I definitely will have the mains charger and Russell's idea of induction charging would be ideal. Can you make a DIY system for let's say 10A? The solar panel would have to be small, as I am installing two vents on the roof of the van. Best Regards Luis Luis, Adding the second battery will give you more run time but it won't solve your charging problem. If the solar panel is correctly installed it can be isolated from vehicle vibration. Also flaring can be installed so that the panel is not exposed to the wind and this will minimize the drag. I would make the panel as large as the roof area so as to maximize the amount of available power. Having the relay is exactly what I was talking about and that is a good thing. Yep, money is always a problem. You are going to have to have a mains charger. There is no way around it. Thanks, rich! On 9/3/2014 5:12 AM, Luis Moreira wrote: > Hi Richard, > The plan is to add a second battery pretty soon for sure. The solar panel > for me is just adding drag for not very much gain. I will look into it, but > like I said it is not something very appealing for me, how big does the > panel need to be and will it take the vibration from the driving around? > At the moment I do have a durite split charge relay that connects the > vehicle battery to the deep cycle battery only when the van is running. M= y > inverter is a British made 1800W quasi from Sterling power which also do > some very nice DC to DC chargers. They are just a bit expensive for me at > the moment. > Thanks > Luis > On 3 Sep 2014 09:33, "Richard R. Pope" wrote: > >> Luis, >> Now I understand. I would recommend adding a second deep discharge >> battery in parallel with the first one. this will double your amp hours. >> I would also recommend that you seriously consider adding the solar >> cells. At least during the day they will add to the charge in the >> batteries. You can mount the solar panel on the roof of the van. >> Do you have a cut off device between this battery and the car >> battery? If not you want to add such a device so that the deep discharge >> battery is disconnected from the vehicle system except when the van is >> running. This is very important as the battery that runs the van is not >> designed to be run down. The cut off is wired so that when you start the >> van up and it is running the accessory battery as I will now call it is >> then connected to the alternator for charging purposes. Yes you will >> need some type of charging system running off of the mains as you aren't >> driving long enough to completely recharge your accessory battery under >> all circumstances. >> I hope that this helps. >> Thanks, >> rich! >> BTW: I did something like this for my motorhome many years ago. >> rich! >> -- http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .