Perhaps Westfalia should have printed the disclaimer 'batteries not included' on their sales brochures. A solution to
this oversight can be seen in the lower left corner of Battery_A. It is a group 27
Sonnenschein dryfit Prevailer deep cycle sealed gel cell battery. To the right of it is a suitable place for storing the TV while driving.
Above the TV is the power distribution panel. It houses a photovoltaic system controller, a plus/minus 10-amp ammeter, a 15-volt
voltmeter, a 125-watt inverter, two toggle switches and a 10-amp fuse.
Charging current from the Bosch alternator flows to a
Sure Power Group 3 isolator (Battery_D). A sensing wire runs from the isolator back to the alternators internal regulator. From the
isolator current is supplied to the car battery and to the house battery, which is connected to ground through a catastrophe
fuse.
The PV controller also doubles as a load controller (Battery_B). All camping related loads draw their current
(10 amp max) from the LOAD terminals on the controller. If the battery voltage falls below 11.3 volts the load controller
will automatically disconnect the loads and in so doing protect the battery. The load current is fused with a 10-amp slow
blow fuse mounted on the distribution panel above the ammeter. Load current can be bypassed/shunted around the PV controller
and ammeter via a SPDT (single pole double throw) toggle switch (the black one to the left of the ammeter). This is just in
case load requirements exceed 10 amps. This essentially connects loads directly to the battery. Note that there is a 30-amp
slow blow fuse placed inline with the battery terminal cable. The switch also has a center position to allow manually disconnecting
the loads. The PV controller BATTERY terminals are routed to the battery via an ammeter to indicate how much current is either
entering or leaving the battery.
A JVC (model AC-P3U) solid-state 1.7-amp trickle charger is mounted on the floor of the cabinet under the
kitchen sink. Charging current flows to a DPDT (double pole double throw) toggle switch mounted in the cabinet under the kitchen
sink. This connects the PV terminals on the controller to either the trickle charger (up), the solar panel (down) or off/null
(center).
Mounted inside the distribution panel is an
Exeltech XP125 true sine wave inverter (Battery_C) (http://www.exeltech.com). Power to the inverter is controlled by the red SPST
(single pole single throw) toggle switch located to the left of the ammeter. From an AC outlet on the inverter (Battery_C
lower right; note: AC unplugged in this photo to reveal more detail of the distribution panel interior) 110 is supplied to
a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch mounted in the concealed compartment adjacent to the water tank allowing 110 loads
to be switched between AC off (center position), shore power (switch pulled toward you) or inverter power (switch pushed away
from you).
