Bavaria (1 Viewer)

[chewy]

Hope i'm putting this in the right place..having had 3 self builds over the years we decided to buy a "proper camper" so after a lot of searching we stumbled across Bavaria bd171 which fits our needs. It is made by Pilote si I guesse bought in parts are the same. In particular I am seeking experience with the Schaudt Electrobloc EBL 269; no point in describing what its function is ..i'd probably get it wrong anyway! Bought van new its an 08 model good specs generally, we asked Spinney to fit a second leisure battery prior to taking delivery as we prefer to wild camp where possible. The first time we hooked it up at home (to keep it warm & dry etc) we ended up with one of the batteries cooked...too hot to touch acid pumping out etc... went back to Spinney who changed the battery that also cooked (within 4 hours of hooking up). We are booked in to take it back again when it is convenient to us (it's a 500 mile round trip). In the meantime I would very much like to get to bottom of this problem I have done a little research with following results so far
two batteries are different a/hr ratings 110 &105 (its the 105 cooked this time) wired in parallel with c.1/8 dia multistrand wire.
Schaudt electrobloc has selector switch for gel or acid type batteries appears to be correctly set for lead/acid . I took the cooked battery out today and hooked up to mains again. The 110 A/hr battery was showing (on my cheap multi meter) 11.4 volts put meter in series on 10 amps was taking 3.4 amps left it on all day untill just now taking readings every 2 hours it is now showing 13.7 volts and taking 0.2 amps . My question now is would the electrobloc eventually stop sending current (is there a set point at which it cuts out?) or did the second battery cook because it was 105 a/hr (offering less resistance?). Is anybody else a "daft " as me in wanting to understand

 

[pieterv]

The electroblock initially charges with maximum current until the battery reaches 14.3V. It then keeps it at 14.3V for a certain period of time (1h for open lead-acid, 8h for gel). Finally, it drops the voltage to 13.8V and keeps it there.

So, from your measurements (depending on intitial charge of battery) the Schaudt seems to be working OK. It doesn't stop supplying the 13.8V.

The problem might be that after having been disconnected the charger starts all over again even if there has been no discharge of the battery. Or the initial charge voltage could be too high, did you measure that?

 

[chewy]

Thanks Pieterv all & any info helps. I am beggining to agree with you regards operation of the electrobloc. I've hooked up again today it started at 2 amps and very quickly (20 minutes later) it was settled on 0.2 of an amp and has been there all day. being as niether Janet or I are any good at electrical stuff we started talking about electrons flowing like water , I even rememembered an equation that says for same amount of water to pass through a small pipe as a big pipe it has to travel faster and therefore with more pressure. Jan made the observation that if the batteries were puddles and one was higher than the other one would have to fill to overflowing before the other got anything. I thought about this and the practice of wiring two batteries in parallel... I reckon the batteries would have to be identical in capaciity AND resistance. This leaves us not a lot further on regarding being able to accept or reject the vendors word regarding what they decide to do...I dont want to make that long journey a third time!

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