Check your Anderson Plug wiring

[cruza driver]

Over the weekend I finally got around to wiring the Cruiser up with an Anderson Plug for a quicker charge of the Expanda's battery and the ability to use the Cruisers 2nd battery if needed. After wiring it all up I thought I would check out my handy work

At the Anderson Plug of the Cruiser there was 14.26 volts with the car running so all good then it was time to plug the van in and check the charge rate at the vans battery and to see if there was much voltage drop.

Well it wasnt charging :mad: so I thought here we go, the search is on to find out why as there was power on the rear of the vans plug so I knew it wasnt a bad connection in the plug.

A quick check of the inline fuses on top of the battery was where I started and the 1st one was fine but when I checked the 2nd one there was no fuse in it :rolleyes: I fitted one into the holder and the problem was fixed, and at least an easy fix. I rechecked the charge rate and all good.

I'm glad I checked otherwise I would of presumed it was charging whilst travelling.

 

[wizzerwazza]

hmmm interesting. when i have read my setek charger manual it seems to state that when i have my aux 12V connected (car), that this will only trickle charge (0.8A) while connected. I did measure the volts once at the anderson plug and then at my caravan battery and found the volts considerably higher at the plug. Will have to double check whats going on. Should the voltage at both batts be the same while the car is connected?

wizzer

 

[cruza driver]

I found the same thing with the car running I think the difference is between .5 - 1v difference, I put it down to the factory cabling being to small. But I could be wrong, I think down the track I will rewire the vans Anderson wiring with 6B&S cabling the same as I used in the Cruiser if it causes a problem.

 

[expanda]

Geez what a bummer fuse missing

Lucky you found it before getting on the road.

The setec units have a nasty but good charge protection circuit when the battery gets to flat

Out of interest what size wiring has the van got for the Anderson plug cruza?

Was thinking of adding this to my new one....

 

[cruza driver]

I think it looks around 6mm but cant be 100% sure which by doing a bit of research is to small.

 

[cruza driver]

Geez what a bummer fuse missing



The setec units have a nasty but good charge protection circuit when the battery gets to flat

What do you mean by that? It will recharge the battery from flat quickly?

Sorry should have replied in the same post I dont know what happened my typing wasn't keeping up with my question :rolleyes:

 

[expanda]

What do you mean by that? It will recharge the battery from flat quickly?

Sorry should have replied in the same post I dont know what happened my typing wasn't keeping up with my question :rolleyes:

I found this out the hard way

If the battery is drained flat as in no power at all you need to hook it into a mains outlet like in a caravan park in order to get the charging system out of "protection" mode.

Charging whilst plugged into the car is not strong enough / takes to long to do this.

So if you have flattened the battery completely the only way to get it out of protection mode is to plug into a mains adapter for a period of time to restore the charge and get it out of protection mode.

Its good as it protects your system but its bad because I was driving around for two days expecting my battery to charge and then took the van to Jayco complaining of a busted battery for no reason

 

[expanda]

This is from setec...

Subject: Charging Battery from flat
Q. Can the ST series power supplies charge a battery from flat (i.e. around 9.8 to 10 Volts)?
A. The Power supply has a Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD). To help maintain good battery life, as you are probably aware, it is not good to run the batteries all the way down. The Power Supply will disconnect at 10.5 +/- 0.3 V. It will then re-connect once the voltage has recovered to 11.65 V +/- 0.3 V. It will reconnect if mains is present and battery voltage is > 9.0 V. (The 9 V is pull in voltage on LVD coil). If no mains is present it will reconnect when battery voltage recovers to 11.65 +/-0.3 V.

 

[cruza driver]

Thanks for the clear explanation Expanda that makes a lot of sense. I've drained mine flat before so its good knowing that I need 240v to recharge it out of the protection mode.

I dont have solar so I guess a good way to overcome the house/van battery going flat I could also leave the anderson hooked up and have the cars 2nd battery and van battery connected in series.

 

[cruza driver]

Thats why I really like your forum Expanda its a wealth of knowledge

Very much appreciated mate

 

[Moto Moto]

Wow, great reading! I learn so much on here.

My new one is coming with an Anderson plug, and i just had a readarc isolator and anderson plug installed in the Patrol.................ready to go

Also grabbed an 80W folding solar panel from the recent supershow so hopefully that will help the battery from draining flat too often. Won't help much in this bloody weather though:rolleyes:

First thing i will check at delivery is a fuse, thanks cruza

 

[cruza driver]

Mine might just be a one off but I thought I'd just let everyone know, lets just say I'm glad I checked at home and not when it was to late

 

[wizzerwazza]

This is the link to SETEC page

http://www.setec.com.au/faq_jayco.html

Also has PDF files on the setec chargers used in jayco's.

It says somewhere in there if using solar panels that they should be directly connected to battery.

cheers
wizzer

 

[drewy]

Any Idea what size (Amps) Anderson plug is fitted to a Jayco when optioned from the factory? I want to pre wire my car but not sure what plug I will need to match the van.

 

[chartrock]

Any Idea what size (Amps) Anderson plug is fitted to a Jayco when optioned from the factory? I want to pre wire my car but not sure what plug I will need to match the van.

The best of my knowledge, there are only 2 sizes of anderson plugs. The standard size (50 amp) and a huge one (175 amp). The 50 amp is used on the Jayco.

 

[boots33]

I found the same thing with the car running I think the difference is between .5 - 1v difference, I put it down to the factory cabling being to small. But I could be wrong, I think down the track I will rewire the vans Anderson wiring with 6B&S cabling the same as I used in the Cruiser if it causes a problem.

If you look at the setec wiring diagram you will see a blocking diode is used to stop power from the van battery flowing back to the car. The use of a diode is a good way to prevent this from happening but silicone diodes also cause a .6v drop to the circuit they are in.

 

[boots33]

This is from setec...

Subject: Charging Battery from flat
Q. Can the ST series power supplies charge a battery from flat (i.e. around 9.8 to 10 Volts)?
A. The Power supply has a Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD). To help maintain good battery life, as you are probably aware, it is not good to run the batteries all the way down. The Power Supply will disconnect at 10.5 +/- 0.3 V. It will then re-connect once the voltage has recovered to 11.65 V +/- 0.3 V. It will reconnect if mains is present and battery voltage is > 9.0 V. (The 9 V is pull in voltage on LVD coil). If no mains is present it will reconnect when battery voltage recovers to 11.65 +/-0.3 V.

That seems like an odd way of doing things. as pointed out in an earlier post this will not allow the aux supply from the vehicle to charge the van battery once the van battery has fallen bellow the cutout voltage. not of much use if you are away from 240v

 

[wizzerwazza]

If you look at the setec wiring diagram you will see a blocking diode is used to stop power from the van battery flowing back to the car. The use of a diode is a good way to prevent this from happening but silicone diodes also cause a .6v drop to the circuit they are in.

thanks for the info boots. That explains my voltage drop between car and van battery.

cheers
wizzer

 

[drewy]

The best of my knowledge, there are only 2 sizes of anderson plugs. The standard size (50 amp) and a huge one (175 amp). The 50 amp is used on the Jayco.

Cheers mate!:thumb:

 

[cruza driver]

thanks for the info boots. That explains my voltage drop between car and van battery.

cheers
wizzer

Thanks mate.

It worked well on our recent central Oz trip and its good knowing its doing what its meant too.