CBE516 mains Charger, OK to leave on permanently over winter?

[Jake Royd]

I have a perfectly ordinary set up on my van with the Hab battery and Cab battery charged via a CBE516 charger whilst of course on EHU.
Had a few leak problems recently , now fixed , but have put a roof cover on for winter, just to keep the roof dry so I can do a complete reseal in the new year with better weather etc.
This, of course, has covered over the solar panel.
Just checking with others if it is OK to leave on permanently.?
The charging profile indicated in the manual looks to me to be Ok for this.
The manual does not offer any specific advice on this.
Normal lead acid batteries.
TIA

 

[Jev88]

Personally I don't like leaving on charge when the batteries shouldn't be doing any work other than alarms and immobiliser? Modern multi stage chargers are safer than old tech. Perhaps set a timer to charge once a week ?

 

[Jake Royd]

Personally I don't like leaving on charge when the batteries shouldn't be doing any work other than alarms and immobiliser? Modern multi stage chargers are safer than old tech. Perhaps set a timer to charge once a week ?

Yes, I hear you.
However , my main worry is the residual current drain on the cab battery that many , if not all, Ducatos seems to suffer from. With my solar this is never an issue.
My backup plan is to calendarise a few days per fortnight etc.

 

[Jev88]

Yes, I hear you.
However , my main worry is the residual current drain on the cab battery that many , if not all, Ducatos seems to suffer from. With my solar this is never an issue.
My backup plan is to calendarise a few days per fortnight etc.

Do you have a battery master?

 

[Jake Royd]

Do you have a battery master?

No but I do have a dual PWM controller and 200w panel (now covered up)

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[BouncyBoatFolk]

A small folding panel in the windscreen 20w or so.
Mike.

 

[Terry242]

As you see, I have the van in the avatar and I have no idea what charging setup it has.
What I can say is that when parked on the drive, it is permanently on charge. When touring, I use campsites and off-grid. The vans coming up 8yrs old and I'm still on the original Banner batteries.
Permanently on charge seems to have done them no harm.

Terry

 

[dunnah01]

Our CBE-516 has been on pretty much full time for over 5 years now with no ill effects

 

[Jake Royd]

Thanks all , I'm going to give it a go.
I can monitor the voltage of the cab battery remotely via my immobiliser.
This shows on the times I've checked it between 13.4 and about 12.9
This is consistent with the CBE's profile , mainly of its maintenance voltage and it's 'wait' voltage until charging starts again as voltage drops.
I used to drive a Ducato minibus as a volunteer. It was garaged so no solar etc.
After 2 weeks the cab battery voltage could get as low as about 10.8 v or so.
Voltages like that and cycling between this and normal operation is not good for a batterys longevity (lead acid)

 

[GROMIT69]

Ours has been on when ever the van is at home last 6 years , same hab van battery , in the winter for 5 months

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[Landy Andy]

My van is permanently plugged into the mains. No issues in 6 years.

 

[Spriddler]

Fit a timer that plugs into the 13A mains (lots available, cheap as chips on eBay) set so that that it charges say, just an hour a week?

 

[Jake Royd]

Fit a timer that plugs into the 13A mains (lots available, cheap as chips on eBay) set so that that it charges say, just an hour a week?

Yes that's a good suggestion.
All mine are currently employed operating Christmas lights but they'll be available soon

 

[Folkranger]

I had the airbag fault due to low battery with my last van depite being on solar. The current van has lithium for the hab battery so I now have a timer for my hookup cable in winter layup. I have set it to about 20 minutes a day and it seems to keep things ok.