Fitting van bitz master relay

[John Bruno]

Hi I have an Adria coral 690 supreme, I have a solar panel fitted which only charges the leisure battery. I have bought a van bitz master relay to charge my vehicle battery from the solar panel and wondered if there was a location easily accessible that I could make all three connections?

 

[Phill D]

Hi welcome, if your solar regulator is working through your electroblockbl then it can be sorted to charge the cab battery without the battery master.

 

[John Bruno]

Hi Phil thanks for the reply, excuse my ignorance, but what is the electroblockbl and where would it be? The solar panel was only fitted recently and he defo didn’t wire it up to charge the cab battery.

 

[Phill D]

It's the main charger / power distribution for the van 12v system it's likely to be next to your hab battery on your coral.

What solar controller has been fitted

 

[John Bruno]

It is a Epever, Landstar

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[Phill D]

It is a Epever, Landstar

I am not familiar with that controller,

 

[John Bruno]

This is my hab battery set up

 

[Phill D]

That silver box with all the wires is the electrobloc.
Is your solar controller connected direct to hab battery or through the electrobloc

 

[John Bruno]

direct to the battery I think

 

[TheCaller]

I don't think that is an Electrobloc, but the principle will be the same.

You are looking for a place where there is a connection that runs from the positive terminal of the starter battery & another that runs from the positive terminal of the leisure battery which are reasonably close to each other - ideally close enough that you don't have to extend any of the wires on the Battery Master. Hopefully there will also be a common negative somewhere in the same area. An Electrobloc has these connections conveniently located together on the rear of the unit.

After a roll of Duct tape, the most useful tool in a motorhome is a multimeter. For this purpose, a cheap one for under a tenner will suffice, but my recommendation would be a UNI-T UT210E, which has the added benefit of measuring current as well as voltage. (There seem to be different specifications sold under the same model number - make sure DC current is included)

If the van has been standing for a few days, the two batteries will be at different voltages. Measure the voltage across the terminals of each battery & you will now be able to identify what wires are connected to which battery on the various connections. My starting point would be those red & white wires at the back of your photograph.

The current flow will be low enough that you won't need to worry about how thick or thin the wires are.