From: wolverine01@charter.net   
      
   On 3/6/2025 7:54 AM, Ted Heise wrote:   
   > On Wed, 5 Mar 2025 19:55:25 -0600,   
   > sticks wrote:   
   >> On 3/5/2025 2:03 PM, Ted Heise wrote:   
   >   
   >>> My thinking was to take a reading from the LiIon battery app   
   >>> with the battery connected to the trailer and then with the   
   >>> fridge started (I think it may run off the batt for a minute   
   >>> or two). Then I would connect the 7-pin to the running TV and   
   >>> repeat these readings. Does that seem like a reasonable   
   >>> approach?   
   >>   
   >> In truth, I think it is pointless in your case. I think we   
   >> already have agreed now you simply cannot get enough power to   
   >> charge your lithium batteries from the 7 prong. I would,   
   >> however, like to know if there is power coming in, and going   
   >> out to the trailer. If there is a power wire hooked up on the   
   >> 7 prong on the trailer, where exactly does that power go?   
   >> Obviously the trailer lights you can easily figure out, and   
   >> they don't use power from the trailer battery. They draw   
   >> directly from the towing vehicle. Usually the power tab is for   
   >> trailer brakes, or an accessory of some sort or another. Were   
   >> you under the impression it somehow went to your battery?   
   >> Obviously it can't go directly there since it would be   
   >> incapable of charging lithium batteries, so does it go to the   
   >> controller you speak of later? You need to find out exactly   
   >> where that power goes, and here's why.   
   >   
   > Okay, here are some aditional points of information.   
   >   
   > I'm positive there is power coming out of the 7-pin connector,   
   > because I've frequently operated the powered lift jack without any   
   > battery connected (i.e., only the 7-pin connected to the trailer).   
   >   
   > Pretty sure there is power going into the trailer too, because my   
   > memory (though not certain) is that the interior lights and other   
   > 12 V things work in the same circumstance (i.e., no battery   
   > connected, just the running TV).   
      
   It looks like the PD 4000 power controller you have only does one thing   
   that I can tell, that being to convert AC power into DC power. It   
   operates when it is plugged into shore power and charges the batteries,   
   but will also provide power for the DC power outlets without the need   
   for the battery. So you can rule out using this controller for charging   
   from the DC supplied power from the 7 prong plug.   
      
   So you do have some AC outlets in the unit I believe, and these most   
   likely only work when the shore line cord is plugged in. There might be   
   a disconnect switch somewhere, but it probably just has a bank, or   
   something like a electrical box that ties in all the AC outlets to the   
   shoreline somehow. To get AC power without being plugged in, you would   
   need an additional inverter that would change the DC battery power into   
   AC for use at those outlets. So far, you have not said you have such an   
   inverter.   
      
   I think you're ability to use the lift jacks off the 7 prong is   
   interesting. I think it is probably wired mainly for trailer brakes,   
   although it looks like the dry weight of your unit is around 3,000 lbs   
   and 4,000 is the legal requirement for trailer brakes. Do you have a   
   brake controller in the Acadia and use trailer brakes on your Lance?   
      
   How else it could be wired into the Lance's volt system is an   
   interesting question. You say you think you also get lights. Sounds   
   like there must be some other kind of control box then if this is true,   
   and I would certainly follow the power lead off the 7 prong to find out   
   where it goes. Mainly, because it should NOT be going directly to the   
   battery since it is a Lithium. You simply cannot charge a Lithium   
   battery properly from the alternator of a modern vehicle on it's own.   
   It would never charge the Lithium, and it could harm the alternator.   
   That capability requires the addition of the DC to DC generator.   
      
   You say you get these lights "without any battery connected." I'm   
   assuming you mean you either have a disconnect switch, or you have the   
   battery cable actually disconnected. You see what I'm getting at? If   
   the interior DC circuits have no access to the battery, how is it they   
   are getting power from the 7 prong. Where does it get hooked into the   
   system?   
      
   > As I lay awake in bed last turning this over and over in my mind,   
   > I seemed to recall the Acadia had a 110 V outlet in the second row   
   > of seats. Indeed there is when I checked it this morning. Rated   
   > at 150 W max, it seems I could use this with my NOCO GENIUS 5   
   > charger (max 75 W draw) to charge the trailer battery in a pinch.   
   > Might could even use it to run the coffee grinder. ;)   
      
   It looks like this unit is more for non-lithium batteries, but it does   
   say it can charge them. I'm not sure, though. Doesn't seem to have   
   enough power capability to do much of anything.   
      
   > Gotta run to see the cardiologist now, but will come back to this   
   > later today.   
      
   Hope you got some good reports!   
      
      
   --   
   Better Days Ahead!   
   Darwinism Is Junk Science!!   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   
|