12V direct to Tab 400 pig tail connector from Pecron E2000LFP Solar Generator

bimmer

Hi all, My first post on the forum. Here are my thoughts and is this going to work.
So when going down the road with Tab in tow it is connected to the TV via the 12V connector which applies the breaks and charges the battery. When parked boondocking I would like to connect the Pecron to the trailer for power. Pretty much everything in the Tab runs on 12V. This would give me a lot of reserve power to the trailer. I could just plug in the Onshore power cable, but then the Pecron needs to use the inverter to 110V which then goes to the Tab which converts it back to 12V to be used inside. This is inefficient. I would rather connect the output 12V from the Pecron to the Pigtail. It would be like being connected to the TV, and will keep the TAB Battery charged also.
Good idea? Bad Idea? what would I need to be aware of and possibly modify if necessary? I've been thinking about this for days and cannot find any reason to not do it. What am I missing? The Pecron can put out 12V, 10 Amps. via the cigar output socket.

Grumpy_G

Yup that will work. You could also connect the Pecron to the external solar panel input which typically connects directly to the battery (double check that though). 

One minor nitpick: the 12V from the tow vehicle does not power the brakes, there is a separate pin for the brake that has varying voltage depending on how much braking is needed. 

bimmer

Hi Grumpy. Thank you for your input. Yeah, I like it. I'm not sure if my 2018 TAB has the solar input socket. I just bought it and still need to pick it up in 1st week of January. If it does, I'll go that route.  Your minor nick pick is correct. I didn't let that percolate long enough to realize since I was just focusing on 12V in.

dsfdogs

Don't you need to have some sort of "controller" between the charging source and the 12v Tab battery? So when you are connected via the 7pin or shore power, that is the converter controlling the charge, or for solar, it's the solar controller.

I have connected a Noco 10 battery charger from my Goal Zero (110v outlet) to the solar ports on the Tab. I'm losing some power at the GZ inverter, but at least the Tab's converter is not involved, and the Noco is regulating the charge to the battery.

bimmer

@dsfdogs The way I was thinking is the generator is doing exactly the same thing as the truck is when I'm driving.

Denny16

That would work if the 12VDC output of the is regulated, and depending on which model Pecron you have, the voltage level of the Pecron is equal to,or greater than the TaB400 gallery voltage.  The 2000-watt Pecron  unit has a 100 watt dc output, which is about 8 amps.  This means you have a 8-amp charge going to the TaB battery at a constant rate, until the Pecron battery drops below the voltage level of the TaB battery, which at that point the TaB400’s 200+ amp.hr, battery (if at a higher or equal voltage) will start charging the Pecron unit.  

As for solar and an external Solar charge port on a 208 TaB400, depends on when it was made.  Early TaB400s didn’t have any solar or SAE port factory installed (which is easy to add in to the passenger side next to the outdoor storage locker door, which is next to the battery).  

If your TaB400 is a later build, after or around Jan 2018, it could have a SAW solar charging port already installed.  Does this TaB have roof  punted solar panels, if so, they will keep the battery charged during normal use whilst boondocking, in sunny to cloudy bright conditions.  

The problem with using an external power device like the Pecron, on the TaB400, is usually, the aux power source is a smaller size battery than the TaB400’s 220-amp.hr. battery, and the TaB battery ends up trying to charge the external device, unless thenTaB battery is discharged to a voltage level less than the aux battery.  If you end up using more power than the TaB400’s 220 MP AGM battery, than you could add external solar to keep,the TaB battery charged, which is what we do, and it works fine, using 200-watts or solar panels connected via a Victron MPPT 75/15 solar charging regulator.  

Another option is upgrading the TaB battery to two 100-amp Lithium batteries, and adding portable solar panels, or if you have the Pecron 2000 kit, add the SAE port connected to a Victron 75/15 controller and use the portable solar panel kit that comes with the Pecron 2000 kit, and use the Pecron as a stand alone unit to provide additional power to external devices you bing camping.  

The TaB400 has a large AGM battery setup, which is easily upgraded to lithium, and just running the TaB400 built in devices (lights, fridge, Alde, etch), will run the camper for 2-3 days, and even longer with solar charging of the camper’s battery.  This has been discussed several times here, try doing a search, and see what the conclusions were.  

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/16519/power-station-question#latest

 Cheers 

bimmer

@Denny16 Thank you so much for all the valued info. I've read through it one time and will need to study your comment more closely. I will be boondocking for lengthy periods. with iMac computer (two monitors), Water filtration system to pull water from streams and lakes. Sat internet possibly (still need to study that topic) using an IP phone for work, that will also need to be epic. I need a robust setup to be able to work from out in the wild. I'm in IT and receive phone calls to fix other people's computer problems. That's why I have the Pecron2000EFP. 2000w/hr. with 800 watts of solar so far. It can go up to 1200-watt solar input. I'm sort of geeking out on this stuff. 

Denny16

I would get a Victron MPPT solar controller for the TaB, a 75/15 will support 200 watts of input, a larger one if you want to add more solar.  Based on your requirements, and if the 2018 TaB 400 still has its original AGM battery/batteries, you would do well to upgrade to at least 200 or even 300 amps of lithium.  You can get three 100 amp lithium batteries from Battleborn ($900 each) that will fit where the original AGM battery is located under the rear bunk.  This area is easy to access.  

Next I would add a Victron Smart Shunt to manage thenTaB batteries and monitor the power usesge.  This monitor uses your phone via the Victron App to display battery state, power useage snd time remaining at the current power use, and more, to manage the battery system.

Then use your Perron 2000 to run your computer and data equipment, and the lithium battery upgrade to run the TaB’s systems.  We have camped boondocking for 4 days on 200 amps of AGM batter using the roof mounted 200 watts of solar panels, using the TaB fridge and Alde heating system.  The 200-watt Solar had the 200-amp AGM battery back to full charge by midday with the panels in partial shade pet of the time.  Standard practice is to have at least 100-watts of Solar per each 100 amps of battery as a minimum.  Increasing that, as you have done, will give you faster charging up to a point.  

Cheers 

pthomas745

Why not just use the 12V ports?  They work both ways: to and from the battery.  Use the 12V output from your battery bank into the 12V port of the trailer.

 

Or: work out a way to use the trailer's 7 pin connector directly tied into your battery. Like this one.  Battery switch off, runs the trailer just fine.

Thread below has several examples of the 7 pin adapter method, and one other owner who tied in a Bluetti directly into the Tab wiring. (See page 2).

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/7008/anyone-carry-a-spare-battery/

bimmer

pthomas745 Thank you for those pics. That is what I was aiming at. Particularly the second pic. I'm going to start there and then ponder all my options revealed by @Denny16 which spent a lot of time answers to my situation, which I appreciate very much. 

rfuss928

Some examples in this thread:
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/12681/use-7-pin-connector-for-solar-suitcase