THE FRONT BOOT
BOOST
JUICE
MORE INFO
MINI BOOST
HOLROYD UTOWPIA
(GLENN MACKENZIE)
0417 995 013
www.teambmpro.com
A tow vehicle’s alternator
alone will never really charge
an RV house battery back
to 100 percent.
Why? Because as the voltage
in the house battery comes
close to that of the charging
system, the rate of charge
to the battery declines.
Factor in the potential for
voltage drop over, say, 7m
of cable, and the picture
becomes worse.
In truth, your RV’s battery
would be unlikely to be charged
to more than 70 or 75 per cent.
This is where DC-DC chargers
come in. They are something
that all vanners should not
be without.
We recently had the chance
to try the BMPRO MiniBoost
20A multi-stage DC-DC
charger. We fitted it to our
mobile office, a Goldstream
Wing III camper trailer fitted
with a 100Ah deep-cycle
battery, 120W solar panel and
15A battery charger.
The Mini Boost will work with
either standard or variable/
smart alternators to maximise
the charge to the RV house
battery. Our tow vehicle’s
alternator puts about 14V
to the starting battery but
only about 11.5V to the van’s
house battery… thanks to
dreaded voltage drop. But
we immediately saw a 2.5-3V
improvement after fitting the
Mini Boost.
The MiniBoost is designed
especially to work with
BMPRO battery management
systems such as the Battery
Plus 35 for a complete battery
management system. Now,
our mobile office doesn’t
have this gear but the good
news is that the MiniBoost
can be installed ‘inline’,
between the RV battery and
the tow vehicle’s trailer
plug via a fuse.
The Mini Boost appears to
have significantly improved
the 12V performance of the
Goldstream. Anecdotally,
we’d arrive on site after a
two to three-hour trip with
about 12.5V in the battery.
Now, after fitting the new
charger, the battery charge
is between 14 and 14.5V.
Well worth it.
gorv.com.au
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