Batteries/voltage/power.

[MikeH]

Anyone got any idea what’s going on here? Control unit shows green steady light at 14 on vehicle battery. Power will not turn on on unit. Start ignition then turn off again. System powers up fine, cabin lights working, level indicators etc. Leisure battery showing 13, vehicle battery showing 13.5. Sargent unit shows vehicle battery 16v, leisure battery 12.9v. Battamps -0.4a.
Vehicle battery is new. Solar panel no direct connection to leisure or vehicle battery but batt 1 is connected to somewhere, maybe regulator next to Sargent system, can’t see as cable disappears behind a panel.

 

[Jev88]

I have seen similar questions before and they say to Reset the unit - turn off and on (disconnect and reconnect).

 

[MikeH]

Reset which unit? Wondering if it’s maybe as the vehicle battery was replaced as it had died

 

[Jev88]

Reset the unit in your picture.... They can get thrown when a new battery is removed/added.

 

[MikeH]

The Sargent unit?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Diabalo]

Reset the panel by removing it and unplugging the lead, failing that speak to Sargent electrical they are very helpful

 

[MikeH]

Would the system shutdown button do the same or does it need completely unplugging?

 

[Diabalo]

I do believe the system shut down button does the same.

 

[MikeH]

I’ll give it a go. Bit confused by the vehicle battery indication and why it stops power coming on

 

[Diabalo]

If the 12v system is on and you start the vehicle the 12v system will shut down, they are designed that way. Solar will be connected to both batteries in the main ECxxx PSU. There is lots of info on Sargent's website on the various units to down load.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MikeH]

But with the ignition off the vehicle battery indicates steady green at 14 and the power won’t come on. Starting and then turning off the ignition seems to reset the system and then allows normal operation. It’s weird

 

[Diabalo]

Yes agreed really weird, does it do the same if the leisure battery is selected? If a reset doesn't sort it out I would ring Sargent's while you are with the van, as said before they are extremely helpful.

 

[MikeH]

I’ll try turning the psu isolate switch off tmrw then rebooting and see what happens. If it still doesn’t make sense then I’ll give them a call. It’s twisting my melon man!

 

[autorouter]

That '14' just indicates that it is 14V or higher. It would be a good idea to get a multimeter on the battery terminals to see what the voltage is exactly. If it's 16V or more there might be a trigger that stops the power coming on, and also might be the reason the previous vehicle battery died. I don't know what's producing the high voltage, probably the solar.

 

[Diabalo]

That '14' just indicates that it is 14V or higher. It would be a good idea to get a multimeter on the battery terminals to see what the voltage is exactly. If it's 16V or more there might be a trigger that stops the power coming on, and also might be the reason the previous vehicle battery died. I don't know what's producing the high voltage, probably the solar.

That's a good shout, Sargent units do normally have overload protection, mine kept shutting down when the solar controller went rogue putting out too high volts.

To rule out the solar regulator either cover the solar panel over or do it at night time.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MikeH]

Or could I just disconnect the lead in from the solar panel? The batt 1 seems to go to the Sargent system

 

[Diabalo]

Yes, if you have a multi meter test to see what the output voltage on Bat 1 is when the sun is out.

 

[GeoffnDee]

Yes you could disconnect one (or both) of the solar panel connections, this will stop the feed in and if the system resets I would think the controller is faulty or been connected in the wrong order (may have been live when the battery was replaced)
It may be that starting it up drops the voltage below the Sargent shut down feature.

 

[Diabalo]

Batt 1 will go to the Sargent system which will sort out the charging to the hab and vehicle battery, or it does on mine.

 

[autorouter]

Be careful when reconnecting, with most controllers there is a correct sequence. Battery first, then solar panels. If you get it wrong, the controller might think it's on a 24V system. It's possible that's what's already happened.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Diabalo]

The LED on the solar controller looks too bright so a quick check to see what the actual output is would be helpful. All this needs to be done without EHU.

 

[MikeH]

So...reset the Sargent, not much change. Disconnected the solar charge controller from the solar panel. Leisure battery steady, vehicle battery 14.2v. Reconnect the solar charge controller-vehicle battery climbs to 16v and Sargent system shuts off power. Any ideas?

 

[funflair]

So...reset the Sargent, not much change. Disconnected the solar charge controller from the solar panel. Leisure battery steady, vehicle battery 14.2v. Reconnect the solar charge controller-vehicle battery climbs to 16v and Sargent system shuts off power. Any ideas?

Duff solar controller and if you have a voltage sensing relay for the D+ it thinks that at 16v the engine is running and won't allow the habitation to switch on.

 

[MikeH]

As shown

 

[funflair]

So what voltage is on the leisure batteries?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MikeH]

Think this is the issue?

 

[MikeH]

Leisure battery voltage never changes from 12.7v regardless

 

[MikeH]

Think it’s the small solar charge controller and not these Sargent units?

 

[MikeH]

Is it worth just disconnecting the solar charger and replacing it?

 

[Diabalo]

Deffo the solar controller, in my opinion it's worth spending out and getting a decent MPPT controller like a Victron smart as you can download the app and see what's going on in real time and the past 30 days history.