wildebus
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where is "up here"? sorry, don't know where you are based.
Charging cab / engine battery from Solar panel.
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barryd
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Right at the top of North Yorkshire / Durham county border between Barnard Castle and Richmond.
I always say Barnard Castle these days as everyone knows where it is now.
wildebus
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Aha.Right at the top of North Yorkshire / Durham county border between Barnard Castle and Richmond.
I always say Barnard Castle these days as everyone knows where it is now.
Well, one option you could consider is Alpha Batteries in Rochdale (so not mega close, but a lot closer than Taunton
). They have introduced a fitting service (they did some batteries, solar controller, panels and BMV Monitor for one of my customers who was based in Norwich).Might be worth checking out? I don't know if they stock any Battery Maintainers (I'll check shortly actually as if they don't, they need to!) but even if you brought the bits with you they could fit them for you.
And as an aside, they could maybe test your Starter Battery out while you are there so you would know if it just a charging issue or a bad battery on the way out?
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barryd
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Aha.
Well, one option you could consider is Alpha Batteries in Rochdale (so not mega close, but a lot closer than Taunton
Might be worth checking out? I don't know if they stock any Battery Maintainers (I'll check shortly actually as if they don't, they need to!) but even if you brought the bits with you they could fit them for you.
And as an aside, they could maybe test your Starter Battery out while you are there so you would know if it just a charging issue or a bad battery on the way out?
Thanks. I only mentioned Taunton as we may well go down to Devon again. Rochdale would be a real PIA to be honest. Battery is getting tested on Monday and may be replaced so ill take it from there. There must be someone up here that can do it. Will see what the outcome is on Monday and start looking. There are two dealers at Catterick up the road but I have no faith in either of them.
wildebus
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I don't know if this one will be of any help as they are usually tied up with doing the conversions, but could maybe fit in a quick job in a lunchtime .... Northshore Customs in Stanley, so pretty close to your location by the sound of it? info here - https://www.northshorecustomconversions.co.uk/
run by a couple of brothers who are very friendly and hands on.
run by a couple of brothers who are very friendly and hands on.
Pudsey Bear
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AllanD
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Just an idea. Maybe the easiest temporary option would be to set a repeat reminder on your phone to manually switch over to vehicle battery once a week for a day (and then back again of course) which would keep things ok for now. Then next time your travels take you near any of the suggested companies (or David?), pop in and get a maintainer fitted?
merl
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According to the spec that's available I suspect that this is another example of the mains charger not doing a proper job of ' charging ' the battery because it's actually a power supply and it's voltage doesn't get high enough to correctly charge. This results in sulphation and an early demise of the battery/batteries. Less of an issue when the sun is shining as the solar will be set to the correct voltage and will charge properly providing there's enough sunlight.
Cheapest and 'least best' would be a link at the box, you can alleviate the overcurrent issue by adding a 10A fuse in the link wire (as per the details someone already posted) you pull the fuse when you start the van and fit the fuse when you need to link the 2 batteries. If you forget and attempt to start with the fuse still in it will protect the wiring by blowing so keep some spares handy. A decent auto device wouldn't be such a faff.
wildebus
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These PMS units are typical in that respect. Really designed for Caravans (hence the switch labelled "Car" and "Van") where the habitation battery is purely there to give a bit of power between campsites.
In the example I posted a photo of, the PMS unit stayed as the 240V Consumer Unit and 12V Control and Distribution centre, but all charging functions were taken from it and better modern choices fitted.
Cupboard by David, on Flickr
(Plus B2B under cab seats where batteries were located)
barryd
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Just in case there is any confusion here (probably me getting confused) if you switch the rocker switch to the cab battery when hooked up it does not charge the engine battery. I always assumed it would when I first got the van but it never does. It only charges the hab battery when hab battery is selected. It would have made sense for it to have charged whichever one is selected but it doesnt. The solar of course charges the hab battery no matter what position the switch is in as its directly connected from the MPPT controller to the battery.
Pudsey Bear
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wildebus
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What you describe as expecting to happen (charge whichever battery is selected) does happen on many of the Sargent units for example and is a reasonable expectation.
I don't know if the PMS units *should* do that or not. They are pretty dated and it would not surpise me if they didn't do that. It is down to whether the PSU/Charger is fitted on the output side of the Relay the switch controls or the input side and so on the Leisure Battery.
Given that these were primarily Caravan systems, the Vehicle battery would be in the Tow Car and so you would not expect to have to maintain via the Caravan.
vindiboy
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I have a simple free standing solar panel about 18 inches long and 10 inches deep with 2 cables fitted with crocodile clips +. - my roof panels take care of the leisure batteries but not the engine battery, I have it with me here in Portugal but am a bit wary about clipping the cables to my engine battery, the battery is acsesable at a pinch but still wary the battery is OK and we move every few days so the alternator keeps it charged and nothing drawing power from it except the alarm when on, if I do connect it is it positive first then the negative or vice versa just to be sure before I tinker with it as I believe in the saying, If it ain't broke don't try and fix it?? 25 degrees here in Quateria at the moment 11 30 am.
wildebus
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generally speaking it is -ve off first when removing and on last when fitting.
maingate
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If your Cab 12 volt cigar lighter socket is not permanently live it is easy to make it so. Remove the crocodile clips and fit a 12 volt plug and push it into the cigar socket with the panel on the dash. I did that with my first van and it works well.
merl
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2nd that, check all the fuses, there should be 3 X 15A
barryd
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Drove the van into Darlo this morning to get the battery checked properly and its fine apparently. Charging perfectly well and gave good readings. Got to take it back in a week or so to get the glow plug relay checked that they fitted last spring which we think sorted the lumpy cold starting issue which suddenly manifested itself again back end of last summer. I thought maybe if the battery was duff it wasnt providing enough power but it is so its not that.
MOT coming up again also. I hate this feckin time of year!
MOT coming up again also. I hate this feckin time of year!
QFour
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Our Carthago does not charge the cab battery when on EHU. Carthago seem to keep the two sides separate and rely on the alternator to top up the cab battery. The Victron solar controller only has a single output and there is a B2B system already installed to sort out the smart alternator charging the leisure battery. So I just fitted a smart charger under the seat with a 13a plug on it permanently connected to the cab battery. I can plug it into an adjacent socket if on EHU and it can also be connected to the inverter output. So in a round about way without altering any of the Carthago wiring I can charge the cab battery if needed from either EHU or Solar.
Pudsey Bear
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Pretty much what I did I think.
marchie
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A Cathargo Owner from my previous Forum experienced the Vehicle Battery ['VB'] parasitic drain problem and tipped me off about the AMT12-2. I went for that option and asked David at Wildebus to fit it for me, plus an Ablemail B2B, and subsequently a pair of Ablemail ABB07s [one each for the VB and Leisure Battery ['LB']], so that I can check the status of both batteries concurrently via the App, and without the faff of opening the bonnet and digging out meters etc.
For a non-techie, it's been a godsend and, even with Scottish Winters, I had only to plug into the mains to boost the VB on one occasion. I have the LB set to feed an almost constant current to the VB [9 seconds in every 10 seconds], and yesterday at about 0930, the VB was at 13,3v and the LB was at 13.45v
Steve