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Split charging

Posted: 31 May 2012, 17:08
by dandan1234
Hi, i have had a read through wiki but cant seem to make sense of how my leisure battery is wired up.
I have inlcuded some pics as they may explain it better.

Image

This is the split charge relay on the starter battery, as far as i can make out it is wired to both batteries, earth and alternator signal wire.

Image

This is the bit i dont understand, the leisure battery is connected to the starter battery by a thick 8mm cable on the positive. Is this normal as i thought the batteries were supposed to be seperate apart from the charging to prevent the starter battery going flat?

Image

This is the leisure battery.

I have checked the leisure battery with my meter and it goes up to around 13.5v with the engine running then down to just over 12v when engine off. So the split charge seems to work.

Sorry for all the questions and long post but im going away in it for the first time this weekend and dont want to be stuck with a flat battery lol.

Re: Split charging

Posted: 31 May 2012, 18:15
by Hacksawbob
I cant quite see how that is set up, drawing a wiring diagram may help. Disconnect the driving battery negative lead manually when you are camped up in the mean time until you have worked it out. The relay is usually between the positives on the batteries and joins them together when driving then disconnects when stopped isolating the batteries when stopped.

Re: Split charging

Posted: 31 May 2012, 18:55
by Cyberdennis
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-DC-30A-Au ... 0971768368

http://www.psb-towing.com/shop/pdf/TEC3 ... iagram.pdf

I hope this will help you :-)

From the first link you get the idea of how the relay works, and from the second link you see how the inputs and output works.

Re: Split charging

Posted: 31 May 2012, 20:33
by MidLifeCrisis
I have a similar version of that split charge relay - it's one of the types that monitors the voltage at the starter battery and only activates when it rises above a set level (i.e. when the alternator is working (so the engine is running), the voltage rises and that triggers this relay, so it doesn't need the signal wire from the alternator, and shouldn't be using this wire for anything).

The terminals should be connected as follows (according to my instructions):

12V - connected to the starter battery positive terminal (via a 30amp fuse)
12V - connected to the starter battery positive terminal (via a 30amp fuse)
6 - connected to the leisure battery positive (again via a 30amp fuse)
4 - not connected (apparently this has no use)
2 - connected to your fridge 12V (if you want this feature) (again via a fuse)

How it works - when the relay senses a higher voltage (at the 12V terminals) it connects one 12V terminal to the 6 terminal, and the other 12V terminal to the 2 terminal - so it will charge the leisure battery and also power the fridge.

If you just want to charge the leisure battery, then I'd suggest that you could connect both pins 6 and 2 to the leisure battery - this way they will share the current load.

Hope that helps.

Re: Split charging

Posted: 01 Jun 2012, 15:01
by CovKid
Thanks to you all

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ca ... it_charger" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now added to WIKI in case it is ever asked again :D

Ralph