Ive got the Drifter control panel, and the Jaycos favoured wiring spaghetti to, from and around the battery shunt setup.
I want to run some aux 12v around the van, but didn't fancy paying $100 per point in the van purchase process.
Aside from connecting directly to the batteries, whats the correct connection points to connect a busbar so it integrates with the Drifter system.
My second battery is connected :-
Pos - primary battery to secondary battery
Neg - secondary battery to shunt
Sorry for the long and complex answer below, but in summary it should be straight forward. I have included a Jayco wiring diagram I got from this forum which is a bit old but better than nothing. One concern may be warranty, if you run your own separate 12V circuits directly from the battery terminals it should not adversely impact on any of the Jayco wiring or Setec controller or Drifter (or Coast) control panel. After warranty your new circuits could be then linked to the Jayco wiring and Setec controller. The Drifter "monitor" will monitor battery voltage and will still measure the battery voltage including your new independent circuits without been modified.
Ok good plan, a few points on 12V wiring in a Jayco caravan. No two vans are probably wired the same and from all reports the 12V wiring can be a bit messy. There are different model Setec controllers which may be wired differently. All existing 12v wiring should have fuses. All new 12V wiring must have fuses.
As I understand it the Drifter (or Coast) are control panels or "monitors" for batteries voltage and water tanks levels. The Setec power supply is the "controller" for power throughout the van. The Setec takes whatever electrical power source (AUX power from Car or 240V) you have and turns it into 12V for lighting and other 12V applications in the van. Solar panels bypass the Setec and are connected directly to the batteries via their own regulator.
To do extra 12V wiring you need to buy a few things;
wire cutters, connectors, crimp tool, PVC electrical tape, heat shrink, red and black coloured automotive wire (or similar) and a multi meter would be handy. If you are game soldering iron about 100W (or portable gas soldering iron), roll of resin core solder and even more heat shrink.
My suggestion is to buy a box of connectors (spades and sockets mainly) from Supercheap or similar place about $50 or less and get yourself a crimping tool with sizes of connectors in mm marked on it, generally the more leverage the better crimp. Also when you crimp; crimp once on the metal and once on the insulation, this is called double crimping and makes for a more secure crimp. Supplement the box of connectors with the more expensive small packs as needed. Some good crimping tools are on eBay that do up to 50A Anderson plug size and down to 3-4mm for about $30 they have lot of leverage.
Soldering is very good, but requires a bit of skill and is often messed up. It also can put heat in places you do not want to heat up. Too much heat and solder travels down wire melting insulation and making the solder joint more likely to fatigue, too little heat and you end up with a dry joint which is prone to fail. Also all solder connections need to be covered and heat shrink is the best covering which in turn is often covered by electrical PVC tape. You can also covered crimped connections with heat shrink and then electrical PVC tape to make them weather resistant.
Use decent electrical sized wire, even if the original wire looks a bit thin as this will reduce voltage drop. I believe in a Jayco all 12V wiring comes from either the batteries directly or the Setec controller (I have yet to pick up my Jayco and check out its wiring). Three approaches are possible one is run more circuits from the Setec, two pick up straight from the 12V batteries or add to an existing circuit.
All of these will work, but always put fuses in any new circuits. One exception may be if you tap into an existing 12V circuit and it is already protected by an adequate fuse to cover original load and your new load.
The formula is P (in Watts)= Volts (12V) and Current in Amps, so if the fuse is 20A and circuit 12V
P=20x12=240Watts so the maximum load you would put on this circuit is 200W so if it already has 100W load you could add another 100W, but always be cautious in how much extra load. Do not beef up value of fuse or you may melt the wiring or damage the controller. For example an iPhone charger is typically 10W so you could safely put a couple of phone chargers on the existing circuit, don't forget to add another fuse. Jaycar Electonics and others sell a very neat thermal fuse which will fail then when it cools down reset.
Hope this helps any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Once I get my new van and have sometime to study and understand its wiring I will write an article about it (which I will hopefully copy to this forum). In the meantime below is a two year old article I did on my Avan.
Attached is a copy of a short article I wrote for Renew Magazine in 2012 on the solar system in my Avan (which I have since sold to buy my new Jayco). It included two 12V sockets, with a thermal fuse and LED Battery gauge. I simply added it directly to the existing 100AH Avan battery terminals.
