Dual battery to caravan set up

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V9x

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Just wondering if I'm on the right track with this . I was thinking about how I'm going to wire my battery that is mounted under my tray in the ute ,to my battery in the caravan. I have a ctek charger mounted next to the battery under the tray and im wondering if I should just jump off the ctek or wire the batteries in series or parralel ( I think thats the right term for it) . Im leaning towards jumping it off the ctek output and running heavy gauge cable and 50amp anderson plugs back to the caravan battery . The ctek is closer by a few inches to the battery in the van.

Any advice would be helpfull

Cheers
 
I think the run from the C-Tek to the caravan battery would be a little long. It's still doable like that, heavy cable would minimise the problems.

When I first started putting batteries into my caravan I used mixed sizes and found that troublesome because the smaller capacity battery would charge first, leaving the larger capacity batteries wanting more. When the charger came off, the smaller capacity battery would feed the bigger one so you'd end up with an undercharged pack.

If your aux and your van batteries are the same capacity that too reduces problems.

When (if) we get a new caravan it'll have a big 3-way fridge in it (our current van has a 12/240V fridge with a compressor). To run the 3-way fridge while driving, the accepted practice has been to use 12V fed from the tug through an Anderson plug to provide 12V power to the fridge.

Unfortunately I've learned a little about how those fridges work. On 12V, they only just barely operate the heater, they don't regulate the power (there's no thermostat being used here) so it will only just maintain the cold on a reasonable day. On a hot day you're losing. The thermostat works on gas or 240V.

Since you can't use gas while the vehicle is moving, the logical choice is to invert power (you need an inverter capable of supplying a constant 400W) and then you have a fridge that will be able to cool things back down after you've stopped for lunch here:

07-LakeHartSA.jpg


Okay, so if you're already inverting power for the fridge, maybe it's time to go whole hog and invert power for the battery charger as well? A 15A charger will consume around 20A of input power, plus 400W = about 33A so 50A of input required. Maybe some bigger Anderson plugs are needed?

My van above has a 7A C-Tek, 1.6A Projecta and a Waeco fridge that draws about 78W while running (6.5A @ 12V). Total draw on mine is less than 20A - but I'm getting my car ready to deliver 60A to the tail if needs be.

Only problem is getting the alternator to deliver that constantly!
 
I think the run from the C-Tek to the caravan battery would be a little long. It's still doable like that, heavy cable would minimise the problems.

When I first started putting batteries into my caravan I used mixed sizes and found that troublesome because the smaller capacity battery would charge first, leaving the larger capacity batteries wanting more. When the charger came off, the smaller capacity battery would feed the bigger one so you'd end up with an undercharged pack.

If your aux and your van batteries are the same capacity that too reduces problems.

When (if) we get a new caravan it'll have a big 3-way fridge in it (our current van has a 12/240V fridge with a compressor). To run the 3-way fridge while driving, the accepted practice has been to use 12V fed from the tug through an Anderson plug to provide 12V power to the fridge.

Unfortunately I've learned a little about how those fridges work. On 12V, they only just barely operate the heater, they don't regulate the power (there's no thermostat being used here) so it will only just maintain the cold on a reasonable day. On a hot day you're losing. The thermostat works on gas or 240V.

Since you can't use gas while the vehicle is moving, the logical choice is to invert power (you need an inverter capable of supplying a constant 400W) and then you have a fridge that will be able to cool things back down after you've stopped for lunch here:

07-LakeHartSA.jpg


Okay, so if you're already inverting power for the fridge, maybe it's time to go whole hog and invert power for the battery charger as well? A 15A charger will consume around 20A of input power, plus 400W = about 33A so 50A of input required. Maybe some bigger Anderson plugs are needed?

My van above has a 7A C-Tek, 1.6A Projecta and a Waeco fridge that draws about 78W while running (6.5A @ 12V). Total draw on mine is less than 20A - but I'm getting my car ready to deliver 60A to the tail if needs be.

Only problem is getting the alternator to deliver that constantly!

I might try jumping off the ctek with big cable and 75 amp Anderson plugs. I have a few concerns , 1)might not work 2 ) batteries are different brands , one is an optima and other is some make of deep cycle . I'm worried I might wreck my batteries if I join them up .

I'll try it and see how it goes before I waste my time with wiring something up that might not work . The bloke put a new battery in the van yesterday so it will probably be fine for a while . Shame he didn't tell me he was doing it as I would have requested a yellow top like in my ute . I would have been confident it would work well with that setup .

Also doing my teknosha brake install at the moment and I'm wondering if all caravans run electric brakes off the blue wire on the 7 pin plug (havent got the van yet) I have found on my factory towbar where it jumps into the loom the blue wire that has a connector that has been capped off , I'm assuming that is the one I will jump onto .

Am I on the right track here ??

Cheers
 
Thanks for that mate. I probably jumped the worst possible wire for my brake though , I spliced in off my pedal . Done my head in trying to strip the wire and splice in under the dash . But I my reasoning was that I have to run one less wire from the rear to my cab : )
 
That's reassuring then . Glad my efforts weren't in vain! Note to self , invest in proper wire stripers , not the crimping/cutter type I have.
 
Tiger is correct about having a second charger immediately next to the van batteries. They work better that way. something like a c-tek D250s which will take power off the alternator when connected and power off a solar panel or two on the roof, when stationary.
 
Tiger is correct about having a second charger immediately next to the van batteries. They work better that way. something like a c-tek D250s which will take power off the alternator when connected and power off a solar panel or two on the roof, when stationary.

I will run with that when I get inspired to do it. I like to cut corners sometimes and it usually bites me in the ass lol best to do it right the first time.

Old tony ,

Just wondering on your teknosha p3 how much boost did it take to lock your van brakes? I know yours is twin axle and mine is single , but I have mine set over 7 and it still won't lock . I'm thinking a may have a problem , I don't notice the difference when I up the boost . I'm still playing around with it , but I'd apreaciate some advice as I'm on the road from vic to qld and I tryed to pull up quick today and I felt like the van was pushing me along and not pulling up on its own . Was a bit scary ,so I need to sort it.

Cheers
 
Locking the brakes is a function of 3 things:

1) The amount of current applied to the electric brakes

2) The amount of wear of the electric brake itself

3) The adjustment of the brakes on the van.

Jack the van up, put it on stands. Roll underneath, tighten the drum brakes so that the brake starts dragging then back it off 1 click. Repeat on the other side - both have to be adjusted fairly close to each other or the van will try to brake in a circle, which will pull your towball sideways making your steering pull. Try it again.

I don't like my van's brakes locking up, but my drums are adjusted as described, with new brake shoes that I installed about 10,000km ago, and if I use boost level 3 on soft ground the van happily lets go, but it rarely locks on asphalt unless there's something on the road surface like sand, dirt, water etc.
 
I had adjusted my van brakes quite tight in the past, like I had always done with cars.

It endlessly 5hitted me that the longer the distance I travelled, the more they would lock up. Not sure now whether it was due to the Tekonsha Voyager brake controller (which I replaced with the Tekonsha P3) but started adjusting my brakes following these instructions which I have saved:

"Lock your brakes up so you can't turn them easily by hand. Then knock the adjustment back a minimum of 10 clicks and a maximum of 13 clicks. Makes sure you use use CLICKS and not turns of the adjuster. Ensure that ALL the wheels are adjusted identically.

If you are not totally sure of what you are doing - don't."

From here: http://caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11222&p=157651#p157594

Recently repacked the wheel bearings and found as soon as I backed off the adjuster on one brake, it spun freely. Thought I would adjust that one by feel.

I should have adjusted them as per the instructions or at least exactly the same number of clicks (whatever number that happens to be) because the other day, just near 5hit Creek, I filled up with fuel and felt all the drums, one drum being extremely hot. That was the wheel I had adjusted by "feel". It was not binding on the move, just doing more than it's fair share of braking.

Anyway at the next caravan park I removed the drum to make sure no damage was done and adjusted the brake exactly the same as the others.

Moral of the story, don't adjust the brakes by "feel".
 
I will follow those instructions exactly as directed. I haven't had a chance to jack her up yet , as its been raining all the way from Melbourne and I lack the required equipment . I didn't realize how high you can put the boost up on these units , I now have it set at 13.4 and I can definatly feel the van pulling up on its own steam now. I have found a few things a want to fix up on the van so i will be kept busy tinkering when I get up to qld.

Not too impressed with the pulling power of the v9x engine , I feel it struggles a bit to pull the baby van about ( windsor rapid) and the gear box doesn't seem to like it much either.
I touched a bolt under my seat and it was red hot ! Heat transfer from the tranny is ridiculous.
My readout on the dash is saying 15.2 l per 100ks not too happy with that either..


Does that seem ok ? Or am I just being fussy with those fuel figures .
 
15.2LPHK is something I'd be envious of while towing, the best I've gotten is 15.5 or thereabouts (1.8T dual axle ... well, it's in my sig below).

Next time you're towing, check a few things - first, the temperature of the wheel nuts of the van. You should be able to touch them without having to remove your fingers (they should get warm, they should never get too hot to touch).

Check the temperature of the van tyre's sidewall. If it's warm, the van tyres need inflating, and the van's rolling resistance will be quite high.

Take a note of the speed you're travelling at. Where economy is concerned with these trucks, speed is important.

How heavy is the Rapid?
 
Hope I am not butting in but I was on here the other day whinging that I had just achieved 25.49lph. In all fairness, there was a very strong headwind with occasional dust storm.

Speed was not a factor because If I go any slower, I will end up doing the rest of the trip by myself.

Anyway while Driving Miss Daisy the other day, I got passed by everyone, including a bloke towing with a petrol Ford Territory. Met up with him last night and he advised that he had used 30+ litres per hundred that day. I smiled! :big_smile:

Anyway my best this trip has been 15.66lph and previous best was 13.27lph however the figures are pretty meaningless because all the planets have to align for that to happen. I have just done a calculation of my average for the last 23 tanks while towing and it came in at 17.99lph.

P.S and if you think your's feels like it struggles a bit, you should try my wee little 2.5lt :)
 
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