The additional temp sensor for the battery bank is great for extending battery life and minimizing water loss. Most 'recommended' charging voltages are for 77F, and higher temps require lower voltages, lower temps require higher voltages, and compensating manually for this is just another thing to forget, and will compromise battery longevity to some degree.
That said I do not have one, as I was a fool who decided to save 30$ in 2007 by buying the controller that did not have that option. Find foot, aim, shoot.
I use cord grips as waterproof wire pass throughs on my fiberglasss roof:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...field-keywords=cord+grip&rh=i:aps,k:cord+grip
On the 12vDC Distribution side, you will need a fuse block and a Bussbar. I will link BlueSeas products as they are pretty much top notch, but similar can be had for less.
Not sure how many circuits you need, but better to have too many available and not need them than start combining circuits if one has too few:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-5029...280&sr=8-4-spell&keywords=blueseas+fuse+block
You will need ring terminals to hook circuits upto this fuse block.:
http://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bende...2030486&sr=8-1&keywords=10+awg+ring+terminals
Some other fuse blocks use push on quick connect type wire terminations like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Pico-Insulate...2030602&sr=8-16&keywords=10+awg+quick+connect
Some fuseblocks come with a (-) buss, but one can use an external one, which also accepts large ring terminals for large wires
Such as this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...1452030680&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+seas+buss+bar
The wire/cable terminations are important, not only for safety but performance too, especially when they will be passing higher currents.
One should have a good crimper for wires upto 10awg, and something else for thicker wires. Some choose to solder instead, but one needs to be good at soldering and protect the wires more from vibration.
Large battery cable terminations are of extreme importance. A hammer crimp or simply squishing a ring terminal in a vice might yield a visually acceptable mechanical connection to a Newb, but it will be a poor electrical one prone to oxidation corrosion and increased resistance, and failure of large cable connections might equal a fire.
Those who do not want to get a hydraulic crimper, or similar, can have top quality cables made by this outfit for a very good price with free shipping, one just needs to know the lengths required before ordering. I buy all my 8awg or thicker wire here. Fast service, top quality tinned copper wire, good prices. Beware of inexpensive wire on Amazon or Ebay. It will likely be aluminum wire, or copper clad aluminum, which must be significantly thicker to have the same resistance as pure copper or tinned copper.
http://www.genuinedealz.com/custom-cables
Those with Skills likely want to do it themselves. Here are some adequate hydraulic crimpers and a leverage type as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydraulic-Bat...=1452031053&sr=8-5&keywords=hydraulic+crimper
http://www.amazon.com/Crimper-Crimp..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0B546ZW75BT0GH9DVDDG
One will need to place a fuse or circuit breaker between solar charge controller and battery bank:
https://www.bluesea.com/products/5006/MAXI_Fuse_Block_-_30_to_80A
These are nice because one can push a button to open the circuit and move the lever to close it:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...031234&sr=8-5&keywords=40+amp+circuit+breaker
Beware of economical fuses and circuit breakers, they will likely not open at their rating and the circuit breakers will have significant voltage drop across them, which will waste some solar electrons. The charge controller will likely say what size fuse to use, regardless of wire size. I use a 30 amp circuit breaker on 4awg between controller and (+) buss stud on my manual battery switch.
The prospect of Alternator charging the house bank often frightens newbies, but the alternator is a very capable charging source when thickly wired. It can do in half an hour what might take a solar panel all day. Returning a battery bank to 80% charged via a capable thickly wired alternatorcan be done fairly quickly, but that last 20% always takes about 4 hours no matter what.
One thing to keep in mind is that a depleted battery bank can ask for everything an Alternator can make, which can cause it to heat up faster and heat up more than the engine turning it. 220F seems to be the tipping point, and a thickly wired alternator, that can output high amps at idle speed, will wear out much faster when idled to recharge. Thinner cabling will limit what the batteries can ask for and help prolong the alternator's life.
Idling to recharge can be very hard on an high amp at low rpm alternator as it is not spinning its internal fan fast enough to dissipate the heat, and without moving underhood air temps exacerbate the overheating issue. Some alternators do very poorly at idle speeds in the output department and just waste gas to do very little recharging. Highly platform specific.
If the alternator is 400$ and requires 4 hours of labor to replace, well it makes no sense to wire it thickly in an attempt to prolong the lifespan of a 200$ battery bank. I'd recommend 8awg at ~12 feet(one way) for those in this situation, but 4 or 2awg or thicker for those who can do it themselves and really need all the alternator contribution they can get. With thick cabling, short drives to town and back for resupply can accomplish a lot, and can get a battery out of the danger zone, when it is 50% or under, which is very hard on lead acid batteries.
Do not worry about overcharging via alternator in most situations. The battery accepts only what it wants at the voltage allowed. Most vehicles voltage regulators are way too timid to approach this danger zone. SOME AGMS, the lesser$ ones are limited as to what they can accept. 30 amps per 100AH of capacity. These will likely vent, and be degraded if provided 40 amps from the alternator when depleted to 50% and forced upto 14.5+ volts. Higher $$ AGM like Lifeline, odyssey and Northstar will laugh at 100 amps per 100AH of capacity, but these AGMS need significantly higher charging currents applied regularly to remain happy, making them not so good for a low and slow solar only application, ut hit these batteries with high alternator amperage and top them off via adequate solar before sundown, and they are a great power source which will behave well for a long time.
My alternator has a lifetime warranty and I can replace it myself in 15 minutes, so I hammer the poor thing maxing it out often. My previous one lasted 7 years in such extreme duty, but again how well any given alternator withstands extreme duty is highly variable among vehicle platforms
There are various methods for allowing alternator recharging and having the engine starting battery removed from all house loads with the engine off.
The continuous duty solenoid is the least expensive method:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...s=aps&field-keywords=continuous+duty+solenoid
One should seek 100 amps continuous or higher rating and not totally bargain hunt in this area. These are simple to wire. the two big terminals, one wire goes to Alternator(+) stud or engine battery(+) stud, and the other goes to the house bank.
The smaller 2 terminals are for activating the magnet inside the solenoid which closes the contacts. this requires 12 volts to be switched, automatically with the ignition, or manually by a switch, or even both. This means finding a vehicle circuit which is only live with the engine running of one wants automatic.
There are voltage sensing solenoids that only have two large connections and will combine the battery banks only when there is battery charging voltages present and will disconnect them once voltage drops to a certain level. With Solar, i recommend a single sense solenoid, not a dual sense which will try and charge the engine battery, which likely does not need it and is just diverting juice from the batteries which need all they can get.
http://www.allbatterysalesandservice.com/browse.cfm/4,2705.html
There are several different products/methods for automatic operation. I personally choose a fully manual option and use a 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch.
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...id=1452031824&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+seas+6007m
With this one must NOT turn the switch to off with the engine running or POOF go the diodes in the alternator.
USB devices can be charged via dedicated USB sources, rather than using an inefficient inverter to power the wall warts that came with devices:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...&qid=1452031936&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+seas+usb
Most laptops have DC to DC 'car adapters' which are also more efficient than using an inverter. Their issue is the ciggy plug/12v power port connection when asked to pass 60+ watts continuously. A quality 12v receptacle wired with 10awg can help alleviate this issue:
This one claims to be good for 20 amps, the highest rating I've ever seen, so perhaps it can handle 1/3 of that without issue continuously:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G4RYWF2/ref=s9_hps_bw_g263_i9
I recommend putting 2 voltmeters on the dashboard so one can see the voltage of both battery banks when driving. Mostly this is a learning tool to watch voltage of the house bank slowly rise to meet that of the engine battery as it charges up, but also it can notify the driver if something is wrong with the charging system, or if the solenoid has failed and not separating the batteries as it should with the engine off. Also one can see when their engine battery is getting weak, by voltage drop during engine cranking, and that preemptive replacement is wise.
Such a voltmeter should have a separate voltage sense wire that goes right to the battery(+) terminal. The Ciggy plug style voltmeters are often not that accurate and their voltage reading can be quite different from the voltage at the battery terminal.
http://www.amazon.com/KEEDOX®-Digit...d=1452033868&sr=1-1&keywords=3+wire+voltmeter
These can be calibrated after installation, which leads to what might be the most important electrical tool necessary for the Van dweller.
The Digital Multimeter.
I really recommend that one get a Multimeter with a AC/DC clamp on Ammeter. These are full function multimeters, but one can open the clamp around any single wire, (+) or (-) and read the current flowing through it. One could see that their fuse block is pulling 6.73 amps, or that their alternator is providing 72.7 amps into the house battery at idle.
The following is an Example, not a recommendation:
http://www.amazon.com/Extech-MA120-...452034183&sr=8-1&keywords=dc+clamp+on+ammeter
Do note that any clamp on meter less than ~35$ is likely only going to measure AC current, not both AC and DC.
A solar wattage vs AH capacity of the battery bank is important. The depth of average discharge of the battery bank and the availability of other charging sources and how often they are employed change the ratio too.
400 watts on 464 AH of GC batteries is too little, unless one never really discharges below 85% state of charge
400 watts on 232 AH of GC batteries, well one could do discharges to 50% each night as long as the next day was sunny and have happy batteries.
Combine 400 watts with alternator recharging, and a plug in charging source for if one has a generator, or the ability to plug in, and their t-105s will give excellent service for a long time.
If one will have the ability to plug in and recharge, the big three converter makers are Progressive dynamics, Iota, and powermax. none of these are ideal for perfect battery recharging in minimum time, but nothing is ideal in this department other than an informed human with an adjustable voltage power supply/charger, armed with a hydrometer and the desire to achieve ideal.