Alternator charge for House Battery - intermittent

[rickschwolsky]

Sorry if I misunderstood you - and I do appreciate your responses -- I will try and be specific about these details when I post in the future. Thanks for taking the time.

[posplayr]

Originally Posted by rickschwolsky

Sorry if I misunderstood you - and I do appreciate your responses -- I will try and be specific about these details when I post in the future. Thanks for taking the time.

And yet you still leave everybody hanging..............................

[Weebles]

There are several ways to cross-connect & charge a house battery to prevent discharge of the engine start battery. The attached picture/diagram is a common way on van conversions - mine is located in the engine compartment. There are better components (Blue Sea ACR being one), but these components are cheap and readily available so are pretty common.

Referring to the attached picture:

1. Cable from Alternator/Battery
2. Self-reset circuit breaker (SUCH AS THIS 50 AMP ONE)
3. Jumper cable between circuit breaker and solenoid
4. Ignition-activated exciter wire that activates solenoid when ignition is turned on
5. Solenoid (SUCH AS THIS ONE)
6. Cable to House Battery.

If you have a handheld volt meter, you can check voltage with engine running to see if the voltage between ground and each terminal is ~14v starting at [1], then [3], then [6], and also check to see if your ignition wire is activating, so you should see +12v at [4] when the key is on. If you're on the road and in a pinch, you can simply jump across terminals (though if you jump across the circuit breaker - the weak link in this system, you will defeat the over-current protection so may be at-risk).

I hope this helps. If your system is not like this, it hopefully explains why some more detail and pictures would assist diagnosis.

Good luck - Peter

[rickschwolsky]

wow thanks so much -- I'll definitely poke around with my voltage meter and take some readings --

[Scalf77]

Judging from the picture your van was done by Sportsmobile. It doesn't look old enough to be a "Diode Based Isolator", so that would put it between a Surepower Separator or a Blue Sea ACR. If it is a Surepower unit, please check the part number , were looking to see if it is a 1314 or 1315. Generally they have used 1315 but it is also possible that it was replaced with a 1314. They look the same, but it is important because one is uni-directional and one is bi-directional. If a 1314 was used to replace a 1315 it could be hooked up wrong. The 1315 is bidirectional so it does not matter witch connection goes to witch battery, the 1314 it is very important.

If the 1314 is backwards it would close when solar power was available and got the house above 13.2 (approx) voltage, allowing the alternator to then charge the house battery. If you didn't have any solar charge (night, cloudy, etc.) then the 1314 would be opened. The alternator going above 13.2 would not get enable 1314 to close. That could make it look intermittent.

If you have a ACR, I would check to make sure that the ground connection is good, for that matter you could check the ground on the surepower also.

Feel free to PM me if you want to take offline, I have a good working knowledge of all three designs.

-greg

[Darkstar]

I've had great success in my Blue Sea ACR to ensure that both the house and van battery charge appropriately. I can separate manually, I can set to charge as it deems needed or constant connect. It should resolve this if indeed the batteries are both OK. A simple test of the battery at a auto parts store should determine that for you. Good luck