Converter in new Micro Minnies

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by Fred 2106DS

Let me take a few more pictures of how I ran the wires on the truck side and a couple more of the conduit install on the camper side. I should be able to post those late tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on how long the rain forecasted for tomorrow lasts.

BK,

Here are the additional pictures of my DC/DC charger install.

The first picture shows the 2 AWG wiring where it enters the front of the truck's frame directly below the starting battery.

The second picture shows the wiring where it exits the frame at the back of the cab and goes up and enters the bed of the truck at the yellow arrow.

The third picture shows how the wiring is run in the bed of the truck and terminates at the tailgate.

The fourth picture shows a close up of how I attached the hangers in the bed of the truck.

The additional pictures show the conduit and wire path from where it exits the pass through to where it terminates/exits near the ball coupler.

Fred

[sidpost]

If you up the voltage, the current drops proportionally assuming the power remains constant.

The number of watts is equal to amps multiplied by volts. In other words, watt=amp X volt.

[BK1]

Fred, I can't thank you enough for being so generous with your time and knowledge. I'm just waiting to hear back from Renogy on the 4AWG for such a long run. Guess it's time to crawl under the truck and look for access through the frame.
I'm actually excited to tackle this now.
BK

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by BK1

Fred, I can't thank you enough for being so generous with your time and knowledge. I'm just waiting to hear back from Renogy on the 4AWG for such a long run. Guess it's time to crawl under the truck and look for access through the frame.
I'm actually excited to tackle this now.
BK

BK, your welcome.

When your looking for access through the frame, you may need to remove a plastic plug covering the access. I had to remove one in the first picture where the wires enter the frame. You can see an intact plug to the right of the wires in the first picture.

Fred

[BK1]

Ok Fred... All supplies have arrived and I've started the job. Fishing the wires through the frame was a pain and didn't go quite as planned, but well enough!
Will share some pics when I'm done.

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by BK1

Ok Fred... All supplies have arrived and I've started the job. Fishing the wires through the frame was a pain and didn't go quite as planned, but well enough!
Will share some pics when I'm done.

Yes, fishing the wires through the frame was a little challenging. Looking forward to your pics.

[BK1]

Aside from adding some more wire loom and securing the wires a little more, it's installed and seems to be working. I think...

I've essentially copied your setup, Fred, with a few minor changes.
The frame of my truck (2018 Ram 1500 Ecodiesel) didn't have access points on the bottom of it as yours seemingly did. Mine had a bunch of holes in the side of it. I wasn't able to fish it all the way through so ended up weaving it in and out a little as you can see in the pics. Also I decided to terminate it near the plug for the main trailer wiring. My total return run to the charger is about 65'.
Is there a reason that you chose to run yours in the bed?

Prior to hooking up the D+ wire, I started up the truck and measured the voltage at both the starter batt and then at the charger inputs. Both were 14.25V. So I was happy to see no voltage drop.
But then after I hooked up the D+ and it actually powered on, I was still reading 14.25 at the starter batt, but more like 13.5V at the charger input and 13.4V at the output (dip switches set for 14V).
I then decided to measure amps, thinking I was going to see a whopping 40A at the output. Shockingly, it measured well below a single amp. Something like 0.1 or similar.
Am I missing something here?

[BK1]

Argh. The 2nd and 5th pics make much more sense if rotated.
Sorry, not sure why they loaded like that.

[sidpost]

You likely have 'skinned' the wire insulation in a place or two. Also, be careful with running wires like that without any sharp edge protection.

Road vibration is apt to bite you over time. Wire loom or conduit would be a good idea.

[BK1]

Ok thanks.
I do plan to add more loom and will protect sharp edges.

[BK1]

Originally Posted by sidpost

You likely have 'skinned' the wire insulation in a place or two. Also, be careful with running wires like that without any sharp edge protection.

Road vibration is apt to bite you over time. Wire loom or conduit would be a good idea.

Also, I really don't think I skinned the wires. Was careful while fishing it and the insulation is quite thick.

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by BK1

Aside from adding some more wire loom and securing the wires a little more, it's installed and seems to be working. I think...

I've essentially copied your setup, Fred, with a few minor changes.
The frame of my truck (2018 Ram 1500 Ecodiesel) didn't have access points on the bottom of it as yours seemingly did. Mine had a bunch of holes in the side of it. I wasn't able to fish it all the way through so ended up weaving it in and out a little as you can see in the pics. Also I decided to terminate it near the plug for the main trailer wiring. My total return run to the charger is about 65'.
Is there a reason that you chose to run yours in the bed?

Prior to hooking up the D+ wire, I started up the truck and measured the voltage at both the starter batt and then at the charger inputs. Both were 14.25V. So I was happy to see no voltage drop.
But then after I hooked up the D+ and it actually powered on, I was still reading 14.25 at the starter batt, but more like 13.5V at the charger input and 13.4V at the output (dip switches set for 14V).
I then decided to measure amps, thinking I was going to see a whopping 40A at the output. Shockingly, it measured well below a single amp. Something like 0.1 or similar.
Am I missing something here?

Did you double check your dip switches? Also, did you note that the dip switches on the charger operate opposite of what most people expect, OFF is up and ON is down.

For the lithium 14.0 volt charging profile, the dip switches should be set as: S1=OFF (up), S2=OFF (up), S3=ON (down), S4=ON (down), S5=Off (up).

My dip switch settings are: S1=OFF (up), S2=ON (down), S3=ON (down), S4=ON (down), S5=Off (up). My lithium charge profile is set at 14.4 volts.

I ran my wires into the truck bed mainly to keep connector out of the weather.

[sidpost]

Originally Posted by BK1

Also, I really don't think I skinned the wires. Was careful while fishing it and the insulation is quite thick.

I grew up on a farm and went to Engineering in college. I spent many years doing hardware and software integration along with all sorts of analysis and related tasks.

Your voltage drop suggests a "leak" somewhere. I have been in similar situations where I thought things were good only to discover I had bumped a sharp edge somewhere and created a small problem that wasn't obvious.

Unprotected passage through something without protection for the edge may not be apparent initially but, over time it will come back to bite you in my experience. I lost some 'hair" trying to diagnose similar voltage drops only to discover a small cut or roughness on the insulation letting voltage leak.

After having replaced main belt on a Cummins Powered pickup at a random place on the side of the road on a Sunday night in Dockers or being told not to waste my money on a new idler pulley on a Dodge pickup with a 360 V-8 only to lose the new belt and paying the cost of a second belt and idler. Saving $20 today to lose a weekend or holiday to an unplanned mechanical failure was worth more than $20 to me every time and it always cost me a lot more than that in real terms. One was a three-day weekend on Valentine's day in Illinois once instead of making it home for the weekend.

Right now, my mechanic is pushing back at replacing the Serpentine belt idler pulley. Ignoring labor, when that pulley goes bad, I'm looking at another $200 belt. All to save $30 today?

IMHO, you will always be better off doing preventative maintenance and protecting things at home at your leisure instead of dealing with them on the road at some random place. Then add the loss of a special event, in my case Valentine's day, or whatever missed event is important to you.

Granted, this is a bit off-topic since you can always pull the "fuse" and kill the system and continue your journey without this system.

[BK1]

Originally Posted by Fred 2106DS

Did you double check your dip switches? Also, did you note that the dip switches on the charger operate opposite of what most people expect, OFF is up and ON is down.

For the lithium 14.0 volt charging profile, the dip switches should be set as: S1=OFF (up), S2=OFF (up), S3=ON (down), S4=ON (down), S5=Off (up).

My dip switch settings are: S1=OFF (up), S2=ON (down), S3=ON (down), S4=ON (down), S5=Off (up). My lithium charge profile is set at 14.4 volts.

I did.
But regardless of voltage, should I not being seeing something close to 40A?

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by BK1

But then after I hooked up the D+ and it actually powered on, I was still reading 14.25 at the starter batt, but more like 13.5V at the charger input and 13.4V at the output (dip switches set for 14V).

The 13.5 volts at the charger input is what is bothering me. Your input voltage should be close to your starter battery voltage as you had prior to turning on the unit with the D+ wire.

You do have a green LED when the charger is turned on, right?

[BK1]

Originally Posted by Fred 2106DS

The 13.5 volts at the charger input is what is bothering me. Your input voltage should be close to your starter battery voltage as you had prior to turning on the unit with the D+ wire.

You do have a green LED when the charger is turned on, right?

Yes, the green LED is on.

I was definitely scratching my head when I saw 13.5, but the spec sheet on the charger lists an Input Batt Voltage Range of 8-16V. So I didn't think it was significant. Figured maybe it was designed to work with smart alternators over a range of voltages.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to hook up and go through it all again.

[creativepart]

Please forgive me if this is a bonehead response. I’ve been following along but not intently. Your D2D charger is a smart charger, so if the battery you are charging is already nearly or fully charged the amp output would naturally be near zero from the charger. It doesn’t just output 40amps if that’s not needed.

Again, forgive me if I’ve missed the whole point of the issue.

[BK1]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Please forgive me if this is a bonehead response. I’ve been following along but not intently. Your D2D charger is a smart charger, so if the battery you are charging is already nearly or fully charged the amp output would naturally be near zero from the charger. It doesn’t just output 40amps if that’s not needed.

Again, forgive me if I’ve missed the whole point of the issue.

Hi Creative,
Appreciate your thoughts on that.
The batteries being charged are only at about 50% (13.0V), so I don't think that's what's going on here.
Good thought though.

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by Fred 2106DS

The 13.5 volts at the charger input is what is bothering me. Your input voltage should be close to your starter battery voltage as you had prior to turning on the unit with the D+ wire.

You do have a green LED when the charger is turned on, right?

BK, I believe, I may have been wrong with the statement I made above. I went back and checked the latest readings I had taken with my setup and found there was about a .5 volt drop between the starter battery and charger when the charger was turned on.

My latest tests from a previous post: "The alternator output readings were 13.31 V @ 29.2 A. At the input side of the DC/DC charger, the readings were 12.84 V @ 25.4 A.; and the output readings of the DC/DC charger were 13.66 V @ 19.3 A."

Sorry, I should have checked my records before making that comment.

Curious to hear if you find anything after re-checking your wiring connections and volt/amp readings.

Fred

[BK1]

Originally Posted by Fred 2106DS

BK, I believe, I may have been wrong with the statement I made above. I went back and checked the latest readings I had taken with my setup and found there was about a .5 volt drop between the starter battery and charger when the charger was turned on.

My latest tests from a previous post: "The alternator output readings were 13.31 V @ 29.2 A. At the input side of the DC/DC charger, the readings were 12.84 V @ 25.4 A.; and the output readings of the DC/DC charger were 13.66 V @ 19.3 A."

Sorry, I should have checked my records before making that comment.

Curious to hear if you find anything after re-checking your wiring connections and volt/amp readings.

Fred

OK, that's somewhat reassuring.
I'm curious though: earlier you mentioned that you had the charger configured to output 14.4V. But you're reading 13.66 at the output?