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Old 05-28-2015, 08:49 PM   #11
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Re: Understanding the Sure Power 1315

Quote:
Originally Posted by jronne
what is your opinion with regards to having an automatic isolator in the first place ?

If one is dry camping for the most part, can't one simply just manually isolate the batteries with a dumb switch for days on end relying on the solar panels for charging ?

The only point in joining them manually again would be when the vehicle is driven for substantial lengths of time.
This is exactly what I'm doing with my rig (and already helped a friend do on his). We removed the Sure Power and instead fit a Blue Sea On/Off switch. We used one that has an alternator field disconnect but (since that was not needed) used those terminals to wire a light. It's a red flashing LED and is in the kitchen area. It flashes when the two banks (start/house) are connected (switch "on"). Since said friend doesn't want/need to leave the start and house banks connected when not driving, this works well. One could also have a green LED near the dash to show when connected, if desired. The light could also be wired to the second terminals of a dual circuit switch vs. the one with AFD terminals.

The reason this seems like a good/simple way to go is that there is ample solar power to charge the house bank, and also good battery monitoring on the house bank. This means a couple of things:

1) There is no huge need to have the banks connected when driving, most of the time. Although of course there are times it is desired, what I mean is no harm done if they are not connected (if one forgets), since the solar panels are typically adequate to charge up the house bank.

2) Conversely, if forgotten in the connected position when camping, there will likely be no harm done. The house bank is carefully monitored (as one does) and wouldn't be taken below "X" percent of charge in any case (whether or not the switch was connecting the banks). Also the solar would then be charging the start bank as well. Start battery is AGM, so same battery type as house bank.

3) A jump start battery pack (Anti-Gravity) is along for the ride just in case.

We both like the straightforward/robust switch style of connecting the banks (btw, the switch is just behind the driver's seat, and so it's reachable from the driver's seat or from "the living room").

There would be more consequences of forgetting to connect or disconnect in a rig that had a minimal house bank and/or minimal independent house bank charging (solar) and/or no battery monitoring. My SMB was like this, and I kept the ACR on that rig. If you left them connected while camping you could run down the house AND start bank. This type of setup would also be one where you would not want to forgo the alternator charging (which would happen if you forgot to connect), because you need it more.

So I'd say it kind of depends on how your rig is set up, and what kind of mindset you have about things like switch routines, vs. "fit and forget."

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Old 09-06-2015, 06:38 PM   #12
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Re: Understanding the Sure Power 1315

Quote:
Originally Posted by jronne
what is your opinion with regards to having an automatic isolator in the first place ?
I want to plug in, or sit in the sun without having to remember a switch. Also I want my house batteries to charge while I drive. I don't want to be 10 minutes down the road and have to pull over because I forgot the switch.

I have auto/manual on/manual off on my separator and before I installed that I actually had (via the SMB standard start-forces-separator-on) killed both my house and starter batteries and could not self jump. I can't tell you how many times my house batteries have been dead (<10v from failure/abuse) and if I didn't have the separator my starters would be toast too. And vice versa. I killed a lot of batteries because of an undiagnosed alternator problem and the separator saved my bacon many, many times.

Note that I have diesel (double starter batts) and ~400Ah in my house batteries (double 4D) I can't imagine how quick I could destroy a 125Ah house joined to a single gas starter battery that didn't have separator... probably... 3 pieces of toast?
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Old 09-06-2015, 07:01 PM   #13
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Re: Understanding the Sure Power 1315

^^^
X2. I will say that having a manual bypass switch that can be cut in if the ACR fails might be a good idea but it's a backup only and you better remember to disengage when appropriate or as mentioned you might wake to dead batteries.
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Old 12-28-2015, 06:06 PM   #14
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Re: Understanding the Sure Power 1315

The link below doesn't seem to be working any more. Anyone know of an updated link. I tried searching youtube for "Understanding the Sure Power 1315" but that didn't help either.

Thanks,
Ed

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scalf77 View Post
I put together this video to hopefully help understand how the sure power 1315 works, and provide some additional circuits. I would appreciate any feedback, if this is found useful, I will try to create something similar for other common separators such as the Blue Sea 7622

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Old 12-28-2015, 09:18 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by eruddick View Post
The link below doesn't seem to be working any more. Anyone know of an updated link. I tried searching youtube for "Understanding the Sure Power 1315" but that didn't help either.

Thanks,
Ed
Looks like the link got messed up during the forum update. I can't edit the first post so here it is.

https://youtu.be/4AfUEtFLycw


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Old 12-28-2015, 09:20 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eruddick View Post
The link below doesn't seem to be working any more. Anyone know of an updated link. I tried searching youtube for "Understanding the Sure Power 1315" but that didn't help either.

Thanks,
Ed
Yep, looks that way! Argg
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Old 12-28-2015, 09:23 PM   #17
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Should be fixed now...thanks
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Old 05-06-2017, 05:44 PM   #18
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Do you know if anybody has mounted a solar panel on the driver side of their vans? I was thinking of a portable panel, but store it on the side of the van so it generates some juice, but more just as a place to store a portable panel. Thanks, BillPa1
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Old 05-06-2017, 06:12 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BillPa1 View Post
Do you know if anybody has mounted a solar panel on the driver side of their vans? I was thinking of a portable panel, but store it on the side of the van so it generates some juice, but more just as a place to store a portable panel. Thanks, BillPa1

BillPa, not good to post the identical question in three threads.
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Old 11-30-2020, 11:58 AM   #20
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Charging chassis battery with shore power connected

Asking for some battery separator wisdom...

We have an Intellipower shore power charger and (I think) a Surepower separator, no solar. I had the shore power connected for several days, and then decided to charge the chassis battery with a portable smart battery charger (since the van has been sitting).

The chassis battery started at 11.8A. The smart charger got stuck on 71% charge for a couple hours. Then I unplugged the shore power, and the smart charger went ahead and charged the chassis battery to 100%.

What happened? Did I damage either battery or my Intellipower charger? It seems the two chargers were fighting each other.
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