Moved battery - what were they thinking?

[ROnEM]

In preparation for the two week Tassie trip over Christmas/New Year, I decided to move one of the two 100AH Gel batteries closer to the primary battery so a to use storage space more efficiently.

The 2nd battery was located forward (towards the drawbar) under the opposite dinette seat. Moving a 35KG battery back towards the axle by a metre may not make any real difference to ball weight, but it certainly gives us back a large area under the seat that can now be used more efficiently.

In trying to remove the 2nd battery, it was very clear that Jayco's Quality Control team must have been out to lunch when the battery was installed. They have screwed the 2nd battery case down, put the battery in and then screwed the plywood seat base over the top, but this meant that the battery could not be removed unless you remove the entire plywood seat base, not just lifting it at the hinges. :mad2:


Battery & Battery Case installed before seat ply base installed :nono:


Battery now in place on the left hand side.


CTEK 250S Dual mounted on the side of the Setec cover box, with leads from Anderson Plug (Alternator) and pre-wired solar connected.

In addition to moving the battery and tidying up the cable loom and connections, I ran a 6B&S cable from one of the batteries to the front of the drawbar to a new Anderson Plug for connection to our new 200W folding solar panel with its own regulator. This gives us the option of parking under shade while still being able to put out a solar panel to recharge.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas & New Year.

Rohan

 

[ragracing]

In preparation for the two week Tassie trip over Christmas/New Year

Hi Rohan,

When are you booked on the ferry to Tassie? We are heading across on the night of 30th of December? Might see you around?

Duncan

 

[expanda]

In preparation for the two week Tassie trip over Christmas/New Year, I decided to move one of the two 100AH Gel batteries closer to the primary battery so a to use storage space more efficiently.

The 2nd battery was located forward (towards the drawbar) under the opposite dinette seat. Moving a 35KG battery back towards the axle by a metre may not make any real difference to ball weight, but it certainly gives us back a large area under the seat that can now be used more efficiently.

In trying to remove the 2nd battery, it was very clear that Jayco's Quality Control team must have been out to lunch when the battery was installed. They have screwed the 2nd battery case down, put the battery in and then screwed the plywood seat base over the top, but this meant that the battery could not be removed unless you remove the entire plywood seat base, not just lifting it at the hinges. :mad2:


Battery & Battery Case installed before seat ply base installed :nono:


Battery now in place on the left hand side.


CTEK 250S Dual mounted on the side of the Setec cover box, with leads from Anderson Plug (Alternator) and pre-wired solar connected.

In addition to moving the battery and tidying up the cable loom and connections, I ran a 6B&S cable from one of the batteries to the front of the drawbar to a new Anderson Plug for connection to our new 200W folding solar panel with its own regulator. This gives us the option of parking under shade while still being able to put out a solar panel to recharge.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas & New Year.

Rohan

Looks good, they have done the same thing in the disco and this will be the first mod for us

Just doesn't make sense to me why they put them in these places!!!

 

[ROnEM]

Duncan - We are doing the day sailing on the 24th - Staying @ Exeter then Bridport.

Expanda - There are many things that just make no sense other than "Build it as quick as you can"

Upside it that it has created a nice spot to hide the Chrissy presents from the kids

 

[ragracing]

Duncan - We are doing the day sailing on the 24th - Staying @ Exeter then Bridport.

Hi Rohan, probably won't see you then, so have a good holiday and the mods look great

Duncan

 

[ROnEM]

Hi Rohan, probably won't see you then, so have a good holiday and the mods look great

Duncan

Likewise Duncan, have a safe a relaxing break.

What parts of Tassie are you heading off to?

Rohan

 

[ragracing]

What parts of Tassie are you heading off to?

We are going to head towards the west coast along the top through Stanley, down the Western Explorer Road to Corrina, Strahan, etc, and Hobart then hopefully up the east coast, but I can see time getting away from us as we always find more things to do when we get there.

Duncan

 

[ROnEM]

Duncan,

Sounds like a great trip. So much to explore - Such little time

We did a similar trip (via B&Bs) some years ago over winter. Was great as we looked at the rooms then negotiated price as places were deserted.

Your trip will be much warmer though.

 

[Brad]

In preparation for the two week Tassie trip over Christmas/New Year, I decided to move one of the two 100AH Gel batteries closer to the primary battery so a to use storage space more efficiently.

The 2nd battery was located forward (towards the drawbar) under the opposite dinette seat. Moving a 35KG battery back towards the axle by a metre may not make any real difference to ball weight, but it certainly gives us back a large area under the seat that can now be used more efficiently.

In trying to remove the 2nd battery, it was very clear that Jayco's Quality Control team must have been out to lunch when the battery was installed. They have screwed the 2nd battery case down, put the battery in and then screwed the plywood seat base over the top, but this meant that the battery could not be removed unless you remove the entire plywood seat base, not just lifting it at the hinges. :mad2:


Battery & Battery Case installed before seat ply base installed :nono:


Battery now in place on the left hand side.


CTEK 250S Dual mounted on the side of the Setec cover box, with leads from Anderson Plug (Alternator) and pre-wired solar connected.

In addition to moving the battery and tidying up the cable loom and connections, I ran a 6B&S cable from one of the batteries to the front of the drawbar to a new Anderson Plug for connection to our new 200W folding solar panel with its own regulator. This gives us the option of parking under shade while still being able to put out a solar panel to recharge.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas & New Year.

Rohan

I can see where your assumptions went wrong Rohan. Jayco and quality control should never be placed in the same sentence. In fact I think Microsoft Word throws up a grammatical error if you attempt to construct a sentence like that.

I have often wondered if things like batteries, key safes etc are the first things that get attached to the floor and they then build structures around that. If they were building like that then I could see how they would need to just place things away from where a wall of a structure could possibly be.

 

[ROnEM]

Update:

4 x Red 50A Anderson Plugs arrived today - already fitted to the external solar panel to battery 6B&S lead and to all the cables & accessories on the folding 200W solar panel.

Don't want one of the kids connecting the wrong things together and blowing a few fuses

Rohan

 

[ROnEM]

I can see where your assumptions went wrong Rohan. Jayco and quality control should never be placed in the same sentence. In fact I think Microsoft Word throws up a grammatical error if you attempt to construct a sentence like that.

I have often wondered if things like batteries, key safes etc are the first things that get attached to the floor and they then build structures around that. If they were building like that then I could see how they would need to just place things away from where a wall of a structure could possibly be.

Brad,

Looking at various pics people post of how the vans are put together on the line, I think you have hit the nail squarely on the head - unlike some on the line.....

 

[DiDExceed]

My 14.44-3 is the same, they have put the battery in a space easily accessible from the van for storage of other stuff when they could have put it under the lounge, but instead the screwed the tops down so the space under the lounge was unusable, ill be moving it when i get a 2nd one and put them there next to each other

 

[ROnEM]

DIDExceed!

I can only hope someone from Jayco might start reading all these and other comments about silly and inconsistent things they do where where they place things.

It could lead to higher customer satisfaction!

 

[Roh]

Hi Rohan,
Great setup, shouldnt be running out of power too quickly now.
Just a quick question on how the batteries are hooked as i am looking to a similar setup in my van.
Ive been looking at the CTEK charger the same as yours also.

With that CTEK charger do you have to hook up the batteries in parallel, or can it charge the batteries separately?
I have heard with hooking batteries up in parallel, that if 1 battery dies the other one will use power to charge the dead one. So i guess the batteries are only as good as the worst one.
The disadvantage of having separate batteries is that you have to change between then manually with a switch, so i guess its a compromise somewhere.

How have you hooked up the existing cable coming from the Setec unit for charging the batteries, does that hook into the bottom left terminal of the CTEK or have you run a new one from alternator in car?
WOW.. Too many SEtec/CTEKs getting thrown around here.
Hope u have all had a good Chrissy.
Roh

 

[ROnEM]

Roh,

Batteries are hooked up in parallel. If you hook them up in series, you will create a 24v system and damage your van and any 12v appliances any your Setec.

Setec goes to terminals of battery #1, CTEK goes to terminals on battery #2. I replaced the factory fitted 6mm battery to battery cable with a 6B&S cable that runs from each of the terminals on #1 to the same terminals on #2.

Think of batteries as no different to water tanks. Connect them together and they will automatically level out. As one battery charges, so will the other. Likewise, as power is drawn, they are used together.

Diagram of my wiring setup to follow when I get home next week as too hard to post it via iPad!

Rohan

 

[Roh]

Hey Rohan.
I wasn't suggesting to hook them up in series. I fully understand that is bad news. I have seen chargers that have 2 separate outputs, 1 for each battery and wondering if that charger did that. So i guess with your analogy, I'm saying if 1 water tank has a leak then you're going to lose all your water from both tanks out that leak. If both batteries are in parallel and 1 fails and sits at say 11volts then the good battery will discharge into that.

But after researching I still think the way you have done it will be the same way I do it. 16mm between batteries which I imagine will be a similar size to 6b&s.
would love to see a wiring diagram if u get a chance.
Cheers
Roh

 

[ROnEM]

Roh,

Here is the first cut at the wiring diagram - best I can do in a Caravan Park

There will be changes when I get back home, like removing to solar panel regulator and connecting it to the CTEK MPPT terminals, with a couple of diods to drop the panel's voltage to below 22v (CTEL MAX solar voltage input). This will give a much better battery charge than the generic unit on the solar panel.


Disclaimer - This is only a representation of my wiring and is not in any way an official Jayco guide. Consult a licensed electrician or auto electrician before making changes if you don't know what you are doing.

Cheers,

Rohan

 

[brookes2622]

Just a thought but can't you do away with the red Anderson and plug the folding panel into the grey? Net effect will be the same given the batteries are in parallel and it's unlikely you'd need to have the car and the folding panel plugged in at the same time. Are you missing some CB's or fuses, say between Grey AP and CTEK, Inverter and battery?

 

[ROnEM]

Brookes,

Diagram is only a first cut, so yes, I have fuses and circuit breakers all over the place. When I have more time, I will put them in to the diagram.

Like your thinking on connecting the panel to the grey AP and have tried it already.

The existing solar regulator is also a 3 stage battery charger that is looking for a battery. The CTEK does not provide a voltage level on the input side, so the solar regulator stops working, waiting to see a battery.

Also, I think the CTEK is going to charge the batteries to a higher level than the solar panel regulator.

Cheers,

Rohan

 

[kavs]

Hey Rohan.
I wasn't suggesting to hook them up in series. I fully understand that is bad news. I have seen chargers that have 2 separate outputs, 1 for each battery and wondering if that charger did that. So i guess with your analogy, I'm saying if 1 water tank has a leak then you're going to lose all your water from both tanks out that leak. If both batteries are in parallel and 1 fails and sits at say 11volts then the good battery will discharge into that.

But after researching I still think the way you have done it will be the same way I do it. 16mm between batteries which I imagine will be a similar size to 6b&s.
would love to see a wiring diagram if u get a chance.
Cheers
Roh

Hi roh

You would be able if you used a red arc battery isolator between the 2 batteries. This would be handy if like you said one battery fails.
Then you could use one batteries for lights and then the other to power the inverter. Just a thought.

Regards Marc