Hi everyone, I am wondering how the battery for the breakaway system in our 2011 Jayco Sterling is charged?
Aussie Paul.
Phil C said
12:46 PM Jul 8, 2014
Hi Paul
Good question. We have a 2013 Jayco Starcraft, the unit for the breakaway is at the front end (ie the forward end) under the bed, it has a test button which will give the charge state. I am pretty sure its kept charged by the normal caravan charging system on 240V or solar if you have solar. I reached this conclusion by testing before every trip and its fully charged, even after 3 months of sitting still, its charged.
I have been through the books we received with the van and no mention of how this is kept charged. I guess common sense dictates that it needs to be kept in a charged condition and should be part of the normal caravan circuits, rather than stand alone.
I will do some more research and post the outcome if its different than above.
Safe travels
Olley46 said
04:16 PM Jul 8, 2014
I have a 2000 model Jayco Westport the break away battery in mine is charged when the 4WD is hooked up and towing, I don't think it is charged through the van 12volt system when hooked up to 240volt, I may be wrong.
Lance C
deverall11 said
04:19 PM Jul 8, 2014
Olley46 wrote:
I have a 2000 model Jayco Westport the break away battery in mine is charged when the 4WD is hooked up and towing, I don't think it is charged through the van 12volt system when hooked up to 240volt, I may be wrong.
Lance C
Ours is the same. We found when parked for a long time, the battery went flat. A better system would be to have it charging as part of the house battery.
Larry
Hurls said
04:29 PM Jul 8, 2014
Hi,
My Breakaway battery is charged through the house battery. A pain when the Breakaway battery dies and the house battery continually tries to recharge same! With a good battery, no problem.
Van is an 2008 18' Supreme Spirit.
Cheers
Hurls
Olley46 said
04:52 PM Jul 8, 2014
Hi Larry
On the break away system that I have the square box that the battery is in has two screw on terminals on the front of the box I am not shore if you can run a positive and a negative lead from the breakaway battery to the house battery so you charge the breakaway battery while the house battery is being charged on 240 volt, both these batteries are being charged while driving.
Lance C
aussie_paul said
05:26 PM Jul 8, 2014
How big is the break away battery as I have not found it yet? Today my 120w portable solar panels arrived. So to test it I connected it to the brake away Panel that has red and black inputs. The battery was showing almost flat and the solar charged it up.
So I a not sure yet what actually charges the brakeaway battery. I will ask tomorrow when I will be talking to Jayco tomorrow to see if the rear right mould is on its way so we can get the damage fixed and the club lounge taken out.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 05:27:13 PM
hi paul our is the same as your photo , we have ours wired directly to the main fuse board off our house batteries , so when parked it will draw a small current of the house batt and when travelling gets topped up by andrson plug feeding charge into house batts, good question , re where it is , i havent chk ours yet but am told its behind a cover on the main unit , not a really big battery , we were told to replace it periodicaly every 2 yrs , not sure if this is correct , we re wired our van s main pwr area and made sure it ran thru a dedicated fused line to the main pwr feed , hope this helps
I've got a 2011 crusader manhattan. I had to replace the breakaway battery last year. The battery is enclosed in its own box hidden somewhere in the van. Mine is in a cupboard. The how to book recommends that the battery should be replaced every two years regardless how it tests. The most common battery is a 7 AH unit with slide on cable connectors. It cost me about $45 from a battery dealer in Mareeba north qld. Hope this post helps. OF/GN.
Treecrest14 said
10:22 PM Jul 13, 2014
It can come down to how your car/ van electrical connector is wired or how you use it in the van. I have seen pin 2 used for 12v power which can be wired thru to the 12v fridge and/or breakaway box to charge the battery. It does depend on the make of the breakaway unit - does it have the wiring for charging? If not then you have to open the box and directly connect a battery charger to the battery.
patrolst said
03:26 PM Jul 16, 2014
Try this they can be left on while your van is in storage.
Hi everyone, I am wondering how the battery for the breakaway system in our 2011 Jayco Sterling is charged?
Aussie Paul.
Good question. We have a 2013 Jayco Starcraft, the unit for the breakaway is at the front end (ie the forward end) under the bed, it has a test button which will give the charge state. I am pretty sure its kept charged by the normal caravan charging system on 240V or solar if you have solar. I reached this conclusion by testing before every trip and its fully charged, even after 3 months of sitting still, its charged.
I have been through the books we received with the van and no mention of how this is kept charged. I guess common sense dictates that it needs to be kept in a charged condition and should be part of the normal caravan circuits, rather than stand alone.
I will do some more research and post the outcome if its different than above.
Safe travels
I have a 2000 model Jayco Westport the break away battery in mine is charged when the 4WD is hooked up and towing, I don't think it is charged through the van 12volt system when hooked up to 240volt, I may be wrong.
Lance C
Ours is the same. We found when parked for a long time, the battery went flat. A better system would be to have it charging as part of the house battery.
Larry
Hi,
My Breakaway battery is charged through the house battery. A pain when the Breakaway battery dies and the house battery continually tries to recharge same! With a good battery, no problem.
Van is an 2008 18' Supreme Spirit.
Cheers
Hurls
Hi Larry
On the break away system that I have the square box that the battery is in has two screw on terminals on the front of the box I am not shore if you can run a positive and a negative lead from the breakaway battery to the house battery so you charge the breakaway battery while the house battery is being charged on 240 volt, both these batteries are being charged while driving.
Lance C
How big is the break away battery as I have not found it yet? Today my 120w portable solar panels arrived. So to test it I connected it to the brake away Panel that has red and black inputs. The battery was showing almost flat and the solar charged it up.
So I a not sure yet what actually charges the brakeaway battery. I will ask tomorrow when I will be talking to Jayco tomorrow to see if the rear right mould is on its way so we can get the damage fixed and the club lounge taken out.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 05:27:13 PM
hi paul our is the same as your photo , we have ours wired directly to the main fuse board off our house batteries , so when parked it will draw a small current of the house batt and when travelling gets topped up by andrson plug feeding charge into house batts, good question , re where it is , i havent chk ours yet but am told its behind a cover on the main unit , not a really big battery , we were told to replace it periodicaly every 2 yrs , not sure if this is correct , we re wired our van s main pwr area and made sure it ran thru a dedicated fused line to the main pwr feed , hope this helps
cheers grae and deb
It can come down to how your car/ van electrical connector is wired or how you use it in the van. I have seen pin 2 used for 12v power which can be wired thru to the 12v fridge and/or breakaway box to charge the battery. It does depend on the make of the breakaway unit - does it have the wiring for charging? If not then you have to open the box and directly connect a battery charger to the battery.
Try this they can be left on while your van is in storage.
http://rvelectronics.com.au/index.php?route=product/product&path=25&product_id=61