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Old 07-14-2008, 10:31 AM   #1
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Do 12V DC plugs work on van battery or house battery?

Do the 12V DC plugs work on the van battery or house battery? After staying plugged in with a shoreline (30A) for a week - the van wouldn't start unless I used the "emergency Switch" that allowed me to use the house battery to help start the van.

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Old 07-14-2008, 11:29 AM   #2
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It's my understanding that the dashboard 12V outlets run off the starting battery, and the "cabin" 12V outlets run off the house battery. Then again, these vans all seem to be different.


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Old 07-14-2008, 12:04 PM   #3
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Re: Do 12V DC plugs work on van battery or house battery?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jlrray
Do the 12V DC plugs work on the van battery or house battery? After staying plugged in with a shoreline (30A) for a week - the van wouldn't start unless I used the "emergency Switch" that allowed me to use the house battery to help start the van.
I'd be concerned that the starting batteries were not charged from shore power. The battery separator should charge the starting batteries once the house battery is up to 13.2V. My biggest concern would be if it doesn't charge one direction, will it charge the other direction - will your house battery get charged while driving?

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Old 07-14-2008, 12:45 PM   #4
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I have a '08 and the page in the manual on the battery separator states that while the van is running the seperartor will monitor the voltage of both systems and if the starting systems voltage is above 13.2 V it will connect the two systems to the house battery can be charged while driving. Once the key is off the two systems are sperated.

Mike to address your problem of the starting batteries not charging there are two possible otpions. The easiest may be to leave the radio switch in the on position. I have not tried this but it should allow a small current to flow trough this circuit keeping the starting batteries topped up. The other would be to create a jumper that could be plugged from the 12v outlet on the house batteries to the 12V outlet powered by the starting batteries.

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Old 07-14-2008, 01:01 PM   #5
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Mike,

I just did some testing with a volt meter and it appears as if the seperators is charging my starting batteries from the solar panels even with the key in the off position. I measured the voltage at the outlets for the house battery and then the one in the dash and recieved 13.9 volts at both.

While reading the manual there is a fuse for the separator that if blown won't allow the house battery to charge while the van is running. This may also prevent the starting batteries from charging when connected to shore power. You might try checking this fuse. In my manual it says it should be located under the rear seat near the separator. EB 50 floor plan.

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Old 07-14-2008, 01:09 PM   #6
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An 04 might still have an isolator not a separator.

The best thing to determine your plugs is to measure voltage at each plug when it's different (e.g. while your batts are down) or if you're disconnecting one or the other set.

In my 05 the dash plugs are starter and all others are house.
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Old 07-14-2008, 11:32 PM   #7
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You're right on Jage, SMB didn't start installing the Battery Separator that allows all the batteries to share the same charge until July of '04. SMB's built prior to July '04 used a Battery Isolator that would not allow the starting battery(s) to be charged by any onboard charger except the alternator when the engine is running.

You might want to contact Peter at SWI to order a Battery Separator "kit" to update your SMB.

I hope this helps.

John K.
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Old 07-15-2008, 08:50 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Kalmbach
You're right on Jage, SMB didn't start installing the Battery Separator that allows all the batteries to share the same charge until July of '04. SMB's built prior to July '04 used a Battery Isolator that would not allow the starting battery(s) to be charged by any onboard charger except the alternator when the engine is running.
Maybe in Indiana they started using the SurePower Separator earlier? My van was built in May 04 and picked up the first of Jun 04 and has a Separator that allows 2 way charging. Maybe it was the first van to have it installed, because there was no ground wire and it wouldn't charge in either direction. We made a wire to go from a house 12V plug to the dash 12V plug to allow charging until I discovered the missing ground and installed it. Now we are happy with it. The starting batteries charge from the solar panels and etc.

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Old 03-06-2011, 07:00 PM   #9
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Re: Do 12V DC plugs work on van battery or house battery?

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Do the 12V DC plugs work on the van battery or house battery?
I have a dead DC outlet in the rear that sportsmobile installed and I can not for the life of me figure out where the connection leads to. Sportsmobile installed a sink with a microwave under the sink. There is an electrical panel on the front of the sink that has two 110 outlets, a DC outlet, and a switch for the water pump. Everything works accept the DC outlet. The wires from the outlet (one red and one white) disappear into the conduit and based on the colors of the wires and what I can see that is plugged into my fuse panel do not seem to end up at the fuse panel. Tested the wires that connect to the DC outlet and no power to the wires.

Ideas?

Many thanks.
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Old 03-07-2011, 08:45 AM   #10
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Re: Do 12V DC plugs work on van battery or house battery?

We have an EB-50 layout with an inverter. There is a regular circuit panel with circuit breakers mounted on the face of the cabinet supporting the sofa. These protect the 120v items such the microwave and 120v outlets. There is a fuse panel under the sofa (mounted to the side of the wheelwell) which has regular vehicle type fuses...these protect the 12v things. Ours is labeled CO detector, Driver's side, Passenger side, etc. If only one cig lighter outlet is dead, then is sounds like the fuse is okay. You should be able to pull the dead cig lighter out and test the voltage on it to see if the outlet itself is the problem.
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