Electrical Dual Battery question
- Thread starter Capt. Gadget
- Start date
just throwing this out there, has anyone ever considered using 2, 6 volt deep cycle batteries, wired in series to give 12 volts, i have been lead to believe by someone who knows more than me, that 6 volt batteries have a longer life than 12 volt (dont know if this is the case or not)
so, 2 6volt 225ah batteries in series would produce 12volts 225ah
cheers
tony
so, 2 6volt 225ah batteries in series would produce 12volts 225ah
cheers
tony
Please excuse the Virgin (first post). When the sparky fitted my brake controller & hotwire to the 12 pin plug. He indicated the hotwire (caravan side) goes to the fridge or SETEK first then back to the caravan battery. In order to fit the CTEK d250s dual I'm planning to unplug & hijak that hotwire routing everything through the d250s first. Is that about the long and short of it? Any tricks before i start?
Thankyou to all the previous posters too.
Thankyou to all the previous posters too.
Hi Scotty,
Welcome to the forum, have a look at this thread, page 1 might be helpful.
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/dual-battery-question.2650/
Dave
Welcome to the forum, have a look at this thread, page 1 might be helpful.
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/dual-battery-question.2650/
Dave
@Scotty,
Welcome to the forum.
Typically Jayco set up the 12 pin plug in such a way that the 12V on the fridge is connected to pins 9 (+ve) and 10 (-ve). If you have a breakaway electric brake controller fitted, it is usually charged via pin 2 - normally reversing lights. This needs to be changed on the vehicle side to also provide constant 12V.
Your caravan battery/s may only be connected to the SETEK and will only charge when the van is connected to 240V. Jayco do not normally connect the SETEK 12V AUX connection.
With most new cars and their "Smart" alternators, they will not charge your van's battery/s well, so this is why you put in a DC-DC charger like the CTEK D250S, or Redarc.
Would be very surprised if the SETEC and the 12V fridge are both connected to the vehicle. We had a cable run from the batteries to an Anderson Plug so that we could charge the batteries while driving.
I would recommend opening the caravan 12 pin plug and writing down which pins are being used as Jayco may not always be consistent with how they are wiring vans.
Attached is our vehicle <-> caravan wiring diagram - hope it helps you out.
Cheers,
Rohan
Awesome diagram, but I am wondering if you would need 2 Anderson Plugs on your van side. Wouldn't you be able to plug the Solar into the Anderson Plug that you plug the car into?
@Ben Stanford,
I have a dedicated Anderson Plug for solar for the following reasons:
- On the 200W portable solar panel I have removed the solar regulator from the back, as the solar regulator was not able to top off the batteries beyond about 85% as it was a cheap regulator that came with the panel.
- For best battery charging with Solar, it is recommended that the regulator is located as close to the battery as possible. The CTEK is right next to them in the van
- The CTEK D250S is also an MPPT solar regulator and has dedicated solar inputs
As the raw solar panel output is 22V, I do not want the wrong plugs connected and frying anything in the van or car, so:
- Grey Anderson Plug -> Car (12 - 14.8V)
- Red Anderson Plug -> Solar (22V)
- Coloured Anderson Plugs are keyed and will only connect to the same colour.
Cheers,
Rohan
Awesome, thanks for the explanation, I will be doing a similar thing on mine, and your explanation has cleared things up greatly!
Now my turn. @ROnEM, are you still running your Setec for all other functions including charging off 240V? Thank you for your latest diagram.
What do use to monitor van battery status, or does the ctek do that. What I mean is do you have something in the van so you can check battery levels and solar performance?
Cheers Geoff
What do use to monitor van battery status, or does the ctek do that. What I mean is do you have something in the van so you can check battery levels and solar performance?
Cheers Geoff
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@macca,
Yes, at the moment I am still running the SETEC for all 12V functions and also charging when on 240V. However, at some stage I will be replacing it with a CTEK SmartPass and 240V to 12V battery charger.
At the moment I use my trusty multimeter to periodically monitor solar performance and battery levels. Initially I did it a couple of times a day, but now that I know how things typically behave, the checks are done less frequently. Plan is to ultimately put in a BM-1 Battery Monitor.
Cheers,
Rohan
Yes, at the moment I am still running the SETEC for all 12V functions and also charging when on 240V. However, at some stage I will be replacing it with a CTEK SmartPass and 240V to 12V battery charger.
At the moment I use my trusty multimeter to periodically monitor solar performance and battery levels. Initially I did it a couple of times a day, but now that I know how things typically behave, the checks are done less frequently. Plan is to ultimately put in a BM-1 Battery Monitor.
Cheers,
Rohan
It's a piece of cake mate, I recon an hour or so depending on how your wiring is in your van. When I did my solar set up I used links to tidy things up so I just wired it straight into available terminals, but still straight forward otherwise.
Cheers.
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You lot are making me jealous, finances wont stretch at the moment so I'm going to have to wait to get my BM-1 and the solar panels.
I second Burnsy's comments. Excellent piece of kit. Didn't take long to install either. Cheers.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/170901504188
above is a link for a cheaper version, i used it in my last van - and it was great. told me everything i needed to know about the battery - charging and discharging. remaining battery levels. much better price. i now use a drifter panel in my new van, so thats the only reason i dont use it now.
above is a link for a cheaper version, i used it in my last van - and it was great. told me everything i needed to know about the battery - charging and discharging. remaining battery levels. much better price. i now use a drifter panel in my new van, so thats the only reason i dont use it now.