needsunenergy Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I have a second battery being charged by a solar panel. I currently just have an led rope connected to it. I would ideally like to connect it to the the toyhome's original lights and water pump ( i don't have a water heater, furnace, nor fridge). How can i connect the second battery to these appliances? Would it be through the converter? can this charge both my coach battery under the hood and the 2nd battery that is being charged by the solar panel? would i need some sort of switch(s) to not dual charge the 2nd battery or not use both batteries if appliances are on? I have a 1983 toyota sunrader 21ft and i have an addiction with these toyhomes. I cant stop looking at pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I don't know much but sometimes we need to prime the pump here... If you're going to run two batteries in tandem, they need to be 6 volt batteries, to supply 12 volts total. Otherwise you've got two 12v batteries supplying 24v to 12v appliances which I suppose is bad! So...if you need a large battery bank (which it sounds like you don't...but I guess it can't hurt), I would consider two 6 volt batteries in tandem. Google to see how to correctly connect two batteries. If it were me...which it's not...I would ditch the third battery. Connect the solar to the original coach battery set up. But yes, I'm sure there is a way to have three isolated batteries, and to cut off power from one and switch on the other. But you're getting into some serious "custom" electrical work there, and better know what you're doing. This would be the sort of set up that the next owner (if there ever is one) will be cursing you for and posting on this forum asking "what the hell did the previous owner do? Please help me figure out this wiring nightmare!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 You can just hook battery to battery in parallel. Voltage will stay at 12 volts but amps will double. You need to hook positive to positive and negative to negative for this application. That way both batteries will charge whether it is from your solar or from plugging in or driving. Charging will take longer but you will always have more amp hours Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Like I said, I don't much, but I've read lots of stuff like this: "Amperage stays the same. That is why in this scenario we have 12 Volts output; however, even though each battery is rated at 220 Amp Hours, we are still only receiving a total of 220 Amp Hours. The only thing that has increased here is the Voltage. If in this scenario each battery was a 12 Volt battery, you would have a total of 24 Volts output (which would not be good for your RV)." http://www.solarrvpanels.com/index.php/wiring-rv-batteries-properly/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Like I said, I don't much, but I've read lots of stuff like this: "Amperage stays the same. That is why in this scenario we have 12 Volts output; however, even though each battery is rated at 220 Amp Hours, we are still only receiving a total of 220 Amp Hours. The only thing that has increased here is the Voltage. If in this scenario each battery was a 12 Volt battery, you would have a total of 24 Volts output (which would not be good for your RV)." http://www.solarrvpanels.com/index.php/wiring-rv-batteries-properly/ This site clearly shows that wired in parallel the voltage stays the same but amp hours doubles. You do not want to wire them in series. Will blow out your stuff Linda S My camper van had this set up and I certainly wasn't working with 24 volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ah! I see the difference. Batteries wired in series: volts double, amps stay the same. Batteries wired in parallel: amps double, voltage stays the same. A combination of both, does both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Your motorhone came from the factory with a place to put your second battery connected to your interior lights and be charged by the alternator. It should be near your converter. Ive seen them be as simple as to connectors under a sink on thr rv floor. But most are a seperate vented compartment. Do you think yours was removed check the box or area of your converter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Ive got three in parallel The one thing about the toyhome that you can mis is the isolator prevents the panel from charging the truck battery unless the ignition is on. Possibly bad because keeping it maintained could lengthen its life especially in an rv that sits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needsunenergy Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 You can just hook battery to battery in parallel. Voltage will stay at 12 volts but amps will double. You need to hook positive to positive and negative to negative for this application. That way both batteries will charge whether it is from your solar or from plugging in or driving. Charging will take longer but you will always have more amp hours Linda S Thats right! haha out of the small research i did that was one of the first "lessons" on deep cycle batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 if u look in marine applications u will see battery switches - might give you some ideas.... here is one of them: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=112462&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50523&subdeptNum=50543&classNum=50547#.UtXfmJ47uSo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakthecoast Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I just figured out my electrical battery issue, which will help you out. Previous owner had the dam battery isolator/solenoid incorrectly wired! Had the ground wire port and positive port out which is wired to my wiper relay totally switched around! Now I get twice the battery life, my starter battery is no longer draining, and wiper fuse not blowing. I bought a new battery isolator/solenoid. Buy one that has a continuous switch, and allows both batteries to charge up when hooked to shore power or a generator, some don't allow this. Mine is a 87 Sunrader and both my batteries are 6 volt wired together under the hood with the solenoid/isolator in between both (where is it located? Mine is bolted to the fibreglass battery case right next to the window wash refill bottle) the isolator looks like a round cylinder with three or four wire ports on it. It is wired in between both batteries. I can take pics if you want. I'd wire everything to the 2nd auxiliary battery such as your solar setup etc. I needed a 4 port isolator , one to starter battery, one to second battery, one to ground, and one positive which connects to a positive source that is on when you start your vehicle. Also the alternator is hooked to the starter battery positive port. If you want a third battery you'll want to hook them to the others and have a switch/isolator a one direction type possibly that will allow you to charge it via the alternator whilst driving and via 110 shore power hookup, but that won't allow it to drain your other batteries or maybe just your second battery? You'll some loose amps with the long wire connection running from front to back, use a larger guage wire. My previous camper had 2 6 volts in rear of camper for all appliances, and 2 6 volts in front for starter all wired together, but with a one way isolator switch that prevented the rears from draining the starter batteries. All charged together via alternator and shore power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Got to admit your set up sounds very strange and I kind of got lost the 6 volts are wired together with a relay in between? If you want your truck and coach battery to charge when you are plugged in or solar powered you might want to look into a "combiner" it is a very simple device that reads the voltage of both batteries and combines them if the voltage is correct and will not allow the coach to drain the truck battery. If you have two 6 volts with a relay in between it is overly complex and not necessary the two together in series is the same as one 12 volt they can stay that way with no problem and be called one 12 volt battery then a standard isolator relay or combiner can be used. It takes power (watts) to pull up a relay so if the truck is not running it becomes a load you don't need kind of like leaving a light on 24/7. Complex 12 volt relays are hard to find and expensive combiners and single pole relays are not it all comes back to the K.I.S.S principle. Cole/Hersey and Blue Sea make combiners a good auto parts store will have high current continious duty relays either one will work fine as an isolator, the benefit of the combiner is the ability to charge both batteries when you are plugged in or running solar and still work as a simple isolator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakthecoast Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 No I have the 2 6 volts in series giving me one 12 volt setup. The isolater/solenoid allows both to be charged and prevents the starter from being discharged via the coach battery. Sorry my last post was pretty confusing I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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