Building a RV battery charger line from the CTD

[rweis]

I do not think my RV has a battery charging line seperate from the usual 7 pin turn signal, running lights, brake power, plug. I am thinking of building one. I know that if the batteries are in a low state of charge then you would need to limit the charge current so you would not overload the wiring or the CTD electrical system. If the RV batteries are fully charged then there is not a problem. However getting the RV from storage the batteries are generally not fully charged.

I have been looking for some sort of a DC current limiting device. I am thinking that a SOLAR PANEL charger should do the task. The solar panel chargers take a wide variety of voltages and currents from the solar panels (in my case the CTD) and then manage the battery(ies) with various different "steps" of charging. Most use PulseWidthModulation (PWM) desulfating, balancing, float, and several levels of charge rates. A MorningStar 15 amp or 30 amp model is what I am looking at.

I would use the "solar input" from the CTD electrical system and then the output would go to the batteries of the RV. Most of the charge controllers have a current limitation based on the model you get.

Depending on the battery state at RV hookup the charge controller would then work its charging programs to handle the batteries.

The RV truck connection would be a seperate connection of both positive and negative so there would not be a "frame" ground that may or may not be a GOOD ground. Both positive and negative would run through the charge controller directly back to one of the CTD batteries positive and negative.

What do you think of the idea?

Bob Weis