Hello,
I've mostly finished my conversion-you can see pics here-https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77170
We just finished our first real trip, spending 9 days from Seattle through Big Sur. I am really happy with the way everything worked, and now trying to take a little bit of real time experience and further understand and refine my system.
My electrical/charging system consists of a 320W solar panel, a ML-ACR battery combiner, and a Samlex inverter/charger. I have a Victron 100/30 MPPT as well as the BM-712 battery monitor. My batteries are 4 88AH AGM's in parallel(properly balanced).
We mostly boondocked on the trip and were able to operate our lights, 2 fans, water pump, and tea kettle. The lowest the BMV got was 88%, but our only multi day stay was with electrical hookups, so i wasn't able to fully test what the system was truly capable of.
While driving, i would put the ACR on auto and let the alternator bulk charge my house bank. Depending on amp draw, i was seeing anywhere from 13.1 to 13.8 coming from the alternator.I was drawing 25-30A at most. As would be expected, as the battery charge filled up, the amps drawn would lessen and voltage would climb closer to 14V. I typically would switch off the ACR around 95-96% and allow the MPPT to charge the rest of the way. This worked pretty well for me, though my system would typically go into float around 99% with a few AH left to charge. I am still fiddling with the MPPT to see if i could get it to 100%.
I'm curious to hear thoughts of those with more experience. I do understand that some folks prefer DC chargers over the B2B's, and am aware of some of the drawbacks with the B2B's, but would this be the best way to implement the system I currently have?
I've mostly finished my conversion-you can see pics here-https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77170
We just finished our first real trip, spending 9 days from Seattle through Big Sur. I am really happy with the way everything worked, and now trying to take a little bit of real time experience and further understand and refine my system.
My electrical/charging system consists of a 320W solar panel, a ML-ACR battery combiner, and a Samlex inverter/charger. I have a Victron 100/30 MPPT as well as the BM-712 battery monitor. My batteries are 4 88AH AGM's in parallel(properly balanced).
We mostly boondocked on the trip and were able to operate our lights, 2 fans, water pump, and tea kettle. The lowest the BMV got was 88%, but our only multi day stay was with electrical hookups, so i wasn't able to fully test what the system was truly capable of.
While driving, i would put the ACR on auto and let the alternator bulk charge my house bank. Depending on amp draw, i was seeing anywhere from 13.1 to 13.8 coming from the alternator.I was drawing 25-30A at most. As would be expected, as the battery charge filled up, the amps drawn would lessen and voltage would climb closer to 14V. I typically would switch off the ACR around 95-96% and allow the MPPT to charge the rest of the way. This worked pretty well for me, though my system would typically go into float around 99% with a few AH left to charge. I am still fiddling with the MPPT to see if i could get it to 100%.
I'm curious to hear thoughts of those with more experience. I do understand that some folks prefer DC chargers over the B2B's, and am aware of some of the drawbacks with the B2B's, but would this be the best way to implement the system I currently have?