Don't have the money right now to do the house batteries, inverter, and solar stuff but am hoping to in the future, so I want to go ahead and get an electric poptop. SMB-West says they will connect the penthouse to the starter battery.
I did see a thread about problems in this area but think it was related to a bad penthouse motor: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2986&hilit=penthouse
As long as I don't go crazy pushing the up/down button do you think this will cause excessive wear on the starter battery?
When you pull into camp, leave the van running while you put it up. When you break camp, start the van and wait a few minutes (the system on my doesn't charge right away- you can watch with a cheapie voltmeter in the dash) and put it down.
This is what I did when having battery woes, basically just running it off the alternator. Even without this I don't think you'll destroy your battery, although I'm not sure what it really draws, or if there is something wrong with mine.
Even if it drew a fairly huge amount, (which it doesn't), it's only doing it for about a minute and twenty seconds or thereabouts, so I wouldn't think it's going to hurt anything. Although, I do the same as Jage; let the engine idle while putting the top up. This also has the added benefit of letting your turbo cool off for a couple of extra minutes...
Bill
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2008 RB 50 Pueblo gold, Diesel, 4X4, Aluminess
NO2B
A turbo is a little gadget that Ford puts in the engine compartments of their diesel vans to take up excess space. It's also handy for letting you become best buddies with the cheerful and competent mechanics and service people at your local friendly Ford store...
Bill
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2008 RB 50 Pueblo gold, Diesel, 4X4, Aluminess
NO2B
I would request them to wire it in such a way it is easy to move to the future house batteries at a later date. I'd imagine it will be a lot easier for them to do that at install time.
but thanks much for the good advice regarding the penthouse.
Linear Mode
