Is there any reason that I can't run the 14.2 volt from the tug directly to the house batteries rather than going through the pretty useless Setec?
Aussie Paul.
rockylizard said
10:30 PM Jul 16, 2015
Gday...
I have no idea how your van is set up ... however, the house battery in my van is charged directly from the vehicle, when the plug is connected, and the engine is running.
The Cetek battery charger in the boot of the van, which charges the van battery, only does so when connected to 240V.
If no 240v connected, and vehicle not connected and charging, then the solar panels (if they have sun) provide the charge to the battery.
I stress I do not know how your van is set up .. but that is how mine works.
cheers - John
aussie_paul said
11:05 PM Jul 16, 2015
rockylizard wrote:
Gday...
I have no idea how your van is set up ... however, the house battery in my van is charged directly from the vehicle, when the plug is connected, and the engine is running.
The Cetek battery charger in the boot of the van, which charges the van battery, only does so when connected to 240V.
If no 240v connected, and vehicle not connected and charging, then the solar panels (if they have sun) provide the charge to the battery.
I stress I do not know how your van is set up .. but that is how mine works.
cheers - John
Thanks John, at the moment the current from the tug goes to the Setec and then to the batteries. The Setec also charges batteries from 240AC. The Setec from 240 only takes the batteries to 13.65 volts. Now I will have the tug current go straight to the batteries like yours does. To charge from Genset I think I will get a 240 charger and run that from the genset 240. That should take the batteries higher than the Setec 13.65 volts. I may yet have to add an extra solar panel to the van roof as most on here recommended I do. The Setec take the tug 14.2 volts and reduces it to 13.65 into the batteries!!
Aussie Paul.
PeterD said
11:28 PM Jul 16, 2015
The Setec has a diode in it that reduces the voltage to the battery. Run a 6 gauge cable direct from the tugs battery to the van battery. Make it a separate lead and do not put the fridge onto it.
Treecrest14 said
09:09 AM Jul 17, 2015
If running a new cable from car to van, ensure you have a 'device' (not sure what it is called) which only allows power to the van when you car battery is above 13volts. ie stops you draining your car battery if car is parked and the van is connected and charging your van battery.
Woody n Sue said
09:45 AM Jul 17, 2015
I have a ctek DC to DC charger between tug Anderson plug and the house battery that takes whatever the tug is putting out and ups it to 14 v to charge the house battery . The Ctek will in due course have two solar panels hooked to it as well so when tug is not hooked up solar will take over and charge batteries
aussie_paul said
01:08 PM Jul 17, 2015
Treecrest14 wrote:
If running a new cable from car to van, ensure you have a 'device' (not sure what it is called) which only allows power to the van when you car battery is above 13volts. ie stops you draining your car battery if car is parked and the van is connected and charging your van battery.
Thanks Glen, yes I have that device fitted.
Aussie Paul.
aussie_paul said
01:10 PM Jul 17, 2015
PeterD wrote:
The Setec has a diode in it that reduces the voltage to the battery. Run a 6 gauge cable direct from the tugs battery to the van battery. Make it a separate lead and do not put the fridge onto it.
Thanks Peter, if I may ask, why not include the fridge on this cable?
Aussie Paul.
justcruisin01 said
02:31 PM Jul 17, 2015
Woody n Sue wrote:
I have a ctek DC to DC charger between tug Anderson plug and the house battery that takes whatever the tug is putting out and ups it to 14 v to charge the house battery .
This is the ONLY way to fully charge a house battery.
Having a battery to battery circuit will NEVER fully charge due to voltage drop.
JC.
PeterD said
06:11 PM Jul 18, 2015
aussie_paul wrote:
PeterD wrote:
The Setec has a diode in it that reduces the voltage to the battery. Run a 6 gauge cable direct from the tugs battery to the van battery. Make it a separate lead and do not put the fridge onto it.
Thanks Peter, if I may ask, why not include the fridge on this cable?
Firstly, are you having problems with your fridge on 12 V? If not then why change it?
Secondly you should not hard wire a fridge to your battery. If you want to use the one cable for both purposes you need a fridge switch to protect your house battery. If the fridge is working properly you can save the expense by leaving the fridge on its present circuit.
Thirdly if you wish to use the same cable for both purposes then increase the size above what I recommended. That plus the cost of the fridge switch is adding even more cost to the installation.
aussie_paul said
11:39 PM Jul 18, 2015
Firstly, are you having problems with your fridge on 12 V? If not then why change it?
Secondly you should not hard wire a fridge to your battery. If you want to use the one cable for both purposes you need a fridge switch to protect your house battery. If the fridge is working properly you can save the expense by leaving the fridge on its present circuit.
Thirdly if you wish to use the same cable for both purposes then increase the size above what I recommended. That plus the cost of the fridge switch is adding even more cost to the installation.
No problems with fridge Peter.
Fridge is not wired to house battery.
From tug I have leads to fridge, and Setec charger that only works when the tug engine is running.
So, I could use a dc to dc charger after the Setec which is either supplied by 240 from our genset /caravan park, and also from the tug.
Am I correct thinking this way?
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Saturday 18th of July 2015 11:42:03 PM
PeterD said
12:03 AM Jul 19, 2015
aussie_paul wrote:No problems with fridge Peter.
1. Fridge is not wired to house battery.
2. From tug I have leads to fridge, and Setec charger that only works when the tug engine is running.
3. So, I could use a dc to dc charger after the Setec which is either supplied by 240 from our genset /caravan park, and also from the tug.
Am I correct thinking this way?
1. That is standard when you have a Setec PSU in your van. The diode isolates the fridge from the battery. If the diode was not there the battery would be effectively wired to the battery.
2 . Good, that protects your tugs battery from the fridge. I would be inclined to leave it that way.
3. If you wire things that way then 12 V system will not be able to access the battery. The battery power will not be able to run back through the DC-DC charger to the Setec and thus can not be delivered to your vans house system. Also you need to get as much voltage into the charger as possible. The more voltage drop between the tugs alternator and the DC-DC charger the harder the charger has to work to make up for the power lost in the cabling. The lower the voltage input the higher the current into the charger will be.
-- Edited by PeterD on Sunday 19th of July 2015 12:05:29 AM
Trevor law said
04:15 PM Jul 19, 2015
We have just had a redarc dc dc 1240 fitted directly next to our 2 x 120ah calcium batteries when connected to tug it is pushing about 15.2 volts in to the batteries ,which I believe is correct for calcium batteries .My question is I have a 180watt portable solar panel ,that as its own regulater on the end of the 5 metre cable ,with this I have connected an Anderson plug and an Anderson plug directly to the batteries .But now we have the redarc is it possible to connect the solar panels through the regulater and straight to the Anderson plug on the front of the A frame of the caravan . I was wondering if this would work so that the calcium batteries would get a higher voltage charge threw the dc dc and on a dull day would I get a better charge with the solar panels
thanks for any input Trevor
aussie_paul said
10:51 PM Jul 19, 2015
I am thinking (yeah, dangerous I know) I will run the charging from the tug straight to a dc to dc charger at the house batteries. When using the genset maybe I use a dedicated 240 volt several stage charger. Thoughts?
Measured up today, using my Ubeaut collapsible ladder, to check where to put a 200 watt solar panel. That will give me 320 watt solar into my 2 x 100 amp batteries. I can run the 200 through my existing solar controller, and run the 120 one through a separate 10amp controller I have spare.
Aussie Paul.
PeterD said
12:09 AM Jul 20, 2015
Trevor law wrote:
We have just had a redarc dc dc 1240 fitted directly next to our 2 x 120ah calcium batteries when connected to tug it is pushing about 15.2 volts in to the batteries ,which I believe is correct for calcium batteries .My question is I have a 180watt portable solar panel ,that as its own regulater on the end of the 5 metre cable ,with this I have connected an Anderson plug and an Anderson plug directly to the batteries .But now we have the redarc is it possible to connect the solar panels through the regulater and straight to the Anderson plug on the front of the A frame of the caravan . I was wondering if this would work so that the calcium batteries would get a higher voltage charge threw the dc dc and on a dull day would I get a better charge with the solar panels
If you have a BCDC1240 it is capable of being used as a solar controller. The output voltage will be controlled by how you have terminated the the orange wire - this applies equally to the solar operation and the alternator operation. The diagrams on in the the user manual show how to wire up the unit. You will note that the blue wire is connected to earth for solar operation and the alternator voltage for alternator charging. You will need a relay to change the blue wire from one condition to the other when you change from one operation to the other. You will need to wire the operating coil to an ignition switched circuit in your tug through a spare contact in your 12 pin trailer to operate this relay.
I suggest that you contact a Redarc techo on Phone: (08) 8322 4848 to confirm the above and discuss the above with him. Also discuss the consequences of getting the blue wire switching wrongly connected.
Jaahn said
07:49 AM Jul 20, 2015
Trevor law wrote:
We have just had a redarc dc dc 1240 fitted directly next to our 2 x 120ah calcium batteries when connected to tug it is pushing about 15.2 volts in to the batteries ,which I believe is correct for calcium batteries.My question is I have a 180watt portable solar panel ,that as its own regulater on the end of the 5 metre cable ,with this I have connected an Anderson plug and an Anderson plug directly to the batteries .But now we have the redarc is it possible to connect the solar panels through the regulater and straight to the Anderson plug on the front of the A frame of the caravan . I was wondering if this would work so that the calcium batteries would get a higher voltage charge threw the dc dc and on a dull day would I get a better charge with the solar panels
thanks for any input Trevor
Hi Trevor,
Where did you get the figure 15.2 volts to charge your the batteries. Sounds too high to me. Check that before you cook them.
I have a motor home and use the motor alternator to charge the house battery when driving. It puts out 110 amps so is very effective I just use an automatic voltage relay and it works really well. HOWEVER I have a very heavy cable from the front battery to the rear battery and the alternator does put out 14.3 volts all the time.
Jaahn
PeterD said
10:26 AM Jul 20, 2015
Jaahn wrote:Where did you get the figure 15.2 volts to charge your the batteries. Sounds too high to me. Check that before you cook them.
The OP stated he has a calcium battery. That term troubles me as a few styles of lead acid batteries have calcium in them. Read about their construction in this page. If you click on the " <<<Previous[Home][Top]Next>>> " links at the bottom of the page you can read the whole paper. There are some on the forum that should read the lot before they continue posting rubbish.
There is a common tendency for industry to refer Ca/Ca batteries as simply calcium batteries. This is probably what the OP has. Ca/Ca batteries need higher voltages to charge them. I remember the early days when some vehicles started to be equipped with Ca/Ca batteries. Some owners thought it was the go to fit the more common cheap batteries to their vehicles and wondered why they were boiling them dry.
Here is a snippet from another forum posted by a respected supplier of charging equipment:
RV Powerstream P/L replied:
Chargers are yet to catch up to calcium technology which basically needs 15.1V.
Sterling Power has a calcium charge in his new Combi Inverter chargers but nothing that small.
If there was a Calcium capable charger around I doubt it would be cheap as the extra cost to include that capacity would keep the initial costing up.
The potential to get to 15.1V could be achieved by a flooded wet cell rate of 14.8V for boost with a solar absorb and float to 15.1V but that would not be achieved for a budget of under $200 either.
I would not recommend calcium in a cycling application without the capabilty to charge them correctly as the life of the battery may be shorter than expected. Ian
-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 20th of July 2015 10:27:46 AM
aussie_paul said
09:31 PM Jul 20, 2015
Ooooops.....
Would this be suitable to use from the tug to house batteries? I would situate it asclose to the house batteries as possible, and supply it with 6 B&S cable.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:45:59 PM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:47:32 PM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:48:04 PM
03_Troopy said
09:40 PM Jul 20, 2015
aussie_paul wrote:
Would this be suitable to use from the tug to house batteries? I would situate it asclose to the house batteries as possible, and supply it with 6 B&S cable.
Having one controller for the solar and the dc to dc charging from tug should be the go. This would mean that while driving both the solar AND tug would be feeding the batteries.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 21st of July 2015 12:31:49 AM
03_Troopy said
07:38 AM Jul 21, 2015
Can't find any specs on that charger paul, but it is fairly cheaply priced. I used one of the redarc dc-dc chargers on my camper trailer, that also had a solar input, and that worked very well. was about $300 dearer than that one though.
As anybody got a paddle.Because I know one day I will come across that creek one day
aussie_paul said
08:00 PM Jul 23, 2015
Spent a quite a bit of today working on van wiring. I made the decision to have the 6 B&S cable and Anderson plug for the DC to DC charger fitted by auto elec people so rang and booked in for next Wednesday, after I have the recall job and the auto transmission flushed and refilled Tuesday.
The van stuff I can manage to work along at a steady pace, so today I parallelled the fridge and Setec wires to the fridge. I have decided to shift the solar controller from under the bed to where I can see it from my lounge chair. That is tomorrow's main job. Then I will be waiting for a 200 watt solar panel and the DC to DC charger to arrive.
Aussie Paul.
aussie_paul said
08:26 AM Jul 27, 2015
Has anyone used the 12volt 8 amp DC output from a genset through a DC to DC charger to the house batteries?
Aussie Paul.
aussie_paul said
04:04 PM Jul 27, 2015
Trevor law wrote:
As anybody got a paddle.Because I know one day I will come across that creek one day
Has anyone used the 12volt 8 amp DC output from a genset through a DC to DC charger to the house batteries?
Aussie Paul.
Waste of time Paul,, better to use a 240V charger from genny,,, multi stage charger the best.
aussie_paul said
08:00 PM Jul 27, 2015
Baz421 wrote:
Waste of time Paul,, better to use a 240V charger from genny,,, multi stage charger the best.
Ok, thanks Barry, you may well be right. Have you tried it?
I was hoping to avoid the cost of a good multi stage charger. Anyway that will depend on how efficient the system I am implementing at the moment is. 2 x 100 ah batteries, 320 watts of solar, dc to dc charger from the tug.
Anyone actually tried the 12volt 8 amp DC output from a genset through a DC to DC charger to the house batteries?
Is there any reason that I can't run the 14.2 volt from the tug directly to the house batteries rather than going through the pretty useless Setec?
Aussie Paul.
Gday...
I have no idea how your van is set up ... however, the house battery in my van is charged directly from the vehicle, when the plug is connected, and the engine is running.
The Cetek battery charger in the boot of the van, which charges the van battery, only does so when connected to 240V.
If no 240v connected, and vehicle not connected and charging, then the solar panels (if they have sun) provide the charge to the battery.
I stress I do not know how your van is set up .. but that is how mine works.
cheers - John
Thanks John, at the moment the current from the tug goes to the Setec and then to the batteries. The Setec also charges batteries from 240AC. The Setec from 240 only takes the batteries to 13.65 volts. Now I will have the tug current go straight to the batteries like yours does. To charge from Genset I think I will get a 240 charger and run that from the genset 240. That should take the batteries higher than the Setec 13.65 volts. I may yet have to add an extra solar panel to the van roof as most on here recommended I do. The Setec take the tug 14.2 volts and reduces it to 13.65 into the batteries!!
Aussie Paul.
Thanks Glen, yes I have that device fitted.
Aussie Paul.
Thanks Peter, if I may ask, why not include the fridge on this cable?
Aussie Paul.
This is the ONLY way to fully charge a house battery.
Having a battery to battery circuit will NEVER fully charge due to voltage drop.
JC.
Firstly, are you having problems with your fridge on 12 V? If not then why change it?
Secondly you should not hard wire a fridge to your battery. If you want to use the one cable for both purposes you need a fridge switch to protect your house battery. If the fridge is working properly you can save the expense by leaving the fridge on its present circuit.
Thirdly if you wish to use the same cable for both purposes then increase the size above what I recommended. That plus the cost of the fridge switch is adding even more cost to the installation.
No problems with fridge Peter.
Fridge is not wired to house battery.
From tug I have leads to fridge, and Setec charger that only works when the tug engine is running.
So, I could use a dc to dc charger after the Setec which is either supplied by 240 from our genset /caravan park, and also from the tug.
Am I correct thinking this way?
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Saturday 18th of July 2015 11:42:03 PM
1. That is standard when you have a Setec PSU in your van. The diode isolates the fridge from the battery. If the diode was not there the battery would be effectively wired to the battery.
2 . Good, that protects your tugs battery from the fridge. I would be inclined to leave it that way.
3. If you wire things that way then 12 V system will not be able to access the battery. The battery power will not be able to run back through the DC-DC charger to the Setec and thus can not be delivered to your vans house system. Also you need to get as much voltage into the charger as possible. The more voltage drop between the tugs alternator and the DC-DC charger the harder the charger has to work to make up for the power lost in the cabling. The lower the voltage input the higher the current into the charger will be.
-- Edited by PeterD on Sunday 19th of July 2015 12:05:29 AM
We have just had a redarc dc dc 1240 fitted directly next to our 2 x 120ah calcium batteries when connected to tug it is pushing about 15.2 volts in to the batteries ,which I believe is correct for calcium batteries .My question is I have a 180watt portable solar panel ,that as its own regulater on the end of the 5 metre cable ,with this I have connected an Anderson plug and an Anderson plug directly to the batteries .But now we have the redarc is it possible to connect the solar panels through the regulater and straight to the Anderson plug on the front of the A frame of the caravan . I was wondering if this would work so that the calcium batteries would get a higher voltage charge threw the dc dc and on a dull day would I get a better charge with the solar panels
thanks for any input Trevor
I am thinking (yeah, dangerous I know) I will run the charging from the tug straight to a dc to dc charger at the house batteries. When using the genset maybe I use a dedicated 240 volt several stage charger. Thoughts?
Measured up today, using my Ubeaut collapsible ladder, to check where to put a 200 watt solar panel. That will give me 320 watt solar into my 2 x 100 amp batteries. I can run the 200 through my existing solar controller, and run the 120 one through a separate 10amp controller I have spare.
Aussie Paul.
If you have a BCDC1240 it is capable of being used as a solar controller. The output voltage will be controlled by how you have terminated the the orange wire - this applies equally to the solar operation and the alternator operation. The diagrams on in the the user manual show how to wire up the unit. You will note that the blue wire is connected to earth for solar operation and the alternator voltage for alternator charging. You will need a relay to change the blue wire from one condition to the other when you change from one operation to the other. You will need to wire the operating coil to an ignition switched circuit in your tug through a spare contact in your 12 pin trailer to operate this relay.
I suggest that you contact a Redarc techo on Phone: (08) 8322 4848 to confirm the above and discuss the above with him. Also discuss the consequences of getting the blue wire switching wrongly connected.
Hi Trevor,
Where did you get the figure 15.2 volts to charge your the batteries. Sounds too high to me. Check that before you cook them.
I have a motor home and use the motor alternator to charge the house battery when driving. It puts out 110 amps so is very effective I just use an automatic voltage relay and it works really well. HOWEVER I have a very heavy cable from the front battery to the rear battery and the alternator does put out 14.3 volts all the time.
Jaahn
The OP stated he has a calcium battery. That term troubles me as a few styles of lead acid batteries have calcium in them. Read about their construction in this page. If you click on the " <<<Previous [Home] [Top] Next>>> " links at the bottom of the page you can read the whole paper. There are some on the forum that should read the lot before they continue posting rubbish.
There is a common tendency for industry to refer Ca/Ca batteries as simply calcium batteries. This is probably what the OP has. Ca/Ca batteries need higher voltages to charge them. I remember the early days when some vehicles started to be equipped with Ca/Ca batteries. Some owners thought it was the go to fit the more common cheap batteries to their vehicles and wondered why they were boiling them dry.
Here is a snippet from another forum posted by a respected supplier of charging equipment:
RV Powerstream P/L replied:
-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 20th of July 2015 10:27:46 AM
Ooooops.....
Would this be suitable to use from the tug to house batteries? I would situate it as close to the house batteries as possible, and supply it with 6 B&S cable.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:45:59 PM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:47:32 PM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:48:04 PM
Not sure how you'd charge your batteries from a McDonalds burger
Try again...
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Monday 20th of July 2015 09:52:05 PM
Well, I have no idea how all that happened. I put the Simpson Macas into gmail chat to daughter Emma, somehow I stuffed it!!!!
Here I am AGAIN!!!! Could you find my paddle please Dougwe?
Aussie Paul.
Having one controller for the solar and the dc to dc charging from tug should be the go. This would mean that while driving both the solar AND tug would be feeding the batteries.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 21st of July 2015 12:31:49 AM
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221699493442?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Aussie Paul.
As anybody got a paddle.Because I know one day I will come across that creek one day
Spent a quite a bit of today working on van wiring. I made the decision to have the 6 B&S cable and Anderson plug for the DC to DC charger fitted by auto elec people so rang and booked in for next Wednesday, after I have the recall job and the auto transmission flushed and refilled Tuesday.
The van stuff I can manage to work along at a steady pace, so today I parallelled the fridge and Setec wires to the fridge. I have decided to shift the solar controller from under the bed to where I can see it from my lounge chair. That is tomorrow's main job.
Then I will be waiting for a 200 watt solar panel and the DC to DC charger to arrive.
Aussie Paul.
Has anyone used the 12volt 8 amp DC output from a genset through a DC to DC charger to the house batteries?
Aussie Paul.
Try this place Trevor..
Aussie Paul.
Waste of time Paul,, better to use a 240V charger from genny,,, multi stage charger the best.
Ok, thanks Barry, you may well be right. Have you tried it?
I was hoping to avoid the cost of a good multi stage charger. Anyway that will depend on how efficient the system I am implementing at the moment is. 2 x 100 ah batteries, 320 watts of solar, dc to dc charger from the tug.
Anyone actually tried the 12volt 8 amp DC output from a genset through a DC to DC charger to the house batteries?
Aussie Paul.