BLTillson wrote: Are you saying that you have your converter and your solar controller feeding the battery simultaneously?
Perhaps that would be a great thread to start here: Really Not Made in China. I am willing to buy many other countries. I even bought a Made in USA E-Bike only to find out the motor was made in, you guessed it, China.
Thanks again for the responses and advice.
Yes, we have the converter output and solar controller output both connected to the battery simultaneously. The controller also has a built in battery meter that is helpful reading the voltage across the battery (which would actually be coming from the converter, when we are connected to shore power.) I honestly don't remember whether we've ever been connected to shore power and had a solar panel plugged in simultaneously. I suspect I may have done it once or twice. it wouldn't be our normal operating mode, and I wouldn't do it long term because both the controller and converter have charge cycles (on the order of days) where they change the voltage slightly, as that's supposed to be better for our AGM battery. Wouldn't want them fighting each other.
We also connect the aux power from the tow vehicle alternator directly to the battery/converter output/solar controller output, so when we are towing, the vehicle always tries to charge the teardrop battery. I debated adding a switch there (like Tony's) but decided I'd eventually leave the switch in the wrong position and, after a six hour drive, find our battery was still low. Might shorten the life of our AGM battery doing it the way I did, but the last one died a premature death, evidently from mechanical failure, anyway.
Right now, we don't have a solar panel mounted on the tear, and when we camp, we take a folding panel with us and plug it into a jack under our tear. So no need for a switch there.
Incidentally, when we're not camping and in New Mexico, we leave the battery charging via a 100 watt solar panel on the roof of our garage (which has no shore power). When we're staying at my Mom's house in New York, for months at a time in the Summer, we plug into her power.
I think a thread on Chinese made products is a great idea...
Thank you!
Tom