Carado t549 battery charging issue (1 Viewer)

[Stewart J]

Hi all, friends have just arrived on site here in Spain in their 4 month old Carado t549, his leisure battery is not charging when engine running, he is currently on ehu and everything is working. Coming through France they stayed at an Aire with no hook up and found their battery hadn’t charged so obviously had no lights fridge etc. Could any of you wise folk suggest a cause and perhaps a remedy. Obviously being new van is under warranty but that does not solve his problem as he is out here for a month.

 

[GeoffnDee]

There may be a fuse near the leisure battery positive terminal that is faulty/blown , it would also be worth checking for a loose connection at the battery.

 

[autorouter]

Somewhere there will be a device that charges the leisure battery from the alternator/starter battery while the engine is running. The input to that device will be a thick wire from the starter battery, with a fuse of maybe 30A to 60A near the starter battery. The output will be a thick wire to the leisure battery, with a fuse of 30A to 60A near the leisure battery. Both of those fuses need to be good for the charge to get through. So those are the first things to check.

If the fuses are OK then you need to find the charging device. On a new MH it's sure to be a Battery-to-Battery charger (B2B) aka DC-DC Charger or Charge Booster. You can check that the starter battery voltage is reaching the input terminal, and the leisure battery voltage is reaching the output terminal. Also check the negative is connected to the chassis.

There are several brands of B2B, it would be useful to know which make and model of B2B is fitted.

 

[Lenny HB]

The van has probably has a smart alternator and being a budget van it may not have a B2B.
If this is the case it will hardly get any charge to the leisure battery when driving.

 

[gpat]

The van has probably has a smart alternator and being a budget van it may not have a B2B.
If this is the case it will hardly get any charge to the leisure battery when driving.

It will not have b2b.

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[LithiumConvert]

It will not have b2b.

How is leisue battery charged whilst driving.

 

[gpat]

How is leisue battery charged whilst driving.

Honestly. I don't know with newer vans. Perhaps hardly at all.

 

[Ditcha]

Our last van had a smart alternator with a schauldt 25amp b2b fitted when driving you were lucky to get 5 amps charging the leisure battery as most of it was taken up by the fridge. If I needed more charge I would either run tha fridge on gas our turn it off for periods so the leisure battery then received the bulk of the charge.
Soon fitted a victron 30amp b2b along with the schauldt 25amp to run the fridge.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Yes, B2B + some solar is the answer. Dual charge controller, pushing the bulk at the hab battery, and a smaller charge at the cab battery. Both can be had for under £700.00 if self fitted.
A " gas fuse" if you can source one where you are would allow the fridge to run on gas whilst moving, if they're comfortable with that idea.
Mike.

 

[Pausim]

Any manufacturer selling a motorhome with a smart alternator but no B2B/booster should be given a very severe talking to and told to sit in the corner wearing a pointy hat with D on it.

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[autorouter]

Our last van had a smart alternator with a schauldt 25amp b2b fitted when driving you were lucky to get 5 amps charging the leisure battery as most of it was taken up by the fridge. If I needed more charge I would either run tha fridge on gas our turn it off for periods so the leisure battery then received the bulk of the charge.
Soon fitted a victron 30amp b2b along with the schauldt 25amp to run the fridge.

If it's a smart alternator, the fridge doesn't need a B2B to run it. It works fine just connected to the alternator/starter battery with a good old fridge relay. The fact that the voltage drops to say 12.5V instead of 14.5V doesn't make much difference to the fridge heater element, it should still work, just like the vehicle lights, wipers and fan will work.

So running the fridge from the B2B output is a waste of the higher voltage amps that should be going to charging the leisure battery. Since the fridge amps is about 15A, a standard 30A relay should work fine. I don't know why the manufacturers haven't done this already.

 

[autorouter]

Coming through France they stayed at an Aire with no hook up and found their battery hadn’t charged so obviously had no lights fridge etc. Could any of you wise folk suggest a cause and perhaps a remedy. Obviously being new van is under warranty but that does not solve his problem as he is out here for a month.

So from the above replies, there's many possibilities. Has the charging always worked OK before, but now suddenly it's stopped working? Or was it not much good before, and now is completely useless? And it would help to know the make/model of the distribution/fusebox.

 

[Ditcha]

If it's a smart alternator, the fridge doesn't need a B2B to run it. It works fine just connected to the alternator/starter battery with a good old fridge relay. The fact that the voltage drops to say 12.5V instead of 14.5V doesn't make much difference to the fridge heater element, it should still work, just like the vehicle lights, wipers and fan will work.

So running the fridge from the B2B output is a waste of the higher voltage amps that should be going to charging the leisure battery. Since the fridge amps is about 15A, a standard 30A relay should work fine. I don't know why the manufacturers haven't done this already.

That's the way Malibu wired it the EBL on the Malibu came with no split charge relay inside as standard.

 

[Stewart J]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, battery connections all OK as are the fuses, liesure battery is under the passenger seat and an absolute sod to get at.

 

[Lenny HB]

That's the way Malibu wired it the EBL on the Malibu came with no split charge relay inside as standard.

Same with our Carthago, stupid idea running the fridge from the B2B, For now I've replaced the 30 B2B with a 50 and when I can work out the wiring I'll use the 25 mp one to run the fridge or fit a relay.

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[Pausim]

Same with our Carthago, stupid idea running the fridge from the B2B, For now I've replaced the 30 B2B with a 50 and when I can work out the wiring I'll use the 25 mp one to run the fridge or fit a relay.

The CBE DS system made some limited kind of sense with the old split charge relay where the leisure and engine batteries were simply linked. However it is now, as you say, a stupid idea to have the B2B running the fridge. CBE need to update their DS to cope with the modern world.