Electrickery Help....Please! (1 Viewer)

Stevewheel

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May 2, 2017
98
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East Sussex
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AutoTrail V Line 540
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I'm a newbie
O wise crowd.....compared to many of you folks I'm still very much a newbie here...so be gentle!

I have a fairly young Autotrail 540 PVC and the electrical set up sees a 80 A/h leisure battery (+ a vehicle battery of course) being fed through a 100A/h solar panel and mains hook up into a Sargent Control System (the EC155 Power Supply & Charger Unit and monitored by the EC51 Control Panel)

All v nice and somewhat different from the German system that was in our last van. I have some basic queries for any folks acquainted with the Sargent hardware.

i) Should I expect both leisure and vehicle batteries to show a "full" 5 LED's of charge after say 2 hours driving?

ii) Is it reasonable to expect the same status as above following 12 hours on mains hookup?

iii) Are there any simple things I can do to ensure that the natural discharge rate of both batteries is kept to a minimum when the vehicle is standing for a week or two? i.e. are there things I can turn off that might draw current when I don't realise?

iv) Do you "seasoned" campaigners leave your van on hook up if you are away for a couple of weeks? Given the fuse protection etc in the Sargent system should that be safe to do?

Any help you can give would be much appreciated .......needless to say the manuals & instructions supplied to me are a fine combination of brevity and impregnability!

Thanks again folks.
 

andy63

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Jan 19, 2014
4,672
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since 1990
I dont have your system but with regards your first two points... it would depend on where your batteries were in terms of state of charge when you started , and its possible that the leisure and vehicle batteries wont mirror each other in terms of voltage..
when your engine is running they may well show a full set of lights on the control panel and likewise when the solar is producing..
Its about getting to know your system... the led voltage lights are at best just an indication and after a while you will get to know what a healthy state of charge will show... especially if the batteries have been rested for a while with no charge and minimal load..
On point 3... the vehicle battery will always have a draw on it..
The leisure can effectively be shut down by switching the sargent off...but if your solar is wired through it you may also be isolating that and getting no benefit from it.. if the solar is independently wired to the leisure batteries then id shut down the control panel when storing the van.. if it isnt on ehu..
Point 4... with modern chargers there should be no problem leaving the van on hook up with the charger on float charge
Thats my thoughts..
Andy.
 
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Gellyneck

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Jun 5, 2014
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More than toes wet now!
You might have this as part of your instructions pack but ......
The Sargent manual (different from yours) was missing in our Frontier!
 

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  • EC155-User-Instructions-Issue-2.pdf
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Upvote 0
Apr 27, 2016
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Since the 80s
fed through a 100A/h solar panel
Your solar panel is not 100A/h. If it's 100 of anything it will be 100 watts. That will push out 100/12 = 8.3 amps on midsummer day at the equator, and more like 6 amps if you're lucky on a summer's day in Europe.
80 A/h leisure battery
Your leisure battery is 80 amp-hours, abbreviated to Ah (NOT A/h which is amps per hour, and is basically meaningless).

Your 80Ah battery can be charged at various rates: 10 amps for 8 hours, 20 amps for 4 hours, 5 amps for 16 hours, etc.
i) Should I expect both leisure and vehicle batteries to show a "full" 5 LED's of charge after say 2 hours driving?
I would imagine your engine alternator will charge at maybe 20 amps, so for 2 hours that will be 20 x 2 = 40 amp-hours. If the battery is half discharged, that will fill it back up again. You can see the real amps if it is displayed on the control panel, otherwise you could measure it with a meter.
ii) Is it reasonable to expect the same status as above following 12 hours on mains hookup?
On mains hookup the inbuilt charger in the EC155 unit will charge at up to 12 amps, so you might think that it will take 80/12 = 8.3 hours to fully charge an 80Ah battery from flat. That's not the whole story, because it's a 3 stage charger. It charges at 12 amps until it's about 80% charged, then reduces the amps gradually until it's fully charged. Then it switches to trickle charge mode. So, to answer your question, 12 hours on hookup should be enough time to fully charge an 80Ah leisure battery.
iii) Are there any simple things I can do to ensure that the natural discharge rate of both batteries is kept to a minimum when the vehicle is standing for a week or two? i.e. are there things I can turn off that might draw current when I don't realise?
The natural discharge of a battery, isolated on a bench, is maybe 100 milliamps (1/10 of an amp). However a motorhome in storage probably has an alarm, tracker and frost protection valve, which can drain a battery in a couple of weeks. A 100 watt solar panel, properly wired with a good controller, will keep both batteries topped up even in the dark days of winter. Unless it's stored indoors, of course.
iv) Do you "seasoned" campaigners leave your van on hook up if you are away for a couple of weeks? Given the fuse protection etc in the Sargent system should that be safe to do?
I keep my Hymer motorhome on hookup 24/7 on the drive when not being lived in. I know the charger never overcharges the batteries. If I got a different motorhome, I would monitor the charging carefully to check that there was no overcharging. Some people just connect for 24 hours every couple of weeks.
 
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Stevewheel

Stevewheel

Free Member
May 2, 2017
98
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East Sussex
Funster No
48,477
MH
AutoTrail V Line 540
Exp
I'm a newbie
Thanks @autorouter for your comprehensive reply...clearly you are somewhat "all over this"....which I am not....but you will have gathered that! Many thanks, most helpful.

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Nov 23, 2011
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I have the same control units in our Autotrail Tribute so I will to try and answer your questions
1) After driving a number of hours and then parked up without hook up connected with the control panel switched on, both batteries only show 4 LED,s of charge. This could be the voltage of both batteries is just below 13.4 volts. In my opinion both batteries are OK.
2) On hook up and charger ON the control panel will show 5 LED,s on the battery being charged. The other battery not being charged will only show 4 LED,s The control panel will only charge the battery selected on the panel.
Regarding the solar panel. On a sunny day it may well give 5LED,s on both batteries if it is connected via a dual charge controller to each battery.
3) If the PCV is same as a coach built it will have a very low discharge on the batteries during storage. After 3 to 4 weeks with an alarm fitted our batteries were still at 12.6 volts without a solar panel You should check the solar panel controller is capable of charging both batteries.
AS far as I am aware the 155 Charger control unit does not have a shut down button only a charger ON/OFF switch but you should switch off the panel showing the LED lights.
Hope this helps.
 
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