Sterling Battery to Battery Chargers

[chipvan]

I have read a few comment regarding battery to battery charges but no one mentions how these effect the Sargent unit (if one is fitted) ?

I have the same problem as many other who use there motorhome all season, the solar panel on the roof does not generate much power in the winter months and with power consumption higher due to blow air heating, lights etc, our 2x110amp leisure batteries only last for about two days.

Running the engine or moving location does charge the batteries but not enough. Not really surprising if you look at the 20amp fuse Sargent fit and the small cables.

I don't want to add another batterie as it will be two years newer then the matching pair we have, plus the extra weight.

Sterling say pull the fuse out of the Sargent unit that feeds the leisure battery from the alternator then fit the battery to battery charger between the vehicle battery and the leisure batteries.

Has any of you with newer Motorhomes with a Sargent unit done this and fitted a B2B ?

I don't want to carry a generator around and a can of petrol, as we don't have a garage, weight would also be an issue as well as security. I like the idea of LPG instead of petrol for the generator, as we have two refillable bottles, but why not use the big diesel generator that is factory fitted to our motorhome and it comes standard with an alternator (the engine) ?

Before you all comment we do have LED's fitted and don't watch much TV, but we do have teenagers with phones and iPads that seem to always need charging.

 

[chrismilo]

I've a Sterling battery to battery charger bb1260
Well worth the £400 odd quid wish I done it long ago better than Genny helps my 300 watt solar panels out in winter
Just idling the engine managed to charge a half empty 210 amp hour battery in 45 min before it switched onto float
The only thing I notice when driving seems to use more diesel maybe as the alternators working flat out

 

[slonger]

I fit a new sterling bb1260 in August last year. I have a sargent ec225 plus a 240w solar panel on the roof and I have just left everything connected and it all seems to work correctly. I was worried about the fridge working on 12v if I unplugged the alternator feed so I just left it. so far so good.

 

[chipvan]

I've a Sterling battery to battery charger bb1260
Well worth the £400 odd quid wish I done it long ago better than Genny helps my 300 watt solar panels out in winter
Just idling the engine managed to charge a half empty 210 amp hour battery in 45 min before it switched onto float
The only thing I notice when driving seems to use more diesel maybe as the alternators working flat out

Have you got a Sargent unit and if so have you done any changes to it ?

 

[chrismilo]

No sergeant unit and also just replaced the Zig unit with 2 new fuse boxes and going to add a Ctek for when on EHU
Everything seems to work fine should anything go wrong I can fall back on my honda em650 genny

 

[Admin]

When fitting a battery to battery charger, you must disable the dual charge system. If you don't then the original dual charge relay connects the two batteries together.

 

[2cv]

I wonder if perhaps the leisure batteries are past their best. I only have one 110ah battery and can go for three to four days in winter, including tv i pads and blown air heating, and never run it down below 12.5v.

 

[molly 2]

I wonder if perhaps the leisure batteries are past their best. I only have one 110ah battery and can go for three to four days in winter, including tv i pads and blown air heating, and never run it down below 12.5v.

. I also can go 3/4 nights on my 170 amp batteries blown air heating on 24/7.would suggest that you fully charge your batterys on mains ,. engine and solar system may not fully charge your batterys.

 

[molly 2]

Check out sterling 1230 or 1260 ultra battery to battery chargers ,designed for Euro 5 _6 engines frome about 2010 onwards with smart alternators ,plenty of info on sterling BtB YouTube,

 

[chipvan]

Batteries test ok and fully charged but stored in outside locker and you can tell the difference the cold makes. Teenagers charging tablets and phones don't help much and solar panel not doing much good as its either dark, miserable or raining in Wales.

 

[molly 2]

What Sargent. Unit do you have ?.

 

[chipvan]

Check out sterling 1230 or 1260 ultra battery to battery chargers ,designed for Euro 5 _6 engines frome about 2010 onwards with smart alternators ,plenty of info on sterling BtB YouTube,

Called and spoke to Sterling today who recommended taking the fuse out the Sargent unit that links the alternator to the leisure battery. Connecting the vehicle battery to b2b then the leisure battery, this would then have nothing to with the Sargent unit but I would like to do talk to someone that has done this with a new Sargent unit such as a EC600

 

[molly 2]

I am also thinking about a sterling 1230 ultra BtB ,I have CBE 200 controls system it is wired to the engine battery not the alternator . I. Emaild Sterling to ask if would conflict with my CBE system they replied should be ok but cannot comment as they don't know about individual systems ,if I disconnected the fuse I wouldn't expect the fridge to work on 12 V or the electric step to retract .As far as I can see you can't disconnect Lb relay as it is built into the CBE unit .???

 

[WildThingsKev]

I've fitted a 45A Votronic b2b charger to my Rapido which has a CBE 200 system. The method I used works very successfully but means a fair bit of new wiring.

A pair of new large wires run from the starter battery to the b2b and from the b2b to the leisure batteries. The +ve wire between the LBs and thd Cbe unit has a relay in it which opens when the ignition is turned on. This means that the LBs are isolated from the habitation side when the engine is running but the hab side is still powered by the original system; so fridge, lights truma dump valve etc still operate normally. The cbe panel will only show the voltage of the vehicle battery whilst the engine is running but I have a separate nasa monitor for the LBs anyway.

I can recommend the Votronic b2b, it's worked faultlessly for 4 years and we give it quite a hard time as we spend all January and February in the Alps skiing, normally without hookup. Our van is a 2008 Fiat, the 140A alternator has an output at tickover of 75A (iirc) so if running the engine for over 30 minutes whilst stationary I make sure the fridge is on gas and that the vehicle lights, fan and radio are off so as not to stress the alternator. I normally only run stationary whilst the b2b is in bulk charge mode, ie putting 45A into my 2 x110Ah batteries. Once the output starts to drop into absorption phase then the batteries will be at about 80% and it's not worth continuing.

There is a bit more complexity to the wiring, for example my solar panel is also switched out when the engine is running, but if you could look at my system it would look simpler than it sounds.

Kev

PS the votronic is very efficient and I don't think I've ever heard the cooling fan operate, if it has then it's very quiet.

 

[chrismilo]

Check out sterling 1230 or 1260 ultra battery to battery chargers ,designed for Euro 5 _6 engines frome about 2010 onwards with smart alternators ,plenty of info on sterling BtB YouTube,

Beware of the 30 day only warranty on older models I got 5 years on my bb1260

 

[molly 2]

I've fitted a 45A Votronic b2b charger to my Rapido which has a CBE 200 system. The method I used works very successfully but means a fair bit of new wiring.

A pair of new large wires run from the starter battery to the b2b and from the b2b to the leisure batteries. The +ve wire between the LBs and thd Cbe unit has a relay in it which opens when the ignition is turned on. This means that the LBs are isolated from the habitation side when the engine is running but the hab side is still powered by the original system; so fridge, lights truma dump valve etc still operate normally. The cbe panel will only show the voltage of the vehicle battery whilst the engine is running but I have a separate nasa monitor for the LBs anyway.

I can recommend the Votronic b2b, it's worked faultlessly for 4 years and we give it quite a hard time as we spend all January and February in the Alps skiing, normally without hookup. Our van is a 2008 Fiat, the 140A alternator has an output at tickover of 75A (iirc) so if running the engine for over 30 minutes whilst stationary I make sure the fridge is on gas and that the vehicle lights, fan and radio are off so as not to stress the alternator. I normally only run stationary whilst the b2b is in bulk charge mode, ie putting 45A into my 2 x110Ah batteries. Once the output starts to drop into absorption phase then the batteries will be at about 80% and it's not worth continuing.

There is a bit more complexity to the wiring, for example my solar panel is also switched out when the engine is running, but if you could look at my system it would look simpler than it sounds.

Kev

PS the votronic is very efficient and I don't think I've ever heard the cooling fan operate, if it has then it's very quiet.

I take it the white box on left is CBE unit what is the box stuck to it and the box on the right ,my interest is for the sterling 1230 ultra as it is designed for a smart alternator which I have ,thanks

 

[Obanboy666]

I wonder if perhaps the leisure batteries are past their best. I only have one 110ah battery and can go for three to four days in winter, including tv i pads and blown air heating, and never run it down below 12.5v.

That's bloody amazing !
12.5 volts from what I have read is 80% - 90% remaining charge so by your reckoning you are using at worst 20% of your 110amp battery over 4 days ?
That's 20% of 110amps = 22amps.
So just over 5 amps a day running tv, blown air heating and charging various iPads etc ? hard to believe to say the least.

My Avtex tv uses approx 1.5 amps an hour, so if I ran that for 3 1/2 hours a day without any heating, lights or anything else for that matter that would use up the 5 amps you reckon you use per day ?
Something doesn't add up here to say the least.

 

[WildThingsKev]

I take it the white box on left is CBE unit what is the box stuck to it and the box on the right ,my interest is for the sterling 1230 ultra as it is designed for a smart alternator which I have ,thanks

The cbe unit is not in the picture. The left grey box is basically the -ve side junction box including the shunt for the NASA bluetooth monitor (which is whats mounted on it), the right grey box is the +ve junction box which also contains the relay I mentioned.

There are also battery voltage and temperature sensing wires running from the b2b charger.

 

[chrismilo]

The older models have a 2 year warranty unless you buy them cheap on eBay. Even then, you may be ok. One of my Sterling BB1250 units failed well out of warranty and they fixed it for free. I just paid a tenner for delivery.

Some from sterling power have 30 day warranties too it's worth checking

 

[chrismilo]

I take it the white box on left is CBE unit what is the box stuck to it and the box on the right ,my interest is for the sterling 1230 ultra as it is designed for a smart alternator which I have ,thanks

The 1260 which has double the power else the same has a jumper connection set for non regenerative braking as default remove the jumper wire and it will do regenerative braking Thanks