douglitas Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 I used 1/4" guitar cable connections. two little holes marked "+" and "-" next to the battery box. I even found some plastic stoppers to put in them when not in use so dust can't get in. Actually haven't tested these yet but I think they should work. I'll post pics later. Still waiting for a nice aft and cold night to test heater..hopefully this Fri night. As far as Maineh's comment...I wasn't sure exactly how many volts these panels can put out..they are nominally 12V panels but when I short circuited them and tested voltage it was more like 17V..which is fine because you want to hit that 12V batt with plenty of voltage. Yet, the battery's own voltage keeps panel voltage in the ballpark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Have you guys seen brackets for roof top mounted solar panels that will allow you to manually tilt them in all four directions but then lay flat when on the road? no but I thought about mounting one to the existing escape hatch meaning you could tilt it up, one way only, from the inside. I think tilting mounts for solar panels is a potential money earner especially if you can get data on the amount of power increased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Actually, the solar panel charge voltage is regulated by how low the battery is when you begin to charge it. So if your battery is discharged to 12.0V, the current from panel like mine would be 20A! as the battery charged and got to the 15V level, the current would diminish to 16A. (at least that's the way it was explained to me). you know how it does is going to be based on the charger, thats what its there for. I maybe think 12.5 bcause thats what mine is always at. It never completely shuts off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I used 1/4" guitar cable connections. two little holes marked "+" and "-" next to the battery box. I even found some plastic stoppers to put in them when not in use so dust can't get in. Actually haven't tested these yet but I think they should work. I'll post pics later. Still waiting for a nice aft and cold night to test heater..hopefully this Fri night. As far as Maineh's comment...I wasn't sure exactly how many volts these panels can put out..they are nominally 12V panels but when I short circuited them and tested voltage it was more like 17V..which is fine because you want to hit that 12V batt with plenty of voltage. Yet, the battery's own voltage keeps panel voltage in the ballpark. You don't want to hit them with 17 volts for very long. Look at the back of your panel there should be a listing for voltage and current usually a panel in bright sun light will do at least 20 volts and that is for a 12 volt panel they are regulated to make voltages in the 12 volt range. Unless you have some pretty big wires (that won't fit in a phone plug) for a 30' run your voltage drop will be very high that maybe your saving grace for an overcharged battery. A charge controller is only about $15 a good investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I have a 20ft run from my panel to the controller and 6 ft from the controller to the battery. Thats just where everything fits. I used 6ga wire for the runs. Zip cord ain't going to cut it on a 30ft run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglitas Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 "You don't want to hit them with 17 volts for very" since it's a gel batt I guess I'm not supposed to exceed 14.1V....with the truck idling (and the gel batt fully charged) the voltage goes to14.2! but of course that's the voltage while charging. I will have to start taking notes and check the charge voltage with the panel in full sun. sounds like maybe that charge controller suggestion is a good one! thanks for the comments..it's a work in progress! PS I made my cable out of 4/12 AWG and combined two wires into one to get neg and pos equal to 6 AWG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglitas Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 I don't even have a gel batt--it's AGM! can take 15V so I'm OK for the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglitas Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 some pics of our setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 somewhere in here are pics of my set up its a 15 foot stickem panel on the right side then two wires that go to the vent pipe in front of the bathroom. down the closet is the controller, then another hole in the closet goes to the battery. what id do with a panel like that? Id have a permanent mount for it on the side so it can get some juice while its sitting. as opposed to storing it inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 an agm battery is superior to a gel battery.... a gell battery is for the most part bad but it is good for a purpose that might spill. its just the fluid is gell thats it. the rest of the battery could be good or bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglitas Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulfstream Greg Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 I dislike the mechanical ford style relay type isolator's. They are prone to eventual failure and the contacts can eventually get carbon build-up because they arc every time they connect resulting in a voltage loss across the terminals. I have seen a many of them die. And they are really only an isolator when they are not in the closed position. When they are closed (operating) they put both the starting battery and the coach battery in parallel electrically, no longer isolated. I have never seen a dead solid state isolator but have heard about a couple dead ones, unverified, the exact circumstances unknown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob C Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 I installed a new solid state and it only lasted a couple of trips. I installed it in the fall and in the spring I was dead. I admit that it was an inexpensive one from O'Rielly's but I expected it to last a lot longer. I removed it, bench tested with known good batteries, connections and power source, I would not allow any current to the coach battery connection. That cheap isolator was the cause of this whole alternator exchange topic. After getting a different isolator, the original alternator supplies enough power to keep everything charged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skooge Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Hey I have a 1987 Toyota Camper with a 60 watt stock alternator. I’m wondering if I want to run DC to DC to charge the house batteries. Should I run a 40 amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 As long as your alternator is working properly your OEM one should work fine charging the house battery. Slightly less effective when your diving at night with the lights on. If you've added a 12 volt fridge or other high draw appliances a more powerful alternator can help but they can be expensive. Here are some made just for Toyota's High Output Amperage Heavy Duty Nippodenso Alternators for Toyota Trucks (northwestoffroad.com) Don't know how much they cost . Remember you have to have the battery storage to back these up or your just wasting power Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Don't forget it takes power to make electricy so that's doubling the load on the poor over worked 22RE! 60 amps should be more than suffient for two batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ssunrader Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 So a little digging revealed that there is an OEM (Denso) Jaguar alternator that will bolt/plug right onto the Toyota 3.0. This one is advertised as a 120A unit, and came on the ‘93-‘97 Jag XJ 6. Luckily the local u-pull junkyard had one that I was able to remove earlier, and will rebuild it over the winter. The pulley appears to be the same or maybe slightly smaller, but not much if any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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