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Old 09-03-2022, 04:48 AM   #11
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Greg, you are brilliant at this stuff and I’m trying to keep up. I hope you have the patience for some lame questions -

So the start isolation feature
What is the “start isolation feature”?

is predominantly used if you have electronics that can't handle the surges or voltage spikes that may be seen when starting they vehicle on the house side. It wouldn't hurt to hook it up but for the most part not needed.

If you don't have solar or were just plugged in ,the ACR would already be disconnected, and wouldn't connect until minimally 30 seconds after the voltage comes up on the alternator. If you have solar (and available sun), chances are that the two systems are already connected, so the isolate would disconnect during the start phase. So if you have solar might be worth it adding.


I do have a 100-amp solar panel on the roof (DIY) connected directly to the Lifeline AGM house battery through a controller. Sorry, it might be worth adding what?

Fortunately if going from the Surepower 1315, the wire that is used for their start assist feature can be used for the start isolate ( The wire needs to be hot when the key is in "Start" only.

On the Surepower 1315 is the “start signal” terminal the same as the “start assist” you’re referring to?

Also, is the “start isolate” one of the wires on the BlueSea 7622?

I generally would run 2 awg, 4 would get you by, but if you have diesel, or a large house battery bank moving to 2 awg would be beneficial.

Yes, I have a 7.3 diesel. And the old Surepower is wired with 4 awg to the starting battery. I can switch that to 2 awg. Should the cable to the second starting battery also be 2 awg. And, should the cable to the house battery also be 2 awg?

The switch is definitely beneficial, I generally like to mount up front where it can be used by driver, your milage may very.

What do you mean “your milage may very.”?

I am not sure about the black orange tracer wire you referenced. That was on the old isolator correct, what did you do with it when installing the 1315?

Regarding the black orange tracer wire - I followed the directions for installing the Surepower 1315…
“Remove remaining two (2) wires on terminal #1 and terminal A (should be black with orange tracer) cut off terminals, strip insulation and crimp new splice connector supplied.”
I have no idea what this was about, I just did it.

I’m trying to wrap my head around your relay suggestion.

Again many thanks for your time and patience,

Johnny

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Old 09-03-2022, 07:30 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dogtubs View Post

What is the “start isolation feature”?

Yes, I have a 7.3 diesel. And the old Surepower is wired with 4 awg to the starting battery. I can switch that to 2 awg. Should the cable to the second starting battery also be 2 awg. And, should the cable to the house battery also be 2 awg?

What do you mean “your mileage may vary.”?

Johnny
The start isolation feature keeps the battery banks separated when cranking the engine, usually for around 10 seconds just to keep voltage spikes and/or sagging voltage from resetting electronic devices etc. Obviously when you flip the switch to combine, you are overriding the start isolation feature. But for normal starting it keeps the battery banks isolated.

If you want to flip the switch and immediately crank over the diesel, the more 2awg the better. Long runs of 4awg will drop volts and potentially get hot when cranking the engine. You can try it with the 4awg and see how fast the engine turns over and how warm/hot the wires get.

YMMV means most people put the switch around the drivers dashboard somewhere, but you can put the switch anywhere you want.
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Old 09-03-2022, 12:42 PM   #13
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Greg, I really like the volt meters in your video. It takes the guess work out of knowing the voltages of the starting battery and house battery.

I’d like to install something like the one in the link below on my dash - would it work with a shared ground? Also, what gauge wire would I need to use and where would be the easiest places to connect (directly to batteries - argh that house battery is a long run).

LED Digital Double Voltmeter, Round Panel Voltage Monitor for Car Pickup RV Truck Dual Battery Pack (Red) https://a.co/d/0pSjySK

Thanks!

Johnny
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Old 09-03-2022, 07:12 PM   #14
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To really get an accurate measurement you should be at the positive and negative post of the battery. So I would ground to the same point that the ACR is hooked to. and the positive to the the battery connections on the ACR. While not perfect for actual battery measurements, it will give you the data at the ACR. This could be helpful in diagnosing issue's later on.

-greg
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Old 09-05-2022, 12:36 PM   #15
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Greg,

Could the 2 amp red wire on the Blue Sea 7622 be connected to the house battery lug on the BS rather than running to the house battery?

I tried to attach a photo with the idea.

Thanks!

Johnny
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Old 09-05-2022, 12:46 PM   #16
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Sure, it could come from the fuse panel also.
-greg
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Old 09-06-2022, 06:25 PM   #17
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Thanks Greg!
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Old 11-23-2022, 07:41 PM   #18
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This is an area I want to address on my new to me van in order to fully understand the system for troubleshooting. Here is my setup.



Guessing it's standard SMB setup, under the Gaucho. The house battery is a 200ah AMG under the passenger side doors. Van came with a SMB binder but the info and pictures on the battery system are not that informative. There is a "monitor" panel on the gaucho face but it consists of 6 LEDs that I believe are supposed to indicate the state of the battery as well as if it's charging or using inverted power??? I started out by wanting to install a battery monitor that would give me some better user friendly info. I picked up a low cost hall monitor type monitor that will indicate battery charge as well as how much draw is being used which is a good place for me to start. As I went about figuring out how to install the monitor I wanted to be able to disconnect the system but I don't believe there is any kind of shutoff switch anywhere so I picked up a shut off switch that I believe gets connected to the negative side of the house battery. Came across this post and it led me to wonder about replacing the Sure Power 1315. So here are my observations...

1/0 AWG wire coming from house battery to 250 amp fuse. Other side of fuse goes down to 2 AWG and connects to the inverter / charger and left post of the 1315. There are three breakers also on the face of the Gaucho that I believe must deal only with the 110v outlets??? 2 AWG wire comes from the Van positive and connects to the right post of the 1315.

Any feedback on that is appreciated. Now for the questions...

Can I put the hall monitor around the 2 AWG wire that connects to the left post of the 1315 and then connect the red wire to that post and the negative on a available negative spot?

Is the battery shut off a good idea and if so where would I set it up in my current configuration? All big negative wires (can kind of see it in the pic) are all connected together with a big threaded kind of deal with a nut on top and the house negative is only about six inches long at that location.

If I replace the 1315 with a 7622, what kind of reconfigurating would I be looking at? Would the 7622 fit where the 1315 is currently located?

And a newb general battery question...

If I connect to shore power does the inverter need to be on in order to charge the batteries? Mine has two settings, Auto and Charge Only and not sure what the Charge Only provides.

I'm guessing all this equipment is original and I'd like the option to do solar as I get more familiar with how we will end up using the van. I'm looking into the portable briefcase setups since installing panels on the roof is a job I don't really want to take on, at least now. Is the 1315 replacement one of those while you're there you may as well...so should I be considering a full refresh?

Thanks.
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Old 11-23-2022, 07:44 PM   #19
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I should mention I also want to get my stereo hooked up so it can use the house battery. Just got a new stereo installed and don't believe they set that up even though I asked. Also, I only have four fused 12volt runs. 3amp to CO2 sensor, 15amp to Driver side, 15amp Passenger side, and 30amp furnace.
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Old 11-23-2022, 08:20 PM   #20
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Here are some random answers....

The 1315 is a bi-directional battery separator which means that it closes when either the engine/alternator is spinning or you have solar connected to the house batteries and the sun is out. It can charge front to back or back to front. Whenever either side gets a high enough voltage, it closes.

A couple downsides to the 1315 are:

It's a mechanical relay, so over lots of cycles it may wear out, act up etc.

When closed the relay coil is energized, burning some power, and making some heat. This is usually only an issue when using solar with a little sun, the relay closes and the little solar power mostly goes to keeping the relay closed.

The Blue Sea ACRs are solid state (Mosfet) so no mechanical relay and they are also bi-directional. The 7622 has 500+ amps capacity and a switch option to connect the batteries in the event that you run your starting battery down too low, so you can connect the batts and start the van.

The 7610 is a lower cost option, same thing with 150A capacity (I think) and no built in switch option. It's also bi-directional. I had one for years, works great.

I removed the 7610 and went with a Victron Orion DC-DC charger recently when I replaced my AGM house batteries with a LiFePo4 battery. if you are considering a lithium house battery in the future it may make sense to use a DC-DC converter instead of a separator. These are smart chargers, the Surepower and Blue Sea devices just connect the alternator to the house battery; lithiums need smart chargers to live a long and happy life.

One downside to the Victron Orion DC-DC converters is that they are not bi-directional, they only charge alternator to house battery; not an issue if you are not using solar.

All of these units just break the positive connection between battery banks....the blue sea 7610 needs a ground wire to operate; the 7622 may need a bit more connections. The Orion has pos/neg input and pos/neg output for the isolated version and pos in/out and a common neg for the non-isolated version.

If you install a battery disconnect switch (not a bad idea if you are forgoing solar) be sure that there is never a case when you are sleeping in the van and the CO detector is not energized.

Solar is nice since it keeps (in the case of the 1315 or Blue sea separators) both batteries topped up when sitting in the driveway negating the need for a disconnect switch.

Two really popular battery monitors are the Victron BMV-702 and the Xantrex Linkpro/linklite. They both use shunts on the negative house battery connection and work great.

For the stereo I just put a SPDT Carlton switch beneath the head unit that supplies power to the head unit from the house battery when the key is off for listening with the key off.....works fine.
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