huh.? I've never heard of lithium damaging alternators before either, so I just googled it, and yes, it's a thing.? A deeply discharged lithium battery can pull too much power from the alternator, overheating and destroying it.? Thats more true for bigger trailer battery banks and lower quality alternators, and probably doesn't apply to our setups as much. I have also heard of the opposite.? You have a fully charged lithium battery, which has a voltage over 13 volts.? A smart alternator will see the 13+ volts, and say "nothing to do here", and your trailer battery powers the whole car until the voltage falls below 12.6 or whatever the alternator thinks is low for a lead acid battery.? That problem is compounded if your car battery is old, because the weaker car battery will draw power from the stronger lithium battery.? There are posts of the car pulling 7 amps out of the trailer battery.?? But for both cases, putting in a DC to DC charger will solve the problem.? It prevents backflow of current from the trailer battery, and prevents excess current draw from the alternator. If you just want a dc to dc charger to fix the above problems, and not to charge the trailer battery faster, get about a 10 amp dc to dc charger.? A 10 amp charger can pull double that on the input side, so 20 amps.? Your wiring in your TV alternator is typically good for 30 amps.? So a 10 amp dc dc charger won't overload wires, blow fuses, or require additional wiring to be installed.? Victron makes a 9 amp dc to dc charger that should work pretty well.? I'd use that. Don, for your case of wanting to camp for a week without hookups, you'd be fine if you can get your solar panel in good sun for 4 hours a day.? But if not, you could run out of power, and still might even if you did have lithium.? If you have an electric fridge controller, even when run on propane, it pulls almost 10 amp hours a day.? The fantastic fan or furnace fan could pull another 10 amp hours a day.? So almost 20 amp hours a day is a no go for your current battery or even a 100 amp hour lithium for a 7 day period.?? If you avoided using the fan, an old lead acid battery probably can't even run the electric fridge controller.for 7 days.? But if you don't have an electric fridge controller, you could use the fan a little each day and be ok.?? If you have led lights those draw almost nothing and are not a problem.? If you have incandescent lights in the trailer, dont use them at all and go buy some head lamps for your trip. If you need more power I recommend that you go buy a cheap 900 or 1000 watt generator. Double check the vendor though.? I just looked and many generators below $299 appear to be scams.? You'll have cloudy days and shaded campgrounds from time to time, and even if you have solar and lithium, you need a generator as a backup.?? On Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 07:13 PM, Don Mackay wrote:
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