Battery Master - Ducato - fitting

[roxburd]

Hiya,
Has anyone got their hands dirty and fitted a Battery Master to a Ducato themselves? My McLouis Fusion is Ducato-based and the solar panel is doing an amazing job of keeping the leisure battery topped up. But the engine battery is draining pretty quick. I know where the leisure battery is and I'm pretty confident with a multi-meter and a soldering iron. But I'm not sure where the engine battery is or how best to route the wiring to do a really tidy job. Any pointers much appreciated!
Dave

 

[Cush]

Do you have a b2b or split charge relay?

 

[Lenny HB]

Engine battery is under the floor on the left hand side of the cab.

 

[10tenmen]

It can be attached via your fuse charge controller. Only 3 wires to connect, do you know the model of your controller.

 

[Two on Tour]

Piggybacked mine onto my B2B cabling out of the B2B.

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[GMLS]

Piggybacked mine onto my B2B cabling out of the B2B.

Me too.There are very clear instructions and a few YT videos.Just 3 wires

 

[mitzimad]

depending on what you call pretty quick anything under a week i would be checking the state of your battery and charging system or searching for a parasitic drain

 

[autorouter]

The BatteryMaster requires a connection to starter battery positive, leisure battery positive and a negative, It's only a small trickle charge, about an amp, so thin wires are fine, and a dedicated set of thick wires is unnecessary.

There will be a 12V distribution/fusebox somewhere, and there will be substantial wires to both batteries, and a negative, from that. It's probably easier to mount the BatteryMaster near that than unnecessarily run wires all the way to the batteries. What is the make/model of the 12V distribution/fusebox?

Also, sorry to say, but crimping is much preferred to soldering for long-term reliability in a vibration-prone environment like a vehicle. It's counter-intuitive I know, but bitter experience has taught the industry that lesson. Solder joints are forbidden on aircraft, and my Audi manual expressly states that soldered joints are not to be used. I can solder anything from surface mount PCBs to heating pipes, but I always use crimps on a vehicle.

 

[tonka]

Not a battery master but i installed one of these last week. Seems to be doing the job ok and quite a few funsters recommended them.
3 wires, one to negative, one to leisure battery positive and one to the engine battery positive. Advised to fit 10amp fuses inline on the positives, which i have done..

Pardon our interruption...

 

[roxburd]

Thanks all!

So, I've found the engine battery and gave it a good 6-hour charge to keep me going until I get the Battery Master installed.

My follow-on questions: How do I know if I have a B2B or split-charge relay? Where would I find one, other or both?

What's a fuse charge controller? Do I have one? Where's that at, then?

Where would I find wiring diagrams so I can make sure I'm connecting in to the right points? Or are they close enough to one of the batteries that you can just eyeball it?

The van is a 2003 McLouis Fusion 331 - Ducato base. All this would be a lot easier if it were on my drive and I could pull it apart at my leisure - but it's in storage, which makes things tricky.

Cheers

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[GMLS]

Do these help?

 

[roxburd]

Do these help?

Thanks GMLS - very handy.

 

[autorouter]

How do I know if I have a B2B or split-charge relay? Where would I find one, other or both?

One method of charging the leisure battery is to wire a relay that connects the leisure battery to the starter battery, so that the alternator can charge both batteries when the engine is running. When the engine stops, it disconnects the two batteries. That relay splits the charge from the alternator between the two batteries, and is called a split charge relay.

The split charge relay is usually built into the 12V distribution/fusebox. Because of that, the distribution/fusebox will have wires to the starter battery positive, leisure battery positive and common negative, so is a convenient place to connect a BatteryMaster.

The other method is to have a DC-DC charger that gets its input from the alternator/starter battery when the engine is running, and sends the output to the leisure battery. This DC-DC charger is also called a Battery-to-Battery (B2B) charger or sometimes a Charge Booster. It takes power from the alternator and changes it to a suitable voltage and amps for the leisure battery, and usually has settable charge profiles.

The B2B will have wires to the starter battery positive, leisure battery positive and common negative, so is also a convenient place to connect a BatteryMaster.

When the engine starts, the voltages of both batteries will rise as they are being charged. You can tell if you have a split charge relay because the two battery voltages will always be the same as each other. With a B2B the voltages won't always be the same as each other. But may be some of the time, by coincidence, of course.

 

[roxburd]

Nice one, autorouter - very comprehensive info!! Makes sense to tap in there, if I can find one of 'em!

 

[Cush]

What Autorouter said above . I’ll add that my split charge is independent of the Sargent made power supply and distribution unit. There are two relays next to my starter battery under the bonnet. one for the fridge and one for the split charging relay.

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[Rockpool]

Fitted a Ablemail battery maintainer AMT12-2 trickle charger. Wired from our Lithium leisure batteries to the van battery and works perfect. The advantage is that you can change the charge rate from 1amp to 3amp, which I found was better at keeping the van battery topped up.

 

[fred_jb]

+1 for the Ablemail which I also have. Works very well and if you invest in the rather expensive Bluetooth accessory you can monitor and configure it in the phone app. The only gotcha I had was that it kept timing out shortly after connecting. The company were very helpful when I contacted them and the trick is to quickly enter the settings and turn off power saving before it times out. Since doing that it has connected reliably every time.

 

[Bettysbus]

The BatteryMaster requires a connection to starter battery positive, leisure battery positive and a negative, It's only a small trickle charge, about an amp, so thin wires are fine, and a dedicated set of thick wires is unnecessary.

There will be a 12V distribution/fusebox somewhere, and there will be substantial wires to both batteries, and a negative, from that. It's probably easier to mount the BatteryMaster near that than unnecessarily run wires all the way to the batteries. What is the make/model of the 12V distribution/fusebox?

Also, sorry to say, but crimping is much preferred to soldering for long-term reliability in a vibration-prone environment like a vehicle. It's counter-intuitive I know, but bitter experience has taught the industry that lesson. Solder joints are forbidden on aircraft, and my Audi manual expressly states that soldered joints are not to be used. I can solder anything from surface mount PCBs to heating pipes, but I always use crimps on a vehicle.

We're about to fit a Van Bitz battery master. That's the royal we meaning the lad who likes to fiddle with this type of thing. The question is where to site it. I like your idea of putting it near the distribution box. We have a Bailey Alliance on a Boxer chassis and the distribution box is shown below. My question is can the battery master be attached to the car and vehicle battery terminals as shown and where does the earth go? I'll pass on the info. to the lad so that he can do the physical bit. I'm far to old and inflexible to be doing it myself.

 

[autorouter]

My question is can the battery master be attached to the car and vehicle battery terminals as shown and where does the earth go?

Yes, there should be a terminal for the starter battery and the leisure battery inside that box. And another terminal for the negative. Technically it's a negative return, not an earth. It is eventually connected to the metal bodywork of the chassis, so people call it an earth, but it's a negative return path.

 

[Bettysbus]

Yes, there should be a terminal for the starter battery and the leisure battery inside that box. And another terminal for the negative. Technically it's a negative return, not an earth. It is eventually connected to the metal bodywork of the chassis, so people call it an earth, but it's a negative return path.

Brilliant that Thank you. I'll pass the info. on to he who must do the scrabbling about.

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