Hookup charging

[wisper]

Hi all
I have a swift gazelle f63 and am not sure if my onboard charger is charging up the battery’s .
i have put a voltage meter onto the wires that come out off the charger and when control pannel switch is flicked to the bottom (0) am getting no voltage but when I flick the switch to the cab battery’s am getting voltage from the wires that come out off the charger.
I always thought I turn the control panel off then use hookup and it’s charging the battery’s .
but now am thinking I have to put the switch to the cab battery while on hookup and then the charger is charging up the battery’s .
sorry if I have not explained my self too well.

 

[trevskoda]

Not sure of your setup but i would think main board should be on,also most of them old type black boxes are both a charger and power point unit,i would prefare the more modern multi stage float chargers taking care of my batterys.
Im sure someone with the same van will be along to help.

 

[wisper]

Not sure of your setup but i would think main board should be on,also most of them old type black boxes are both a charger and power point unit,i would prefare the more modern multi stage float chargers taking care of my batterys.
Im sure someone with the same van will be along to help.

hi Trev
thanks for your reply I have upgraded my charger this is the one I have fitted

 

[harrow]

hi Trev
thanks for your reply I have upgraded my charger this is the one I have fitted

This is the spec sheet

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/user...tage-leisure-battery-charger-instructions.pdf

:wave:

 

[wisper]

This is the spec sheet

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/user...tage-leisure-battery-charger-instructions.pdf

:wave:

Thank you
it’s set to 3 stage charging (green light )
so I take it for it to charge the battery’s the control panel has to be on cab/hab battery .
and to use psu mode the switch on the panel has to be put to the middle (0)

 

[Minisorella]

I'm really interested to see what people say here because I never change anything on my panel and I'm wondering if I'm missing something?

I have no doubt that our panels are completely different but when I hook up to mains power, the charger just does its thing without me flipping any switches on the panel. I think my panel is just for various read-out purposes and doesn't have any real functionality. Aside from that, I've just got a master switch that turns off all the 12V power to the hab area, as does the van ignition switch but it makes no difference to mains charging if the master switch is on or off. Electrickery is sooo not my forte, which is why I like to keep an eye on and try to learn from the questions of others

 

[wisper]

I'm really interested to see what people say here because I never change anything on my panel and I'm wondering if I'm missing something?

I have no doubt that our panels are completely different but when I hook up to mains power, the charger just does its thing without me flipping any switches on the panel. I think my panel is just for various read-out purposes and doesn't have any real functionality. Aside from that, I've just got a master switch that turns off all the 12V power to the hab area, as does the van ignition switch but it makes no difference to mains charging if the master switch is on or off. Electrickery is sooo not my forte, which is why I like to keep an eye on and try to learn from the questions of others

when I upgraded the onboard charger I used the old wiring . But on looking at the wiring diagram it looks like it should be wired direct to the battery (fused off course) then it will work like yours. Once on hookup
It should charge the battery up no matter what the control panel switch is on. I could be wrong tho

 

[wisper]

when I upgraded the onboard charger I used the old wiring . But on looking at the wiring diagram it looks like it should be wired direct to the battery (fused off course) then it will work like yours. Once on hookup
It should charge the battery up no matter what the control panel switch is on. I could be wrong tho

This is my control panel

 

[trevskoda]

I find some van wireing daft and odd,here is the way i do it .

 

[harrow]

when I upgraded the onboard charger I used the old wiring . But on looking at the wiring diagram it looks like it should be wired direct to the battery (fused off course) then it will work like yours. Once on hookup
It should charge the battery up no matter what the control panel switch is on. I could be wrong tho

Well the most straight forward well to tell is monitor the batteries with a multimeter and flick the switches to hab and then cab and you will see for sure what is being charged.

:hammer::hammer::hammer:

 

[REC]

I find some van wireing daft and odd,here is the way i do it .

I just look at that picture, my eyes cross and my brain stops! Very impressed with anyone who deals with electrics.

 

[molly 2]

Well the most straight forward well to tell is monitor the batteries with a multimeter and flick the switches to hab and then cab and you will see for sure what is being charged.

:hammer::hammer::hammer:[/QUOTe. Consider a clamp meter ,dose most of what a multi meter dose , plus the clamp gives you the amp readings at the battery lead etc you need a RMS meter to read DC amp's , some clamp meter's only read ac amps so check before purchase ,cheapys start a round 25, ac CLAMP meter's around 8 .useful to check amps going in to and out of the battery from , solar ,engine and, mains charger .

 

[wisper]

Right I feel abit silly for asking the question now
I plugged the motorhome into ehu and put the panel control switch to the middle(0)
got the multimeter out and seen no change in the voltage then I flicked switch to cab/hab and then the voltage started going up, so I have my answer right there lol.
I always thought once you had the control panel set too the middle and plugged in ehu then the battery’s was being charged as the control panel comes on.
Thanks for everyone’s help and advice and sorry for the dumb question

 

[Tezza33]

I'm really interested to see what people say here because I never change anything on my panel and I'm wondering if I'm missing something?

I have no doubt that our panels are completely different but when I hook up to mains power, the charger just does its thing without me flipping any switches on the panel. I think my panel is just for various read-out purposes and doesn't have any real functionality. Aside from that, I've just got a master switch that turns off all the 12V power to the hab area, as does the van ignition switch but it makes no difference to mains charging if the master switch is on or off. Electrickery is sooo not my forte, which is why I like to keep an eye on and try to learn from the questions of others

I have never had a motorhome where you have to switch anything on or off when you connect to EHU so I wouldn't worry about doing anything wrong.

 

[trevskoda]

I just look at that picture, my eyes cross and my brain stops! Very impressed with anyone who deals with electrics.

Just think of it as water flowing in a pipe,the more water required the thicker the pipes must be,the cold and the hot must never touch,simple well almost.:scared:

 

[Minisorella]

I find some van wireing daft and odd,here is the way i do it .

I just look at that picture, my eyes cross and my brain stops! Very impressed with anyone who deals with electrics.

I've always felt exactly the same REC! Trev's one, though, is a candle in a dark place and I can actually make a little bit of sense of it for the first time ever! The diagrams in my manual don't label the start or finish of anything, like a maze without an entrance or exit, so I don't know which end is up! Trev's includes magic words like 'Van input socket' and 'To battery charger', etc. Woohoo!
Thanks Trev

Wisper don't ever be reluctant to ask questions... if we all felt like that, the truly bewildered (ie me!) would never learn anything! There are no dumb questions - just the occasional dumb answer :raofl:

 

[trevskoda]

I've always felt exactly the same REC! Trev's one, though, is a candle in a dark place and I can actually make a little bit of sense of it for the first time ever! The diagrams in my manual don't label the start or finish of anything, like a maze without an entrance or exit, so I don't know which end is up! Trev's includes magic words like 'Van input socket' and 'To battery charger', etc. Woohoo!
Thanks Trev View attachment 61102

Wisper don't ever be reluctant to ask questions... if we all felt like that, the truly bewildered (ie me!) would never learn anything! There are no dumb questions - just the occasional dumb answer :raofl:

There can be some veriations of the dia,for example if using a single way split diode unit instead of 3/4 way then a relay for fridge can be run of the input post with the fire wire going back to engine alt,of course this dia is for older vans before all this smart crap came in..
With some alteration my dia wil and can be moded to work with newer vans.

 

[Minisorella]

I think it was a sensible question. What you found surprises me.

Both the motorhomes I've had that had a switch that let you choose engine / off / hab as a power source charged the hab batteries whatever position that switch was in. The switch only affected where the load was connected to.

However, neither of them even trickle-charged the engine battery. But they were old. One was build in the late 1960s and the other was 1995 registered, probably made in 1994.

I think the idea of having a switch that lets you use the engine battery for domestic power is an accident waiting to happen, and I'm surprised that they are still fitted.

Generally I thought that on modern vans the switch on the control panel only switches the voltmeter between the batteries, so you can see the state of the batteries, not change where the load is connected to.

That's what mine does HD, which is why I was interested in the question. I guess at 12 years old, it could still be thought of as modern :rolleyes2:

 

[sparrks]

Just think of it as water flowing in a pipe,the more water required the thicker the pipes must be,the cold and the hot must never touch,simple well almost.:scared:

Or you can do what the B2B's do rather than thicker pipes up the pressure (voltage) a bit and get more flow that way.

 

[trevskoda]

I think it was a sensible question. What you found surprises me.

Both the motorhomes I've had that had a switch that let you choose engine / off / hab as a power source charged the hab batteries whatever position that switch was in. The switch only affected where the load was connected to.

However, neither of them even trickle-charged the engine battery. But they were old. One was build in the late 1960s and the other was 1995 registered, probably made in 1994.

I think the idea of having a switch that lets you use the engine battery for domestic power is an accident waiting to happen, and I'm surprised that they are still fitted.

Generally I thought that on modern vans the switch on the control panel only switches the voltmeter between the batteries, so you can see the state of the batteries, not change where the load is connected to.

I had a pug in doing a rewire,the switch did let you go between eng & hab battery,i disconected the feed wire and only used it as a meter reading wire,as h/dog says a acc waiting to happen.
I do think that folk building vans for sale to the public never talk to punters or use vans in real life cause if they did things would be much better.