Ordered a new Outdoors RV Blackstone 260RLS with 340w solar and a generator. How well does the 12V pin on the 7way plug charge? Im seriously considering adding a 40A Redarc DC to DC charger. This is my first RV so any tips tricks. I have a upgraded alternator, batteries and cables.

https://redarcelectronics.com/produc...attery-charger

 

Between the truck side wiring and the trailer side wiring there is quite a bit of distance so you probably wouldn't get more than about 10A to your house batteries.
With solar I wouldn't worry about it to much, I would try it out and see how it works. No sense in adding that charger if it's not needed.

If you really wanted to spend some money I'd put it into bigger/better/more house batteries.

 

Pretty much that. All charging depends on batteries to store it.

 

I went with 340w of solar 4 6v AGM house batteries.

 

Without going to 10 paragraphs...

Your alternator charge circuit to the RV will be very underwhelming. It takes hours for a the 7 way circuit to charge even a single 12v deep cycle.

I too have 4x 6v batteries paired to 400w of solar going through a Victron controller. In full sun, the batteries are 100% capacity by 1000 - 1100 based on moderate use the evening before.

Run the charge controller while traveling and enjoy your efforts.

We can get further into the weeds if you like via PM or I can send you my phone number if you think that would be easier. I am not an expert, but have an electronic/IT background and learned a lot about PV and battery capacity when I installed my system in 2018.

Here is a picture of my work in the front storage. There is a cover that I made out of 1/4" plywood that goes over it to prevent damage.

 

Assuming those 6v are pretty big (100Ah+) I would just run it. Find the limits then spend your money on that.

Unless your watching TV all night on 12v I bet you'll be fine with whats already in there.

3 way fridge and propane furnace? Run the fridge on propane when you can, they hardley use anything.

Limit inverter useage, opt for 12v over 110 unless on shore power.

 

2way fridge. We plan on boondocking a bunch so I wanted to be sure to be sure batteries charge full on travel days. Also with the DC/DV converter I have a high amp port at the back bumper

 

A larger charge wire, like 4ga all the way to your house batteries would greatly increase your house battery charging capacity.

Still not sold on the DC-DC charger... is it truck mounted then?

 

I have to figure out where to out it. Might put it on the RV frame

 

We ran our RV fridge on propane (12v powers the board) for 45 days on one tank when we traveled from GA to Seattle WA and back. The tank was just about empty when we got home, but we also used the tank for cooking on the stove and in oven. We did not run the furnace at all.

There are some "vampire" 12v requirements like the thermostat, fridge board and water heater board, but most will be 120v. Kbeefy is right, do NOT run the fridge on 120v from the inverter, that is a ridiculous waste of power. If you have shore power, clearly run the fridge on 120v then.

Based on the power consumption from the night before, your PV panels should be able to recoup a lot of power before noon. Do you have a PWM or MPPT charge controller?

We have 4x 225ah (@20h) Trojan T105 6v batteries and 400w of solar panel power if that gives you an idea of where we are at. Our RV is set up for boondocking as well as when we are out west in ID, CO, AZ, WA, MT, etc we are on BLM land a lot.

Again, I am not an expert, but I have been doing this for quite a while and have made many mistakes which led to lessons learned.

 

Sous I believe Outdoors RV uses MPPT.

 

This is the inverter generator we’re looking at when we get RV in June

https://www.firmanpowerequipment.com...watt-inverter/

 

Check to be sure... If it is a PWM that is not necessarily a bad thing, but you can gain about ~15% (going off memory) efficiency from an appropriately sized MPPT charge controller. If there is a PWM coming, it is simple to swap in a MPPT and resell the PWM if you choose to. If you are trying to boondock and squeeze as much energy out of the sun and put it into your batteries, an MPPT would be better suited for that task.

As for an inverter generator, you need to sit down and figure up your power needs when running the generator. If you are planning to only run the generator in order to run the converter after a few days of low PV output, then you don't need that thing. If you are looking to run a single A/C and some small 12v requirements, you may not need that big of a generator.

I bought a 2500w suitcase inverter generator that I keep in the front of my 5th wheel between the battery boxes which are on each end as seen in the image above. I installed an EasyStart 360 on our single A/C, which allows my small generator to run the A/C if we desired. We have the generator for those occasions where the sun has been hiding for days on end, or if we need to leave the dogs in the camper for some reason in a warm climate.

Generators need to be something in the tool kit, not a primary concern when building a boondocking rig. That is why we boondock, so we can get away from concrete, engine noise and populated areas.

We are willing to talk to you ad nauseum about some of your choices you are looking at, but the ultimate decision relies upon you.

 

I don't know how well it charges but I'm pretty sure it's a 30A fuse and I've blown it a couple times running the hydraulic landing gear on larger 5th wheels when I didn't have the trailer battery connected. The electric tongue jacks on travel trailers I've never had a problem with. I think I remember testing the voltage once out of curiosity and it was somewhere in the mid 13's so probably not as good as the truck batteries charge.

 

You also blow that fuse if you force the plug in upside down.
Sometimes I amaze even myself.