[Greywulff]

Hello there from lovely Seattle WA. We had blue skies, warm sun and a high of 51 today - perfect for van work. (But please, keep telling everyone that it always rains in Seattle!) Happy to have found this forum. We had a VW Westy Syncro camper for many years and while we can never replace it, we are hoping to hit the road for some extended stretches after my spouse retires.

Currently, we are working on converting a 2015 Transit 150 into a camper. We both use CPAP machines and even with the DC converters they still draw a lot of power over 8 hours - and at night. My current plan is to use 4 VMax AGM deep cycle 6v 225Ah batteries wired in series and parallel to provide 12v and 450Ah with 5400W. The charging range for these batteries is listed as 15-55a and 7.2 - 7.5 V. I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for information about how wiring batteries in series and parallel affects their charging profiles. Once they are wired together, at what amperage and voltage should they be charged? Appreciate any info or sources of info. Thanks.

 

[ranxerox]

Hello there from lovely Seattle WA. We had blue skies, warm sun and a high of 51 today - perfect for van work. (But please, keep telling everyone that it always rains in Seattle!) Happy to have found this forum. We had a VW Westy Syncro camper for many years and while we can never replace it, we are hoping to hit the road for some extended stretches after my spouse retires.

Currently, we are working on converting a 2015 Transit 150 into a camper. We both use CPAP machines and even with the DC converters they still draw a lot of power over 8 hours - and at night. My current plan is to use 4 VMax AGM deep cycle 6v 225Ah batteries wired in series and parallel to provide 12v and 450Ah with 5400W. The charging range for these batteries is listed as 15-55a and 7.2 - 7.5 V. I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for information about how wiring batteries in series and parallel affects their charging profiles. Once they are wired together, at what amperage and voltage should they be charged? Appreciate any info or sources of info. Thanks.

Maybe you will find it here, if not check the rest of the blog.

Installing a Marine Battery Charger - Marine How To

Choosing A Charger With battery banks getting larger & larger and battery technology becoming more and more expensive a quality battery charger is not the place you want to skimp on features or quality. *For this article we are installing a: Sterling ProCharge Ultra Battery

marinehowto.com

 

[Off Grid Yo]

My #vanpacking adventure was also precipitated by needing to have CPAP. Last my wife and I took a week-long trip camping on BLM land near Moab, UT. We rented a teardrop trailer that had a 12v house battery and I bought a $80 100w solar panel at Sam's club that came with a controller to provide charge to the battery during the day. Even with that dubious <100AH cranking battery we found that not only could we run the CPAP but also the fridge and the fan from time to time and fully recharge the battery before noon with the panel. We loved the experience so much we began looking at how we could do more off-grid camping and ended up planning a van build. Through my research I found Will Prouse and his YouTube channel about off-grid solar systems. I've found it to be a great resource and have been using his materials and education to design the electrical for our can build. https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/

 

[mikeehlert]

Hello there from lovely Seattle WA. We had blue skies, warm sun and a high of 51 today - perfect for van work. (But please, keep telling everyone that it always rains in Seattle!) Happy to have found this forum. We had a VW Westy Syncro camper for many years and while we can never replace it, we are hoping to hit the road for some extended stretches after my spouse retires.

Currently, we are working on converting a 2015 Transit 150 into a camper. We both use CPAP machines and even with the DC converters they still draw a lot of power over 8 hours - and at night. My current plan is to use 4 VMax AGM deep cycle 6v 225Ah batteries wired in series and parallel to provide 12v and 450Ah with 5400W. The charging range for these batteries is listed as 15-55a and 7.2 - 7.5 V. I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for information about how wiring batteries in series and parallel affects their charging profiles. Once they are wired together, at what amperage and voltage should they be charged? Appreciate any info or sources of info. Thanks.

Because they are series, just double the charging voltage. Because they are also parallel, double the amps. This presumes perfect power division and load sharing so I would only go to 75% of maximum amps.

That’s bunches of capacity for two CPAPs with heaters.


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