bdosborn wrote:I've had great luck with a Yandina combiner. It's not that expensive and it's been working in our trailer since 2010 or so.
http://www.yandina.com/c100InfoR3.htm
It combines when either the trailer is charging (solar or battery charger) or the truck is charging. Disconnects when the trailer is running on batteries. It's also little so it doesn't take up nearly as much room as most combiners do.
Bruce
That's interesting! Thanks Bruce, and glad to hear from you. I particularly respect your knowledge of things electrical from your past posts.
Guess if we decide to use a combiner like this we will need to have the auxiliary power from the TV wired so it is connected to the starter battery, even with the ignition off.
I'm intrigued by the idea of the shore power or (eventually) solar panel charging the starter battery as well as the house battery. The PD4045 has a 3 stage converter, and I wonder how that will behave with a starter battery in parallel? Guess the worst would be that it skips the boost charge and goes right to normal, if, say, the starter battery were strong and the house battery were depleted. Anyway, if you've had it going on 8 years, it must be okay.
Tom