Charging System

[Sebastian DeWitt]

Sorry to open this can 'O worms, but I'm wondering if there is a better more simple way to wire my 79 Excella 28".

First of all, anyone have any experience with mounting solar panels on a 28, there is not much room up there...

I just got fout new Dekka deep cycle bat's, and installed then beside the starting bat in the first drivers side compartment (will post pics), it's a tight fit, but now I have over 400 amp hours.

Next I want some solar for charging, and a trace C40 controller for three stage charging.
At the moment, all the bat's charge off the alternator via a bat isolator direct. This makes me worry about overcharging- heaating on long road trips this summer.
Could I run the alternator through the Trace C40... have a switch from solar to alternator?
The house bat's also charge from my Onan Marquis 5k (photos of that mod to come as well) through the converter... no three stage there either...
I don't have the cash for a fancy inverter-charger... any thoughts or folks who have done mods?

Thanks for your thoughts, Sebastian

[74Argosy24MH]

I don't think the solar charger could handle the input from the alternator. It is only designed for 40 amps, and the alternator most likely puts out 2 or 3 times that much and you have the battery capacity to absorb this. Auto electrical systems are also very noisy, solar is going to be more pure dc. I doubt it was designed to handle all the spikes.

John