battery charged from van or not?

[paul1]

Hi, been trying to sort my van mount out been asked if want the battery to be connected to van to charge when van running etc what would you all recommend? This way or separate?

Also which hose reel please?

Cheers

 

[Alien Human]

Personally I would get it connected mate.

That's the option I have always gone for and its just 'one less thing to worry about'

Although, I have recently learnt from others on this forum that even if you do get it connected your supposed to take it out every now and again and charge up in the house..........something that I have never done......yet /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[peter rogers]

make sure its setup with split relay and not just wired to it

and even still i have mine connected take it out once a week for a good charge as only doing bout 10 miles a day not enough to charge it

 

[adamangler]

How much does it cost to get a split relay installed etc or how much to d.i.y one?

i take my small batteries out everynight to charge. Next step is bigger batt but looking for anew van first then build a nice system.

 

[peter rogers]

cost me 50 quid fitted by autospark but found they there a easy diy with videos online

 

[adamangler]

Might have to look into that then, remembering to charge battery is one of the main headaches i have a long with filling tank up.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Cost £18 for a split charge off of eBay.

If you can wire a plug you can wire a split charge. I will take a pic of mine tomorrow and explain it more clearly but honestly don't waste money paying someone to do it for you.

 

[adamangler]

Cost £18 for a split charge off of eBay.
If you can wire a plug you can wire a split charge. I will take a pic of mine tomorrow and explain it more clearly but honestly don't waste money paying someone to do it for you.

ok mate, which split charge did you get, the ones on ebay i can see look a bit more expensive but not sure what im looking for

 

[Jake]

Solar panel, more efficient and always trickle charging,

Split relay is only worth it if you do Longer journeys...

 

[Tuffers]

ok mate, which split charge did you get, the ones on ebay i can see look a bit more expensive but not sure what im looking for

I bought a controller with charging system installed.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Here you go £6.50 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-DC-Multi-Purpose-Split-Charge-Relay-Caravan-Motorhome-Dual-Battery-/321148454905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ac5f087f9

This is the same as the one that I have in my van.



This is the battery compartment of my Renault Trafic, This first pic shows the positive connection that will goto the split charge relay.



This shows the Earth / negative from the main vehicle battery to the split charge relay.

This brief video explains the connections on the split charge relay

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLAYyo-9xyI[/media]

I also have 30 amp fuses between the van battery / relay and the relay / pump battery to protect from surge.

If you cant wire it from this I cant help you /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

P.S. Important factors to remember, a Split charge relay only works when the ignition is engaged (turned on) Hence, whilst the ignition is turned off the pump battery is not getting charged, although it is getting drained by pump running so try not to have the pump on unless you are actually using it and what I mean by that is when Mrs Chatterbox wants to have a cuppa and a gossip make sure you turn the pump off so as not to drain the battery unnecessarily.

For those with long jaunts between jobs it will keep your battery tip top all month, for those that only have short journeys between jobs it will probably only keep you topped up for the week.

I think all digital pump controllers now also have a a voltage readout on the LED. AS long as you are above 12v on the readout your pump will run at its optimum level the moment it drops below 12v ie: 11.9v you are no longer pumping water consistently ass the pump needs a full 12v to run so below 12v it will 'surge' giving you inconsistent water flow.

Only a few weeks of trial and error will let you know how often you need to put the pump battery on a full charge.

 

[spruce]

Sorry Green,

The Ebay link is for a different relay. Yours is a TEC3M where the link is for a TEC2.

The TEC2 is only 15 amp and needs a trigger wire installed from the ignition or alternator for it to operate. Yours is an intelligent relay (self triggering) 30 amp relay so only kicks in once the van battery has been charged first. It doesn't need the extra wire.

This is the correct link

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-DC-30A-Auto-Switch-Dual-Charge-Combi-Smart-Relay-Towing-Caravan-Motorhome-/220971768368?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3372f19a30

 

[SPCleaning]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-TRANSIT-SELF-SWITCHING-VOLTAGE-SENSING-SPLIT-CHARGE-RELAY-KIT-12V-30-AMP-/141707181618?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20fe67fe32

I use one of these. Easy to fit and I have never benched charged my 115 ah leisure battery.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Cheers for the link update Spruce, you do need the higher amp relay.

SP I am not saying that all will need to take it out for a charge up once in a while, just those that don't clock a decent amount of mileage to provide sufficient charge. /emoticons/sad.png

 

[SPCleaning]

Cheers for the link update Spruce, you do need the higher amp relay.
SP I am not saying that all will need to take it out for a charge up once in a while, just those that don't clock a decent amount of mileage to provide sufficient charge. /emoticons/sad.png

Sorry @Green , my comment wasn't aimed at yours. I was just saying that I have never had to bench charge, because this is an amazing little relay.

And I totally agree with your remark. I live in a rural area so I'm always on the move.

 

[spruce]

The idea behind a VSR (Voltage Sensing Relay) is to keep the van and auxiliary (leisure) battery 'separate' when the van engine isn't running. This means that you can flatten a leisure battery but the van battery will still be fully charged to start the vehicle. If this relay wasn't fitted then both batteries will end up flat.

This is a good concept in motor homes (RV's).

Batteries are considered fully charged when they have stabilized to 12.7/12.8v. The need to remain idle for 4 hours before an accurate reading can be taken.

An alternator needs to output a higher voltage to charge a battery so most modern vehicles will generate a voltage of around 14.4v. (This is also changing as some ECU controlled alternators will kick out a higher voltage to replenish the battery charge quicker.)

Once the van battery is being charged at a voltage higher than 13.3v (on the VSR fitted to my van) the relay kicks in and the leisure battery receives a charge. We have found that is takes just a couple of seconds after start up for this connection to happen. On the other hand, once the van battery drops to 12.8v then the relay automatically switches off. (This can take sometime after the engine has been switched off, usually when both batteries are nearly fully charged. If the leisure battery is discharged, then the leisure battery will draw current from the van battery quickly, but the relay will switch off when the voltage drops to 12.8v. So in theory you will always have enough charge in your van battery to start the engine next time.)

At 12.7v or over a leisure battery is fully charged.

12.5 v - 75% charged.

12.4 v - 50% charged.

12.2 v - 25% charged.

12v or under - discharged.

Currently my van battery is nearly fully charged, but now the pump is running as the wife is washing her car, the voltage across the battery has dropped to 12.4v. This doesn't mean that the battery is now only 50% charged.

That voltage under load can drop way lower than 12v. My Varistream controller has a voltage cutoff or shutdown at 10.3v. This voltage is deemed a critical point. Draining the battery any lower will cause permanent damage to the battery. A battery reaching this voltage under load will probably recover to 12 or 12.1 volts once the battery has stabilized.

As Green says, a battery at this level of discharge will not drive a wfp pump very well.

 

[spruce]

Cheers for the link update Spruce, you do need the higher amp relay.
SP I am not saying that all will need to take it out for a charge up once in a while, just those that don't clock a decent amount of mileage to provide sufficient charge. /emoticons/sad.png

/emoticons/smile.png I had that relay (TEC2) in my van for 6 years. It stopped working 6 months ago and I upgraded the whole system to a 140 amp VSR with 70 amp cables.

I've done 175 miles this week and so I haven't need to 'bench' charge my leisure battery. Mostly I do between 50 - 75 miles a week tops and have to bench charge my battery every couple of nights.

 

[Tuffers]

/emoticons/smile.png I had that relay (TEC2) in my van for 6 years. It stopped working 6 months ago and I upgraded the whole system to a 140 amp VSR with 70 amp cables.
I've done 175 miles this week and so I haven't need to 'bench' charge my leisure battery. Mostly I do between 50 - 75 miles a week tops and have to bench charge my battery every couple of nights.

I tend to put mine on charge every 3 days or so.

 

[MrBump]

Solar panel, more efficient and always trickle charging,
Split relay is only worth it if you do Longer journeys...

Yo dude, do you leave your solar trickle charger on continuously? Does it 'over-charge' the battery or does it cut off at some point? I have no idea how batteries or solar chargers work lol.