How to bypass setek charger

[Mike7]

Hi guys,

I was wandering if its possible to bypass/disable the 12V charger component of my jaycos setek. I would still like the setek to supply all the 12V stuff in the van.

I want to use a ctek d250s to charge the batteries when on solar and a ctek 25A 240V charger when in a park.

I have a Nasa BM1 battery monitor which I want to wire into the system so it gives me an accurate SOC so I'm a little confused on how to wire all this up.

Cheers
Mike

 

[ROnEM]

Mike,

If you are going to go that far with the CTEK products, why not get the CTEK SmartPass and a 12v fuse block and remove the Setec completely.

Other than removing the 240V plug or turning off the 240V power at the powerpoint the Setec is connected to, I do not know how to internally disable the charging circuit.

As we have done when using the 12v to 240v inverter back into the Van's 240v feed, I simply disconnect the Setec 240v power plug and the Setec 12v stuff still works quite OK.

Cheers,

Rohan

 

[boots33]

Hi guys,

I was wandering if its possible to bypass/disable the 12V charger component of my jaycos setek. I would still like the setek to supply all the 12V stuff in the van.

Hey Mike

Yes that is very easy to do. Just unplug the setec from the 240v power point. that will stop it from supplying 12v and charging your battery. By leaving the setec in place it will still provide low voltage cutout protection to your battery and fuse protection for your load circuits. Remember that the setec requirement of a 14.8v maximum voltage still applies.

I want to use a ctek d250s to charge the batteries when on solar and a ctek 25A 240V charger when in a park.

Whatever you choose to replace the setec with will simply need to be hooked up as per the instructions that are provided with it. This will most likely mean hooking them directly to your battery via a suitable fuse.

I have a Nasa BM1 battery monitor which I want to wire into the system so it gives me an accurate SOC so I'm a little confused on how to wire all this up.

The BM1 is a combination volt/amp gauge that uses a shunt to measure the current. it should be fairly easy to fit. Generally you would hook the shunt directly to the positive of your battery and all other wires (load and charge) will connect to the other side of the shunt. this will allow it to show drain as well as charge to your battery.

I am curious as to why you want to replace your setec. has it been giving you trouble.

 

[zerosecta]

Hey Mike
The BM1 is a combination volt/amp gauge that uses a shunt to measure the current. it should be fairly easy to fit. Generally you would hook the shunt directly to the positive of your battery and all other wires (load and charge) will connect to the other side of the shunt. this will allow it to show drain as well as charge to your battery.

Correction - the Shunt is connected to the Negative terminal not Positive, then everything is connected through the shunt and it will give you the amps going out or into the battery at any given time - awesome piece of kit... Everything RV should have one as standard

 

[zerosecta]

I would say though and agree with a couple of the others - just remove the setek and get yourself the full ctek outfit - I kind of wish I had gone that way instead of mixing and matching - although I do like my 40AMP capability - I took out setec and replaced with BCDC1240 and Xantrek 40A

Post 93 here http://www.expandasdownunder.com/showthread.php/989-The-Gray-s-16-49-1-Outback-Expanda/page10

 

[Soaring]

So what are the advantages of this "Ctek" system over the stardard setek?

I don't have a van yet, so interested on why this upgrade may be required.
It may be something Im going to have to add to my ever groing list of things to do/buy when the 17.62OB arrives.....

 

[zerosecta]

Charging from Solar, Vehicle or 240V is all routed into and auto selected by the one system with the need to manually switch over etc.

But the main + is much better charge rate, so Basically your batteries will get to full charge much quicker.... If you need that capability that is...

At the end of the day, if you do most of your camping in Caravan\Holiday Parks then why waste the money on any of this fancy Stuff? At the end of the day If you camp in powered site always, then you don't even need a battery come to think of it because the setec unit does that when plugged into 240 anyway...

 

[Soaring]

Charging from Solar, Vehicle or 240V is all routed into and auto selected by the one system with the need to manually switch over etc.

But the main + is much better charge rate, so Basically your batteries will get to full charge much quicker.... If you need that capability that is...

At the end of the day, if you do most of your camping in Caravan\Holiday Parks then why waste the money on any of this fancy Stuff? At the end of the day If you camp in powered site always, then you don't even need a battery come to think of it because the setec unit does that when plugged into 240 anyway...

Got it. Thanks Zero. Good description.
I did read something about needing a 12v source for the fridge to connect on Gas, so I guess even for a roadside overnighter a battery would be a must to light the fridge..right?

 

[zerosecta]

Hi Soaring, I'd say so Mate and come to think of it you will need 12v to to light the stove as well.... not having a battery at all would be extreme but in theory and I'll bring it up again just to stir a little....

If the only places you camped was powered sites then you really don't need a battery at all - and if it was just for the quick road side stop in daylight hours to light the stove for hot water and ignite the fridge while on gas then why not save the weight of a big battery and just put in a very small 6 to 10 AH battery like the ones in the Kids toys etc. ????

Food for thought right?

 

[boots33]

Correction - the Shunt is connected to the Negative terminal not Positive, then everything is connected through the shunt and it will give you the amps going out or into the battery at any given time - awesome piece of kit... Everything RV should have one as standard

I was more talking in general terms of how shunts are connected but yes you are correct, having now had a look at the bm1 web site it is connected to the negative circuit. good catch zero and yes i agree it does look a nice piece of kit.

At the end of the day, if you do most of your camping in Caravan\Holiday Parks then why waste the money on any of this fancy Stuff?

I have long supported the old "if it aint broke don't fix it" While the series 1 setecs left much to be desired the series 2 units really aren't that bad. they have a very low standby draw and offer multi-stage charging. Unless you are an extreme power user there is little to gain by fitting an after market unit imho.

 

[macca]

Not all fridges need 12V to run on gas, unless this is specific to 2013 models. My gas fridge runs happily without any power to the van. I know some need 12V to control the gas electronics, but that seems pointless to me. Might as well just have a compressor fridge.

 

[Mike7]

G'day Boots,

Thanks for the input. My setek is working fine as is and I'm happy with it however, what I am trying to do is integrate my solar panels into the system so everything goes thru the bm1 so I have an accurate SOC. I like the way the setek powers the 12v stuff. As opposed to most setups which have a charger that's connected to the batteries which are connected to all the 12v loads, so when charging the charger powers some of the load and charges the battery. I hope that makes sense.

I have a ctek 25A 240v charger which I would like to use instead of the setek just because I believe the ctek is better on the batteries, the setek doesn't go quite high enough voltage wise to do an optimum charge on the agm's that are in the van. I had a look at the spec sheet and it misses by about 0.6v. Problem is I'm OCD when it come to having an as efficient system as I can get. Yeah I know I have no life

So the requirement is this, when on solar or connected to the car Anderson plug the batteries will be charged via my ctek d250. When at the van park the 240v ctek will do the charging, now all of this has to go thru the bm1 so my battery SOC is accurate, I don't see the point of using a battery monitor unless its doing a proper job. When on park 240 I don't want the setek charger doing anything.

Only problem is if I disconnect the seeks 240v then the setek won't power the vans 12v load when plugged into 240v at a van park.

I basically oped a can of worms for myself when I decided to get the bm1 into the mix and can't figure out how to wire it in, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

I hope this makes sense.

Cheers
Mike

 

[bigman0510]

Mate,
Like Zero said if you put the shunt on the negative (like it should) it doesn't matter how you charge the battery the monitor is going to pick it up. It works fine with my Victron battery monitor.

 

[zerosecta]

Sounds like the bm1 is the least of your worries. That part is simple, just connect it up yo the negative terminal on your battery and the negative wires of everything else to the other side of the shunt... So the shunt is the gateway to anything that connected to the battery...

Your real issue is coming to terms of the fact that by having and ctek 240v and d250s you have rendered the setec useless and need to either remove it or just leave it in place disconnected...

Have it there just to power thing when you are in powered sites isn't really required if you have the ctek on because with solar panels, your batteries are going to be 98% charged 95% of the time anyway so your ctek 240v will happily keep your load powered without any problems...

 

[Burnsy]

Hi zero, if you unplug the 240 setec, would all your circuits be protected with fuses? Also will the 240 setec supply 12 volt to everything if it's only getting 12v supply and not plugged into 240v?....have I confused you now!

 

[Mike7]

Thanks or you thoughts everyone, excellent feedback.I'm gonna attack it tomorrow and see what happens. zero thanks for that, I think you saying to use the bm1 shunt on the -ve as a gateway has made the penny drop, cheers.

Burnsy, if you unplug 240 supply to the setek all the 12v load is supplied by batteries via the setek and is protected.

If you plug in the setek 240 supply the setek will power everything 12v via a transformer and everything is still fuse protected. You can disconnect the batteries completely and as long as there is 240v connected to the van all your 12v stuff s still powered.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Mike

 

[Burnsy]

Thanks or you thoughts everyone, excellent feedback.I'm gonna attack it tomorrow and see what happens.

Burnsy, if you unplug 240 supply to the setek all the 12v load is supplied by batteries via the setek and is protected.

If you plug in the setek 240 supply the setek will power everything 12v via a transformer and everything is still fuse protected. You can disconnect the batteries completely and as long as there is 240v connected to the van all your 12v stuff s still powered.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Mike

Thanks mate, yeah I knew about the 12v supply from 240v and of course it would all still work and protected from 12v supply only.....pretty stupid question really....what was I thinking, must of had an off beer this arvo....forget I even asked!

Cheers.

 

[zerosecta]

Good luck Mike,,

You'll Probably have it looking something like this by about lunch time ish...



Burnsy - if you where to complete remove the setec then you would need to replace it with a fused distribution block like in my pis above... Advantages of this is that each individual (almost) item in the van has its very own fuse. I use max 7.5a fuses for all circuits so if something does fiz out it will be limited to that item only and with 7,5AM fuse the risk of an electrical issue causing any wires to get even close to the point of so much as warming up is 0. Over kill yes, but it looks good right?

 

[Mike7]

Very nice zero, what's the make of your fuse box (I'm assuming the right most box with all the wires going into it)

Cheers
Mike

 

[zerosecta]

Correct, Blue Sea is the brand