Club 80-90 Forums

Hey!

OK, this may be a (very) silly question, but I'm trying to work out what going on with the wiring in my van. I "sort of" get the basics, but what are the two silver things attached to battery compartment chassis floor?
These all seems really complicated compared to any diagrams I've seen before.

Pic might not be as clear as I thought - blue wire runs to middle of split charge relay, round silver thing (technical term) also has a connection from the left to the relay, and from the right to the second part next to it which is then direct to leisure battery positive terminal.

The left one is a solenoid, basically a big relay that switch high amperage circuit. The right one looks like a circuit breaker which is braking the circuit when the amperage is too high.

The solenoid swithch the two big post together when there is voltage at the blue wire (the wngine runs, and the alternator is charging) the circuit breaker is working like a fuse in the line.

and it looks like a Gowesty system:
https://youtu.be/Wh6XUjxB6d0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://youtu.be/jJA5eMyU9zU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You are right!

http://www.gowesty.com/product-details.php?v=&id=2418" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Damn, thank you guys! Spot on - well, something is obviously not working as the 2nd battery ran completely flat so just need to work out what is going down...... sigh.

Far to complicated for what it is, messy and potentially dangerous with its bare terminals and close proximity to metalwork. The kit and associated wiring also raise other questions, like; why have a massive (200 amp?) solenoid but supply it with (what looks like) around 35 amp cable and 50 amp cutout?
Indeed, is the cable rated lower than the 50 amp cutout..if this is professionally supplied then that doesn't make sense.

As I can't see all the wiring or know where it goes, I can only presume the standard relay is being used to switch the much larger solenoid? I presume the blue trigger wire from the alternator just wouldn't be up to switching that massive solenoid directly, but, if you are fitting a 50amp cutout you only need a 70amp relay which could be switched by the standard blue wire.

Like I say...doesn't make much sense.

Martin

California Dreamin wrote:Far to complicated for what it is, messy and potentially dangerous with its bare terminals and close proximity to metalwork. The kit and associated wiring also raise other questions, like; why have a massive (200 amp?) solenoid but supply it with (what looks like) around 35 amp cable and 50 amp cutout?
Indeed, is the cable rated lower than the 50 amp cutout..if this is professionally supplied then that doesn't make sense.

As I can't see all the wiring or know where it goes, I can only presume the standard relay is being used to switch the much larger solenoid? I presume the blue trigger wire from the alternator just wouldn't be up to switching that massive solenoid directly, but, if you are fitting a 50amp cutout you only need a 70amp relay which could be switched by the standard blue wire.

Like I say...doesn't make much sense.

Martin

Yes it is not well designed.
I think they can buy these solenoids for cheap and can make a good margin on the kit. On TheSamba (US forums) there a lot of complainments about the GW products. For my eyes they are cheap solutions sold for a big price.

And...
Unecessary...the original Westy split charge relay (in my California) was a double make 5 terminal 30 amp unit, which to be fair was a bit under rated but going from that to one of these (starter) solenoids plus (additional relay)is ridiculous

If you have a fridge then the best 'upgrade' to the standard relay (in a Westy) or any other conversion for that matter, is a Durite or Lucas SRB 630 which was made for the job and has a separate feed for the fridge which it isolates when the engine isn't running. This can use the standard wiring (just needs 4 terminals remaking) Like this:

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/1027" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Otherwise and if this was a new install I would go for a simple SMART voltage sensing relay between the two batteries like in this link:

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p ... tegory/149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otherwise: the cheapest upgrade option is just a heavy duty 70 amp 4 pole (but this doesn't have a separate fridge feed like the dedicated Durite/Lucas but this might not be needed)

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p ... ategory/36" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The important points are to have sufficiently rated wiring (60 amp would be good) and something like a 40 - 50 amp fuse close to the starter battery.

Martin

Hmm, all useful info, thanks.

Its set up exactly as detailed in their videos as far as I can see. Its not an install done by me, and was already in there when purchased. It does look like quite a recent install though, and was a lot neater than this before I started poking around to see what's what. Compared to my previous t25 this actually looks like a professional work of art

I have more pressing things to sort out first, but will return to this I guess and look at simplifying/improving.

I had this kit in my van when it was imported from the US. It was ok, but sometimes wouldn't charge the aux battery to 100% if we were not driving that far.

As Martin has pointed out the best option is to use the uprated fridge relay if you have a fridge. I removed my fridge, factory fridge relay and ran higher rated cable between the batteries and the charging of the aux battery is perfect now.

I don't know how European westys are wired but on a US spec westy they didn't have an aux battery so this kit charges an aux battery from the 12v fridge wiring from the fusebox.


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