Fitting Vanbitz Battery Master to Hymer BMCT 600 with EBL 30, Schaudt Bootsr, etc.

[drmartinwhite]

Hey Funsters, merry Xmas, hope I am posting in the right place. I am looking for some advice to confirm bets way to fit my newly purchase Vanbitz Battery Master from this site. I just purchased this Vanbitz battery master to replace my CSB2 (wanna be battery master). The CSB2 only connects the hab battery to the starter when the hab voltage is 13.6 V, which is a bit rare on the Victron MPPT 75/15 solar output on these dreary winter days. I believe the Vanbitz battery master only works on a voltage delta between hab and starter battery (Mercedes Sprinter) and connects said hab to starter battery as low as 12.4 V in the hab battery, not sure where I read that? This should, I hope, give me a bit longer with the van in storage before bringing it home for a proper charge up. I just read a lot of posts here on many funsters fitting the VanBitz battery master and even in the newer Mercedes Sprinte the overall con ways seems to be that they work and keep the starter trickle charge through the winter. Ours seems to drop down from full charge to around 12.1 V in about 19 days due to residual current draws for the alarm, tracker and all the MBux gubbings!

My big question is where to duster recommend connecting it?

I would ideally like to connect the Vanbitz battery master to the Solar socket in the EBL 30, (I just checked that the 20 ammo solar fuse is in place, as I would expect because the CSB2 is already wired into the EBL Solar socket. this is how the CSB2 (installed by the dealer). However, to reuse the EBL solar socket I have to get hold of the correct Mate N Lok 3 way plug and more important the right sized crimpping pins. Plus I would need to purchase a crimping tool. RS appear to sell the plugs and pins but it is the devil’s own trying to figure out the correct pin size (AWG). Has anyone done this and do they have a better source of the Mate N Lok plug and pins or can tell me which pins to use? Further, I would have to lash out on a crimping tool, soo all in this probably doubles the cost of the Vanbitz Battery Master due to crimping tool purchase.

There are alternative solutions:

I could just cut the exsisting CSB2 wires and then splice the Vanbitz wires to the existing solar Mate N Lok wires (using something like wago inline connectors), or I could connect the Vanbitz wires to the back of the EBL hab, starter and ground inputs (but I would rather not take the EBL off the van wall to get at those terminal points).

Another solution would be to wire the Vanbitz into the Schaudt Booster B2B hab, ground and starter battery terminals. I have seen this done on a YouTube video with a Victron B2B, so should be same principle.

Any thoughts, anyone specifically done this on a Mercedes based Hymer, if so where did you choose to connect your Vanbitz battery master?

Finally, can anyone confirm I stand a good chance of solving the starter parasitic drain problem given I have a single 175 Watt Victron Solar panel, MPPT 75/15 controller with single output wired direct to hab battery (2x95 Ah AGMs). In the future, when the 2 x AGMs fail I will probably change to lithium as the Schaudt booster has up to 75 A charging capacity and a Lithium profile. I understand the Vanbitz should also work with Lithium, perhaps even better, as the discharge rate for the lithium should be very slow.

Thanks, in advance.

 

[StillGoing]

12V Planet have the crimping tool for about £7.50 and the pins for about £2.50

 

[Lenny HB]

However, to reuse the EBL solar socket I have to get hold of the correct Mate N Lok 3 way plug and more important the right sized crimpping pins. Plus I would need to purchase a crimping tool.

You can get the Mate 'N Lock plugs and pins on eBay cheaply, there are 10 & 15 amp rated pins doesn't matter which for your use.
For a crimp took a cheap one for uninsulated push on connectors works.

N Lock plugs and Another solution would be to wire the Vanbitz into the Schaudt Booster B2B hab, ground and starter battery terminals. I have seen this done on a YouTube video with a Victron B2B, so should be same principle.

Not recommend as you will be putting a very small wire in with a large crimped pin.

 

[drmartinwhite]

12V Planet have the crimping tool for about £7.50 and the pins for about £2.50

Hi, yes, I have seen those but wasn’t sure if the quality. They have 3 crimping tools, the cheaper one wasn’t rated much but I got the hint that a reasonably priced universal or general crimping tool could do the job better.

 

[drmartinwhite]

You can get the Mate 'N Lock plugs and pins on eBay cheaply, there are 10 & 15 amp rated pins doesn't matter which for your use.
For a crimp took a cheap one for uninsulated push on connectors works.

Not recommend as you will be putting a very small wire in with a large crimped pin.

Thanks, I’ll check eBay out too, 12V Planet as well have them. Just need to source a crimping tool. Looks like using the solar socket again is the best way to go. Hope the Vanbitz battery master performs better than the CSB2.

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