Cold night Geater E00

[EdRedBird]

So I have a chinese diesel heater in my Transit conversion
2 Car batteries under the driver seat
2 100 Ah house batteries (flooded) under the passenger
DC Controller sitting behind the driver seat as is my fusebox for lights fan and freezer/fridge
1 - 2 AWG Connecting the whole lot

The chinese heater sits on the other side and takes its lecky directly from the house batteries via its own supplied cable

Batteries are now 15 -18 months old
The display on my fridge freezer gives a V=12.2 indication
The heater 11.7 --and with that E-00 if i power it on ...low voltage

Now a 100A LiFe is on the cards in the next 3 months but I would like to stretch a bit and get my drop issue sorted

WTF is going wrong

 

[TheBig1]

Replace the factory cable to the diesel heater with over sized cable as it is always under sized causing a voltage drop

 

[EdRedBird]

Replace the factory cable to the diesel heater with over sized cable as it is always under sized causing a voltage drop

I had shortened it already ... but if its only that simple thanks a mill

 

[TheBig1]

The Chinese regularly use copper clad aluminium in their wiring. It's utter crap but much cheaper

 

[EdRedBird]

The Chinese regularly use copper clad aluminium in their wiring. It's utter crap but much cheaper

Every day is a day of learning...
Now as I am in such a "joyful" mood this autumn.... how "bad" can this be ...as in Would you recommend I replace /rewire more than just the two power leads

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[Two on Tour]

I had shortened it already ... but if its only that simple thanks a mill

Can you not use the original under sizes cable to pull in a new larger cable?
Don't forget to pull in a larger earth cable as well.

 

[TheBig1]

Every day is a day of learning...
Now as I am in such a "joyful" mood this autumn.... how "bad" can this be ...as in Would you recommend I replace /rewire more than just the two power leads

The power supply is the important pair, the control wires carry very little current. If controls are working leave alone but it's not a huge job to replace them. It really is sod's law that faults appear when they are most disruptive. Like need the heating on when the weather turns cold

 

[EdRedBird]

Two on Tour and everyone else what is with this f ing earth cable which alledgedly is not supposed to be called earth but +
My alternator is connected to the starter bat From there both Pos and Neg go to DC controller....
BUT
My starter Bat + is already connected to the chasis
All of my LEDS I kept the ground/+ short ... scratches some paint and connected to the chasis

The only things where the ground/+ is wired back to the fuse box are the heater fridge and fan


The starterr bat connected to the DC C
The Dc controlloller to the House Bat
With fuses in between
(This van this van is gomma drive around)

 

[TheBig1]

Two on Tour and everyone else what is with this f ing earth cable which alledgedly is not supposed to be called earth but +
My alternator is connected to the starter bat From there both Pos and Neg go to DC controller....
BUT
My starter Bat + is already connected to the chasis
All of my LEDS I kept the ground/+ short ... scratches some paint and connected to the chasis

The only things where the ground/+ is wired back to the fuse box are the heater fridge and fan


The starterr bat connected to the DC C
The Dc controlloller to the House Bat
With fuses in between
(This van this van is gomma drive around)

I would sincerely hope that the + or positive of your battery is not connected to the chassis. Modern vehicles are -ve negative earth. That is to say that the vehicle electrics are connected to the chassis or metal body of the original van. Tying grounds of installed accessories in the hab area to the chassis for the negative (it is not grounded) can cause issues with fault finding later. It is always better to run a negative black cable back to the fuses or battery, especially if drawing higher current. Things like diesel heaters are very susceptible to faults like voltage drop due to increased resistance in the supply cables

 

[EdRedBird]

I would sincerely hope that the + or positive of your battery is not connected to the chassis. Modern vehicles are -ve negative earth. That is to say that the vehicle electrics are connected to the chassis or metal body of the original van. Tying grounds of installed accessories in the hab area to the chassis for the negative (it is not grounded) can cause issues with fault finding later. It is always better to run a negative black cable back to the fuses or battery, especially if drawing higher current. Things like diesel heaters are very susceptible to faults like voltage drop due to increased resistance in the supply cables

Black , sorry Neg, by defauld manufacturer factory....... connected to chasis
-> inevitably, indirectly my + on DC is therefore wired to chasis.

The Diesel heater is however connected to bot Pos and Neg on the battery.....
BUT/HOWEVER ... The BLACK connections are all connected to the chasis...

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[EdRedBird]

TheBig1 Sorry cant seem to edit
Lets talk B&R as that avoids confusion (for some reason red always verbalises as negative as electrons are negative loaded)
Anyway

Battery - 1.5 meter RED cable whatever AWG -- device drawing current -- 1.5 meter BLACK cable ---- Battery

Now AWG affects voltage drop depending on current drawn... thicker is better

My reasoning .... If I shorten the black and go to chasis ... the limmitation of the thickness of the cable is reduces.... the car might not be copper but i am reducing the overal length of the wiring.

Now this might be really stupid, but untill someone can explain to my WHY it is or where my reasoning fault is ... i would think the conductivity of the chasis matches an AWG00

BTW I go to chasis at an accesible point