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Nothing complicated or expensive about wiring in an isolation realy. I've got three self-powered RVs and two pickup trucks that I put slide-on campers on now and then. All five have isolation relays. Obviously the RVs are wired and ready to use. My pickup trucks have relays connected to the IGN circuit via a 5 amp fuse. When either truck is not carrying a camper, the fuse is pulled. When I do need to use a truck with a camper - I stick the fuse in, stick an RV battery in the camper - hook up the ground and power lead - and I'm all set. Drive anywhwere and my cranking batteries (two) and my RV batteries (one or two) all get charged just fine. The only "complication" as I see it - is when you need high amps in back and it's a long distance from the alternator. In all my rigs the distance is 14 to 17 feet and I want at least 50 amps available from the alternator to the RV batteries. A 17 foot run at 50 amps needs #2 AWG copper wire and 60 amp fuses on each end. So, $3 per foot for #2 copper which comes to $51, $15 for a relay, a $5 on-off cut-out switch and $25 for a good pair of 60 amp fuses or breakers. Not a huge expense for a system that is simple and relatively trouble free. I've never had any trouble so in my case - 100% trouble free. First one I set up this way was 20 years ago and I'm still using it. No semi-conductors to fail or cause voltage drops. One moving part inside the relay but they last a very long time. For somebody with a low-amp system - or only a short distance between the alternator and RV battery, it is very easy and cheap to do. The main reason why I want high amps available is so the alternator can serve as my AC generator (in a way). Sending 50 amps back to my RV batteries supplements the reserve battery power and enables a 2000 or 3000 watt inverter to work very well - for making AC power for high amp appliances. Actual charge time of the RV batteries is not important to me since all our camping is "stop and go." We camp at night and drive during the day. We rarely just sit and camp in one place for a long time.

Yes, as I stated at the outset - such a thing exists but is very pricey. A simple $15 isolation relay works well enough and is much simpler and cheaper. True that an automotive alternator cannot properly charge a deep cycle battery -but what it CAN do is good enough for most uses. When you use a rectifier isolator or a relay isolator - the fact remains that the deep cycle battery will only get 95% charged. Not a huge issue. When not traveling or camping - just plug it into a small charger designed for it. I only posted the battery-to-battery charger to illustrate its existence. I'd never bother with in any of my RVs. I've got RV batteries near 10 years old so obviously my camping trips using the alternator to charge them on the road hasn't hurt anything. I am NOT a fan of rectifier-base isolators either. There is always a voltage drop across them. You get NO drop with a relay.

Yes . . . I think the guy got drunk and painted it with a spray can. I wish I could get the paint off without disturbing the original Chinook lettering and such underneath.

There ARE units actually called "battery to battery chargers. Here is one description. This is from the manual for the "Digital Solutions" Pro-mariner, Digital Mobil Charger, four stage, battery to battery charger, model # 05504 (for 12 volt battery to 12 volt battery). It can allow to have an RV alternator charge the cranking battery with a different charge-profile then the RV deep-cycle battery. Digital Mobile Charge Overview : The best way to charge a battery is using a 4 step battery charging curve, which cannot be achieved from a standard alternator. Additionally a standard alternator cannot output a large enough charge to power an auxiliary battery bank. First and foremost, On Board Solutions’ Digital Mobile Charge ensures at all times that the power required to run the primary system of the vehicle or boat engine is not affected. The engine start battery is constantly monitored and receives top charging priority. The surplus power created by fooling the alternator is amplified into a higher voltage by the Digital Mobile Charge and is used to charge a secondary battery bank using a totally isolated digitally controlled 4 step charging curve. The engine start battery cannot discharge through this system, even in the event of a unit failure. In summary, the Digital Mobile Charge provides your extra battery system a charge that is approximately 5 times faster than could be achieved in using the vehicles alternator. This provides in-transit charging of extra battery banks and increases the life of the batteries by de-sulphating them. The Digital Mobile Charge provides the same utility as an advanced regulator, a zero loss battery isolator, and a 4 step battery charger.

I recently got a 1978 Toyota Chinook with the pop-up roof. That roof on top looks kind of strange. It gathers water which makes NO sense to me. A roof ought to be self-draining on anything that sits outside. This has me wondering if it's caved in. It is one-piece molded fiberglass and looks somewhat symetrical. I really cannot tell if it was built this way or caved in over the years - maybe with some help of snow, deer tired to the roof, etc.. It came from Louisiana and I assume it never snows there, but who knows? I picked it up in Maine but it was not there very long. Still had Louisiana license plates on it when I got it. Not a lot of good photos around of Chinook roofs. Here is mine . . Here is a Chinook I saw in a movie . . . And here are some others from different years. I'm not sure if the roof was even the same every year. I have a 1978 Chinook on a Chevy "Chalet" and the roof is totally different. Chinook "Chalet" on Chevy Blazer ..

The first RV I used an AC fridge in is my 1986 K5 diesel Blazer Chalet (Chinook). The OEM Delco 12SI alternator was rated 58 amps max. Puts out 30 amps at engine idle. Using the AC fridge with a dedicated 1500 watt inverter never bothered anythng a bit. Charging system worked fine. I later swapped in a 140 amp alternator so I can run a microwave oven better. That will put out 55 amps at engine idle speed. I strongly recommend you put 1" foam insulation around the AC fridge. They come with very thin insulation.

Three photos did not work. I'll try again.

I just cut apart a Toyota dual wheel full-floater rear truck made in November, 1986. I have no title so do not know if it was sold as model year 1986 or 1987. Has a fuel-injected 2.4 four cylinder engine and auto trans. 86,000 miles. I paid $500, stripped it and sold the scrap-metal for $175. The full-floater rear with 4.10 ratio is going into my little 1978 Toyota Chinook. Same with the 6 lug, 7.25 bolt circle front hubs. Dual wheel Toyota truck. Paid $450 fo it. 86,000 miles with a 2.4 fuel injected engine and an auto trans. VIN: RN75L-SDIEA3W 033L041G292A43D Manufactured in November, 1986 1986 dual wheel Toyota truck. Paid $450 fo it. 86,000 miles with a 2.4 fuel injected engine and an auto trans. VIN: RN75L-SDIEA3W 033L041G292A43D Manufactured in November, 1986

In my area, UPS switched over to Sprinters for a few years and is now giving up on them. Maybe too expensive and not cost-effective? A Sprinter van will never be in my budget. In fact,I'm getting fed up with diesel all together. In many areas, including where I live . . . diesel is 40 cents more per gallon then regular gas. Also there have been many times I could not buy diesel in remote areas. If I HAD to drive a big heavy rig - it would be an older diesel that did not require any extra chemicals to run. Just diesel fuel in the tank. My 4WD Chevy Blazer with the Chinook camper body gets 16 MPG with the 6.2 liter turbo diesel. If I stuck an old Cummins turbo 3.9 liter into it, it would get 22-24 MPG. But the old 3.9 Cummins are cheap. The Sprinter Daimler engine is what took the place of that Cummins 3.9 in many applications. The Toyota Chinook hopefully will work fine for our style of stop-and-go camping and hopefully will get over 20 MPG on gasoline.

Here's my "non-Toyota" rig. 1986 Chevy 4WD turbo-diesel Blazer with a 1979 Hallmarkt camper body. Has two deep cycle RV batteries in back, three large inverters, 900 watt micowave, AC fridge that works great, two beds, etc. Works well for me, my wife, little kid and dog. I don't think you see RVs too often capable of snow plowing. Gets around 16 MPG at 75 MPH. I'm hoping my little 78 Toyota Chinook will do a little better. At least gas is cheaper then diesel fuel now adays.

I bet my Chinook is uglier then your's. Here's what it looked like last month when I drove up to Maine to get it. We got lucky and got to use a closed campground and had it all to ourselves. The Chinook came from Louisiana and has very little rust.

I've got few complete users and a few "works in progress." I've got a 1986 Chevy K5 Blazer diesel 4WD with a 1978 Hallmark pop-up camper body. Also have a 1983 Chevy K5 4WD diesel Blazer with a 1979 Chinook-style "Chalet" camper with a pop-up roof. My latest project is my 1978 Toyota Chinook with a pop-up roof. The camper section itself is very similar to my Chevy Chalet. This 78 Chinook is getting a full-floating rear axle with dual wheels, HD 6 lug hubs in front along with big brakes, five speed W50 trans in place of the four speed. I may or may not put in power steering. I will also be putting in dual RV batteries in back, a 2000 watt inverter and a 140 amp alternator. I live most of the time in central New York. Toyota Chinooks are rare around the east coast. I searched for a long time and finally found this one that came from Louisiana and was parked in Maine when I got it. Years back I had several big Class A motorhomes and have come to hate them. I keep searching for the ultimate small RV that gets good fuel mileage. Both my diesel 4WDs get a best around 16 MPG at 75 MPH. I also have a pop-up truck-camper on my 1992 Dodge W250 4WD diesel. It gets a best around 17 MPG at 75 MPH. I'm hoping this little Toyota Chinook will get 20 MPG on gas maybe at 60-65 MPH? We'll see.

My in-laws buy us a subscription to Consumer Reports every year. I find some of their reporting to be just plain silly. When they test something I've never owned or used - it's hard to decide how accurate their testing is., But - when they run reports on devices I DO have experience with? In my experience they've missed the mark many times and often been just dead wrong. They also got caught fudging results a few years ago. That being said, Consumer Reports rated Walmart batteries very highly and that is one report I agree with. My worst battery buys have been from NAPA when they were using Exide to make their batteries. Back when I was a John Deere mechanic in the 70s and 80s - we had very high failure rates with AC Delco batteries. I don't recall who actually made them for Delco.

I've got three RVs or sorts but do not always drive an RV. I've found an alternative power source that has exceeded all my expectations for running a lap-top, TV and DVD player, etc. Duracell sells a "Powerpack 600." It has jumper cables and it is the best jumper pack I've ever used. I've started a few dead diesel trucks with it. This thing has a radio, three 120 volt outlets, one 12 volt power port, two USB power ports, light, and a built-in 600 watt inverter Basically it is a very handy portable 120 VAC power supply. Weighs 32 lbs. Can be recharged at home in an AC outlet or in a car plugged into the cigarette lighter. Has an 26 amp-hour AGM battery inside of it. The inverter can surge near to 1000 watts. When we first had it something came up where we had to sit in our Dodge minivan for two hours. We had a 19" TV/DVD combo packed in back. So we took it out, plugged it into the Duracell Powerpack and watched a movie. Worked great. My wife is home-schooling our latest little kid. Now when I go in the woods to cut trees in the summer - she brings her laptop and the Powerpack. Then setups up the Powerpack in the woods and uses for hours. Never ran it dead yet. Anybody with an RV that isn't wired for an inverter or lacks enough power in the 12 volt power port can use this power pack. It is one of those rare tools I've bought that far exceeded my expectations. My oldest one is now 4 years old and is showing signs of a weakening battery. It won't hold a charge for more then a few weeks when sitting idle. I may take it apart soon and find a generic replacement for the battery inside.

No system is 100% perfect for every situation. An isolation relay can be easily wired so is automatically energized via the ignition circuit whenever the key is on .; . . and also have a manual cut-out switch. All mine are like that. So yes - with a relay - you can have the batteries absolutely isolated with the engine running or not running. It's a very reliable way to do it. I don't like the rectifier type isolators since all I've tested have a voltage drop across them and I don't like that loss. I use my cut-out switch because . . . if the RV batteries are very run down - I don't want them instantly connected to my cranking batteries until the engine is started and the cranking batteries are fully recharged. Especially in my diesel RVs that use 80 amps to heat glow plugs for 20 seconds before the starter even cranks. A unitized solid-state isolator with rectifiers inside always diverts alternator charge power onto the two circuits (cranking circuit and the RV "house" circuit). You can never turn it :"off." unless you unhook the wires. If one battery has gone bad, it can rob near all the charge current from the alternator and the other good battery gets very little. Whatever battery has the least voltage will get the most charge current. There is a third device called a "battery to battery" charger. Often used in marine use. It's expensive but offers another alternative. In fact, you can get one that takes normal "cranking battery"type charge profile from the first battery - change it into a deep-cycle battery profile and then send that to the RV battery.

We've got five laptops in my household. Three use a 65 watt power supply. My wife's Toshiba that has a 220 watt power supply. My Compaq has a 200 watt power supply. All our laptops are the same size. Some have AMD processors and some Intel. I suspect the power supply for the Toshiba is oversized and wastes a lot of power just making heat. Ironically my wife's computer is the slowest of the bunch. I'll also note that all our computers are not run on the fullest power setting. Most laptops are not unless you purposely set them that way. My Compaq with the 200 watt power supply usually draws 96 watts. In regard to power outlets in cars or trucks . . . 20 amps is the industry standard. Since a power plug makes its connection by friction, 20 amps seems to be the normal limit. 20 amps at 12-14 volts is 240 watts to 280 watts. That's the reason why the highest rated inverters for power-port use are usually maxed at 200 watts. Inverters typically are 90-95% efficient. So, if the inverter selling is telling the truth about it's max wattage - the math is fairly easy to do and an inverter does not need to be twice the rating of the laptop. That being said, MANY inverters are not capable of making near the wattage they claim. Same goes for many portable gas-powered generators. I have on occasion used my Compaq laptop hooked to a 150 watt inverter plugged in the cigarette lighter and it worked fine. I don't do it often since my RV already has three hard-wired inverters. A 1500 watt unit and two 2000 watt units. I not only camp with it. I also use it for mobile AC power and run power tools from it. There are many variables. One is the quality of the power port itself. Another is the inverter and IF it can really do as advertised. I have found MANY that cannot come close to their ratings. Vector/Black& Decker is one and there was another that was being sold in the Homeland catalogs I keep getting in the mail. I think the brand name was "Steel City" or something like that. I got a 1000 watt inverter from them that could not even supply 400 watts without tripping its breaker. Sometimes you cannot even rely on past experience with a particular model. I have a 2000 watt Chicago Electric inverter I bought 5 years ago for $89 (Harbor Freight). It has been rock-solid and a workhorse. I was so impressed with it's quality I bought another this spring for $129 on-sale from Harbor Freight. The new one looks the same but it's a piece of junk.

I've got two houses in northern Michigan and am aware of their regs (Presque Isle and Alpena counties).. Pretty much the same as here in NY. If you install solar-grid-tie, you must get the new work inspected; NOT the old work. My house was built in 1820 and it was first wired ifor electricity in 1940. Parts of the house still have knob and tube wiring and that had nothing to do with the new solar and the new inspection. The specific requirements for the actual hookup and the AC output of the inverters are established by the power company you are dealing with. In my case - in Michigan - it would be Presque Isle Power and Light. To get any state incentive money (from NY) you are forced to use only certain panels and only state-certified installers. Solar panels are required to be UL certified. One difference between NY and MIchigan with grid-tie is . . . or at least was . . . that in Michigan the power company gets all your excess power, sells it, and pockets the proceeds. There was a lot of unhappiness over that maybe it's been changed. I haven't checked recently. My system was more expensive that a conventional grid-tie system. A conventional grid-tie solar electric system cannot be used during a power outage. I find that to be silly. So, I designed my own with a battery bank and it can be used when the grid is down. I've had it 5 years now and when I did it - it was unusual. Now - it's becoming more comon. Also keep in mind that 5 years ago, UL certified solar panels are selling for $6 per watt. Now they can be found for 50 cents a watt if you buy in quantity. My system had a sticker-price of somewhere around $40,000. When all done and all Federal and State incentives paid back to me - it cost me $8000 out-of-pocket.

Honeywell sells a 2000 watt inverter for $500 or less if you shop around. I've tested it alongside an inverter Honda and it performed just as well. It makes surprisingly clean true sinewave power. Inverter generators are generate DC, not AC and then invert it into an average of 120 volts with a 60 cycle sinewave. Some do it well and some do it lousy. The Honda and the Honeywell (at half the price) make excellent power. The ETQ I tested make awful quality power. Last summer I was at a northern Michigan Home Depot and they were having a in-parking lot truckload sale on the Honeywells. $399 each. I bought two and now wish I'd bought more. Most of people buying were RVers. Not long after Walmart had a truck-load sale for the same Honeywell 200i for $450 each.

Interstate does not make batteries for anybody . . . not even for themselves. Johnson Controls make them. Any company who wants to sell batteries can order them made to their own specs. So, maker alone might insure quality control but does not guarantee the same specs in different part #s and brands. I've got four diesel trucks and each uses dual batteries. I've been using Walmart Maxx batteries and the shortest lived pair started going bad at 7 years. My oldest in my snow plow truck are just about 9 years old. If I was driving daily I'd replace them but for now - they're fine. I just had to replace the Interstate in my Dodge GrandCaravan and it was 4 1/2 years old. None of this proves much but does give some anecdotal evidence that some Walmart battaries are very good quality and some Interstate batteries are not. I've done very well with Walmart batteries and they have stores all over the country. Makes things easy.

If anyone has tried to use a microwave oven and had problems this might interest you. Conventional microwaves regardless of size and expressed wattage tend to draw the same max current. They just cycle on and off to make low heat. I tested several small 700 watt microwaves at the lowest power settting and they still drew the same 13 - 14 amps of current (1700 watts) as do large 1500 watt microwaves. I've met many people who have had problems running any size microwave off an inverter and batteries in their RVs. Some work OK IF the engine is running and revved up and some do not. Panasonic has come out with a microwave that uses a different technology. They market it as an "inverter" microwave. I was skeptical but bought one to try out. I'm impressed! It actualy does what they say it does. Steady currrent draw and heat at any setting. This type of microwave can work MUCH better in an RV if using an inverter. Here's some tests I ran on a new .8 cubic foot model. It has 10 power levels with 10 being the most heat. I ran it from a 2000 watt inverter and two RV batteries up to power level 8 with no issues. To use power level 10 I had to start the RV engine. With the engine idling the RV worked great. The reason why I can't run over power level 8 is the DC voltage input drops below 11 volts. Two 115 AH batteries is not enough to run past #8 without the engine alternator adding some extra power. Power level 1 – drew a max amps of 5.2 but mostly 3.8 amps Power level 5 – drew 7 amps (840 watts). Power level 10 – drew 12.9 amps (1550 watts).

My house has a 48 volt battey bank with 8 batteries. But they are the HD Rolls/Surette batteries. Each is about twice the size of a Trojan T-105 and are around 120 lbs. each.. But let me add I only use the batteries during power-outages. I have a grid-tie system. The battery bank can run my house for three days with no recharge from anything. So if the grid goes down, and the sun never shines - after three days I'll have to fire up a diesel generator to run my 48 volt battery charger to keep the batteries up. So far that has never happened. The grid was down for 8 days not long ago and we did fine. But the sun had come out once in awhile. I check the battery water once a year and they do take a bit. When I changed over to solar I got one of the plug-in watt meters and checked everything. We yanked out the electric hot water heater and I installed propane. I rarely sets used though. I heat all our domestic hot water with a wood furnace in the winter and in the summer - I have solar passive water heating that does 3/4 of what we need. The propane does the rest. We also took out our electric clothes dryer and use a propane dryer in the winter. With a 5400 watt solar array we have been making around 120% of our annual useage. Living with solar and no grid-tie can be problematic. There will be times when you are making three times the power you need and it all goes to waste. NO way to "save it for later." On the upside - off-grid electronics is MUCH cheaper that grid-tie certified stuff. Our cabin in the Adirondacks is off grid.

I've been using Walmart batteries for years in my diesel trucks and heavy equipment. I'm referring to the cranking batteries that are made for Walmart by Johnson Controls. The "deep cycle" and "marine" batteries Walmart has been selling were made by Exide. That may have changed recently though. I've had four Exides "deep cycles" from Walmart and they all starting going bad after 2 years of use. My Deka deep cycle batteries I've gotten through NAPA have lasted as long as 10 years. Price has gone up though. Last set I bought of Deka equiv to the Trojan T-105s were $58 each. Now they are $150 each.

The same company that makes Interstate batteries makes them for Walmart, Caterpillar, Subaru, and many more. Johnson Controls. Last I checked there are only three companies in the USA making auto batteries. There is a lot of rebranding going on. There is Deka, Johnson Controls, and Exide. When it comes to deep-cycle batteries there are other companies making them. Walmart's auto cranking batteries are made by Johnson Controls and some of their so-called "deep cycle" batteries were made by Exide. That may of changed though. Exide had many failures and got dropped by several companies including Sears Diehard and NAPA.

Thanks for posting those links. I have piles of Toyota factory shop manuals but nothing newer then 1980. For newer stuff I only have the generic manuals from Motors, Cylmers, etc.

Whoever last worked on this Toyota full-floater left the said seals out. I don't know if it was thought of as an intentional "upgrade" or a mistake. Regardless, this thing worked fine and did not leak any oil into the brakes with those seals left out. Oil from the center-section travels along the axle towards the outside. If the small seal at the axle-end is not there to stop it - it deposits itself in the hub assembly and can't leak out anywhere due to the the big hub seal on the inside . . ; and the axle-end-gasket on the outside. I'm not saying leaving the seals out is better or worse then OEM. I am saying I'm seeing proof that it works. I got this four-cylinder 1986 dually full-floater from an art dealer. The rear brakes and hubs have not been apart for 40K miles and there are no leaks. The bearings are still packed with grease but a little "dampened" by gear oil also.