Smart com relay

Hi guys

Anyone got a smart com relay for charging their battery?

The cable which is connected to the neutral on the leisure battery and goes to the metal of the van melted, burnt out the other day. I had fully charged it at the weekend. Used it all morning Tuesday no problem, then Tuesday pm while driving van filled with smoke caused by cable being melted.

I’m still using battery no problem need to still change the cables and try again, have had this setup for maybe 4 years now.

Any thoughts??

Regards

Dan

Lucky you caught it m8.  

@spruce could possibly shed some light on a fix for for you. 

Seems strange that the negative cable should go. Why should it work for 4 years and then this happens?

The only thing I can think off is that something has gone wrong with the cable such as a semi break. Vibration could cause this. The increased resistance could then cause heat and has melted the cable. Resistance at the connector could cause an issue but it hasn't affected the other earth cable. So it doesn't look like the heat started there.

I don't think this is related to the smartcom relay at all tbh.

What would I do? In the best situation I could just replace the negative cable with a correct size one and see what happens. I would always advise a proper earth cable from the leisure battery to earth. Something that will carry 70 to 100 amps.

Example

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-Lead-Power-Strap-Earth-Bond-Leisure-Cable-Leads-16mm2-35mm2-Custom/202025281957?hash=item2f09a529a5:m:mA2tkw5nHHjiZOe6ype3Z6Q

I personally think its a rather thin diamt cable which has deteriorated over time and failed.

Please let us know how you get on.

Added now;

I have just removed the heating element on my son's Ikea dishwasher as its faulty and blowing the fuse in the plug. I see there has been overheating for a while as the cables supplying current to the element have melted insulation to some 9" before the connectors. I've ordered a new heating element but have also ordered some heat resistant cable and will splice that into the final 12" of the supply to the element to stop any futher issues like that developing.

On a side point, which has nothing to do with this, its good practice to uncoil and cable drum of cable and lay it out flat if you are putting a heavy current through it.

Many years ago we had a customer use an 1800 watt electrical jack hammer but left the excess cable on the drum. That draw of current was sufficient to create a magnetic field within the cable drum. As the cable got warm the resistance in the copper wire increased causing more heat. The cable drum caught fire. We saw this as the customer had the audacity to demand we replace his cable drum under warranty.

.

Thanks spruce. Going redo the wiring over the weekend, and test it.

Yes was strange only on the neutral leg, only reasons I have there was a nic in live n neutral cable, and arched.

Loose connection or bad connection . Will let you know. I have a new smartcom relay (had a spare) so changing that aswell..

I have the smartcom relay for the last couple of years works fine but was concerned when I first saw this thread my friend fitted mine he also also installed mine in a waterproof enclosure, but my next van I’m not going to bother with a split charge as I don’t do enough mileage to make any real difference. 

Den said:

I have the smartcom relay for the last couple of years works fine but was concerned when I first saw this thread my friend fitted mine he also also installed mine in a waterproof enclosure, but my next van I’m not going to bother with a split charge as I don’t do enough mileage to make any real difference. 

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I think that's a good idea. My current relay is in a 'waterproof' enclosure. I fitted my son's relay under the passenger seat of his van so it would be dry. The van he has now came with a standard relay bolted into the engine compartment.

I agree that my relay doesn't make any real difference to leisure battery charging either. In the last 10 years I've had 2 batteries pack over during heavy usage on a big job. Both batteries were over 3 years old so I don't complain. It was a simple solution to run the engine of the van so we could finish both jobs off. That relay paid for its self on those two occassions.

In my early wfp days I had a wfp trailer that I towed with a Suzuki Carry van. I couldn't get more than a year out of a leisure battery. I often had to work with my van engine running to complete the day's work.

In those days our Halfords didn't carry leisure batteries as a stock item. They are also 8 miles away. The closest ex stockseller of leisure batteries was a Caravan and Camping sales outlet 20 miles away. So the easiest solution was to have our local motor factors order the replacement overnight.

Ok , so rewired the wiring the burnt out. After doing that and testing I think I have worked out what happened.

The crocodile clip for the live, I think have touched the frame holding the tank in, the paint work has rubbed of abit, so frame work would of become live, also the neutral is bolted too the frame of the van. So live has then traveled down the neutral too the battery in turn burning out the cable,

So was quite a freak accident, but I need to check how my crocodile clips are put on.

Will be testing tomorrow at work aswell..

Dan

dan2016 said:

Ok , so rewired the wiring the burnt out. After doing that and testing I think I have worked out what happened.

The crocodile clip for the live, I think have touched the frame holding the tank in, the paint work has rubbed of abit, so frame work would of become live, also the neutral is bolted too the frame of the van. So live has then traveled down the neutral too the battery in turn burning out the cable,

So was quite a freak accident, but I need to check how my crocodile clips are put on.

Will be testing tomorrow at work aswell..

Dan

Click to expand...

I would change out the crocodile clamps for proper battery terminals tbh

spruce said:

I would change out the crocodile clamps for proper battery terminals tbh

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I agree wholeheartedly! Crocodile clamps in a moving van? Please don't!

If you need to be able to detach easily, they sell battery clamps that you push down to lock on, very handy, and safe.