Adding power (1 Viewer)

gazzeroo

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Sep 14, 2014
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Hi all
As a relative newcomer to motorhoming I have many more questions than answers, I have got a Rimor Sailer 645TC year 2004, it has got a ridiculously small external battery housing cupboard with the fuseless switching MH power unit in there as well (see photo). I would like to move the battery to the large garage, add another and put 200w solar panel on the roof. Great idea I thought, but after researching found that the charging unit installed (ArSilicii) will only take up to 100ah battery and 100w sp. My questions are: have I got to upgrade the charging/power supply unit? and the control panel?, what would you recommend if I have to?, Can I install the bats in the garage and keep the charger in the original cupboard, about 1m away, thus avoiding rewiring the whole van, I would obviously have to extend/renew the engine battery cable. As always I would be eternally grateful for some answers from you chaps/esses
Gary
 

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Kool Kroozer

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Apr 19, 2014
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Finding out what your charging unit will charge up to is something i never considered, I just took my 1 leisure battery out and installed 2 new ones, put 2 140w panels on the roof with a 30a controller, how you find out what your vans controller is capable of ?
 

Zigisla

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In my handbook EBL 119
Suitable batteries - 6-cell AGM or lead-gel batteries, 55 Ah and above. So I would imagine that most chargers can handle larger capacities. Solar straight to the batteries via a separate controller.

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Nov 6, 2012
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I agree, wire the Solar panel directly to the new batteries via a 20 to 30 amp charge controller. Make sure you use a thick enough cable to handle the current so that there is minimal voltage drop. With a 200 watt panel you should rarely have to fall back on the mains charging unit.
 
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gazzeroo

gazzeroo

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Sep 14, 2014
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Thanks, that`s what I would have said but I contacted a chap at aandncaravans and he has stated that 120ah is the absolute max my charger will cope with. I would love to know if any rimor owners have had this problem
 

pappajohn

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Your charger will charge a 220ah battery bank....it will just take longer.
My last battery bank was 440ah and the original charger had a 25amp output.
As it was designed for American leccy (120v 60Hz) and analogue output it didn't agree with a UK 50Hz supply so eventually It was changed to a 45amp 120v 50Hz jobbie which charged faster

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Imbiber

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Finding out what your charging unit will charge up to is something i never considered, I just took my 1 leisure battery out and installed 2 new ones, put 2 140w panels on the roof with a 30a controller, how you find out what your vans controller is capable of ?

Allan at A and N Caravan Services writes about Battery Bank Capacities half-way down the page here < Battery Bank Sizing >; seems that modern chargers support a battery bank roughly 10 times the charger output.

His site is well worth a read.
 
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gazzeroo

gazzeroo

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Sep 14, 2014
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Thanks Imbiber, I have read countless threads on adding batteries, solar panels etc but I can`t say iv`e noticed anything about upgrading power units, chargers etc. I have to say I am more than a little confused now
 
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gazzeroo

gazzeroo

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Thinking about this, to safely add a second battery and/or solar panels, you should upgrade your power unit, charger and alternator. I am sure I haven't heard anything like that on here even from people who genuinely seem to know their stuff ie techno

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pappajohn

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What you have to bare in mind is.....you are not charging flat batteries, they are usually pretty well charged so if no current is being drawn the charger is having a really easy time.
Once your battery is charged any power needs come from the charger, if on hook up etc, not the battery.
The battery is there in case your demand exceeds the chargers output.
Yes, the power is coming from the battery but the charger is replacing that power as its used.
If your charger is rated at 15amps and you draw 20amps you draw 15a from the charger and 5a from the battery.
 
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gazzeroo

gazzeroo

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Sep 14, 2014
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So pappajohn, my charger is rated at 10amps, so do you think 2 x 120ah batts would be ok as well as hooking up 2 x 100 watt sps, as long as I don`t allow the batteries to get too low. And thanks to all for taking the trouble to add comments
 
Feb 11, 2017
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Can I suggest the OP reads this web page, http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/arsilicii.php it shows photographs of units destroyed by the Alternator current where a second battery has been added and explains how/why the damage occurs.


There is also a web page that covers adding a second battery in more general terms to other manufacturers power units that are also susceptible -
http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/add-a-second-battery.php

It shows photos of units that have caught fire showing that not all Power controller/chargers will support more than one battery and gives advice on what can be done to get around some of the issues.
 

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