Battery maintenance during the lock down

[Nick.C]

You could make a balance cable. This works with solar and charges all the batteries.View attachment 57187View attachment 57187View attachment 57188

Perhaps you could make a few more of these and sell them on the site!!

 

[Shadrack]

Hi Guys, an interesting read and solutionS.
Made me go and check, I like Borris just bang on the EHU for a week or so and let it get on with it. Can’t do no damage as it’s designed to be on EHU for an undetermined amount of time.
I was not 100% sure on how engine battery was dealt with.
I just plugged in a cheapo display into the front 12v socket(see pic). IniItaly it displayed a reading of 12.7v then after connecting the ehu it started to very slowly rise. This indicated to me that it was trickling away quite happily. So engine is trickled up as well as soon s on ehu.


It’s currently displaying 13.3v after 20 mins.

 

[drbios]

You could make a balance cable. This works with solar and charges all the batteries.View attachment 57187View attachment 57187View attachment 57188

Hope you have some resistors there! You must NEVER simply charge batteries in parallel.

 

[Loz]

Hope you have some resistors there! You must NEVER simply charge batteries in parallel.

Except that is exactly how VW do it.

 

[Shadrack]

Hi all, looking for some advice on maintaining engine starter batteries for our Beach and also other car.

I was thinking given the lock down I should get a battery trickle charger.

Is it ok to use one of the cigar lighter adapters to charge the starter battery for the van and also my golf?

I can’t get either under cover so don’t want to leave the bonnet open when charging.

Thanks!


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Just re reading your initial enquiry Nielos,
A lot is going to depend on how long we are in this state of lockdown. But unless you have some underlying issues with any of your batteries in either car or Beach, I would go and spend a few quid on a simples charger for car and as has been mentioned earlier maybe use hookup for the Beach.

As another suggestion; maybe alternate which vehicle you use to do essential journeys.

 

[Neilos]

This thread has turned into quite a long one! So, are we saying a beach will charge the starter battery. But, slowly and takes quite a while to fill the measure battery and then trickle into the starter? I’ll have to plug the EHU in again and wait longer!


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[campandfly]

Except that is exactly how VW do it.

I think possibly that VW use parallel because there are only 2 batteries that are discharged to almost the same level and are the same size capacity etc.
If you had more batteries in parallel that were not the same size, capacity, age, and very unevenly discharged this would probably not be an ideal setup.

 

[Loz]

Marine and telecom systems that I have had experience with can use many batteries in parallel and that is why it is important to make sure they are the same Profile.
the reason the balance cable works is that there is not much potential difference between the the starter and leisure side when you join them up and therefore the current flow is low. The other reason it works on the California is that the 12v sockets are permanently live.
you can’t do this on cars as the sockets are only live when the ignition is on and making one live in this mannor will also power up other circuits.
Just to be clear, if you don’t understand how and why this works DO NOT DO THIS YOURSELF.

Before I connected mine up, I charged up the starter battery by running the engine until the alternator goes into idle charge mode which is 80% charged and switched off. Then plugged in the link with the link switch open, once the other end is firmly in the second socket it can be switched to closed.
looking at the control panel I saw the starter side drawing 4.2A which dropped steadily as they balanced out.
the next day, as can be seen in the graphs I posted, the solar was able to Then charge all 3 batteries at the same time. I only have a 100w panel so generally only 3 to 5 amps is going to the batteries.

the link cable itself is a heavy gauge and only 1.5 metres long and there is a 10a fuse in each plug at each end, the sockets themselves are fused at 15A, the switch in the cable is rated at 20a and the cables are soldered on so that there won’t be any high resistance from crimps etc.

As soon as we can start using our Cali again this won’t be needed but as the starter battery had got down to 40% I needed a solution that didn’t involve having to keep running the engine and as I don’t have the luxury of a driveway I cannot plug it in.

 

[TripleBee]

Would not work for me as my starter battery is different from my leisure batteries.

Well, it could work, but I am not going to do it.
Luckily my charger charges all 3 batteries, so am I good.

 

[Chippy]

You could make a balance cable. This works with solar and charges all the batteries.View attachment 57187View attachment 57187View attachment 57188

This looks a professionally bought piece of kit which I have never heard of before, could you share where you purchased or how you made the unit? I guess the charge is coming from your leisure battery DC to the van cigarette lighter? Also, would it be true to say that if you depleted the charge from your leisure battery it would then use your starter battery power? Thanks.

 

[WelshGas]

I recently made link cable for mine.
View attachment 57134

Would this cable work using the California Mains Charger?
The reason I ask is that at the moment we are using the Cali fridge. Obviously I could use the lead in conjunction with my solar panel, but part of the day the panel is in shadow so the Leisure Battery voltage is up and down due to this, but on the Mains charger is more consistent. At the moment I’m using a CTEK charger, via the 12v engine battery socket, plugged into the kitchen mains socket, whilst the Van is on EHU.

If this lead could be used then I could use the CTEK on the other car.

 

[TripleBee]

Would this cable work using the California Mains Charger?
The reason I ask is that at the moment we are using the Cali fridge. Obviously I could use the lead in conjunction with my solar panel, but part of the day the panel is in shadow so the Leisure Battery voltage is up and down due to this, but on the Mains charger is more consistent. At the moment I’m using a CTEK charger, via the 12v engine battery socket, plugged into the kitchen mains socket, whilst the Van is on EHU.

If this lead could be used then I could use the CTEK on the other car.

Just make sure everything keeps ok. I charged my starter battery once while on hookup, and I got a heavy current draw through the starter battery charger, and a negative current on the display.
I'd only charge one side of the van at a time.

 

[Vagophile]

I have been putting my camper on hook up every two weeks. 3 times so far. Every time the internal display shows 13.6V charge and 12.7V - 100% immediately after disconnection. The first time I checked the starter battery and it also showed 13.7V on hook up, so I assumed that it was also being charged by the hook up. Since the last hook up I have been monitoring the batteries via the internal display and after about 12 days they show 12.5V and 90%. Today I thought that I would also check the starter battery. 11.6V! What is going on? The only current drain on the starter battery has been about 20 hours of radio while I have been working beside the camper. Would that cause so much drain? I have connected hook up and the starter battery is visibly charging, rising to 12.3V as I am writing this (about three quarters of an hour).
A second question. I have an Energiser 9000mAh Lithium-ion polymer jump starter. How would I use that on my camper if necessary, as it has stop start technology and the jump starting procedure seems to be a bit different.

 

[TripleBee]

20 hours of radio can drain a good battery that much, especially if your battery is already coming on age.
Jump start would be: + to +, and - to somewhere on the body or engine with good metal contact.
or for once, just parallel over the battery.

 

[WelshGas]

I have been putting my camper on hook up every two weeks. 3 times so far. Every time the internal display shows 13.6V charge and 12.7V - 100% immediately after disconnection. The first time I checked the starter battery and it also showed 13.7V on hook up, so I assumed that it was also being charged by the hook up. Since the last hook up I have been monitoring the batteries via the internal display and after about 12 days they show 12.5V and 90%. Today I thought that I would also check the starter battery. 11.6V! What is going on? The only current drain on the starter battery has been about 20 hours of radio while I have been working beside the camper. Would that cause so much drain? I have connected hook up and the starter battery is visibly charging, rising to 12.3V as I am writing this (about three quarters of an hour).
A second question. I have an Energiser 9000mAh Lithium-ion polymer jump starter. How would I use that on my camper if necessary, as it has stop start technology and the jump starting procedure seems to be a bit different.

The use of the radio can certainly cause that voltage drop, but also every time you unlock and open the drivers door a number of systems power up, the whole of the In Car Entertainment System, high pressure fuel pump , the various computer modules carry out self checks etc: and it takes upto 20 minutes for them all to power down.

 

[Scoobz1]

Just discovered the plugs / sockets in my garage (normal 3 pin UK plug) have reverse polarity- if I use them to charge the California will it cause any problems ? Thanks

 

[Vagophile]

Just discovered the plugs / sockets in my garage (normal 3 pin UK plug) have reverse polarity- if I use them to charge the California will it cause any problems ? Thanks

I don't know, but this is common in Europe and I carry a plug and short cable wired "in reverse" to a socket to rectify the problem.

 

[T6 CFO]

Just discovered the plugs / sockets in my garage (normal 3 pin UK plug) have reverse polarity- if I use them to charge the California will it cause any problems ? Thanks

Electrics are definitely not my subject but I’ve got the reverse polarity & tester. Used twice in Portugal & Spain trip in 2 months.


Hook Up Reverse Polarity Adapter (Blue) 16A-16A Caravan Motorhome Camping Boat with FREE POLARITY TESTER PLUG https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PP85CN8/?tag=eliteelect-21


Mike

 

[AlanC]

Just discovered the plugs / sockets in my garage (normal 3 pin UK plug) have reverse polarity- if I use them to charge the California will it cause any problems ? Thanks

You could use a reverse polarity cable to correct the phase going into the van on hook-up.

Better still get the garage wiring checked and corrected. If all of the sockets are wrong, it may be just the mains feed from the house to the garage is incorrect.

Alan

 

[WelshGas]

Just discovered the plugs / sockets in my garage (normal 3 pin UK plug) have reverse polarity- if I use them to charge the California will it cause any problems ? Thanks

No it won't.

But as suggested, getting it checked is worthwhile. Only a danger if using UK electric goods with an On/Off switch as in the UK the switch is in the +tve line, so when switched Off the item would still be live. On the Continent normally such a switch operates on the +tve and -tve circuit.

If ALL the sockets are reversed polarity then check the feed to the garage, in the house and in the garage input box.

 

[Scoobz1]

Cheers guys especially WelshGas for a thorough and very clear explanation - definitely the garage feed as all the plugs are impacted.

 

[Neilos]

Hi folks, really stupid question. When applying a charger like a Ctek trickle charger. I know I need to connect across the negative lug on the engine bay and the positive terminal on the battery. But, do I need to disconnect the starter battery from the car? Is there anything else I need to do to not bugger something up?!


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[TripleBee]

No need to disconnect starter battery from car for charging. Just plug the red wire on the battery + and the black on body mass.

 

[v-tec]

If you have the later type c-tek they come with the new style waterproof connector , you can fit this battery condition indicator to each terminal on the battery, (no need to remove terminals,just the nut) it gives a quick reference to your battery state of charge, The cap comes off and you just plug the charge cable in, that’s if you don’t want to leave it connected permanently, My Cali is not my daily driver,so I leave my c-tek MXS 5.0 connected all the time, It just keeps the battery 100% due to the parastatic drain cause by background consumption from control units and alarm.

 

[Neilos]

Thanks all.


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