Fogstar drift at 50% out of the box - recommended chargers?

[peterc10]

OK how would I find out if I have one already fitted? Its a 2021 Bailey and would think I do but need to check.
Can i run the engine then put a multimeter accross the leisure battery and see if there's an increase in voltage ie charging?

You may or may not have a B2B. Some UK companies seemed to be slow to cotton on that a B2B is required for engines that have braking regeneration engines. The easiest way is to ask Bailey I guess or look in the handbook.

Yes you could check the charging whilst driving along and see what you get. You will get some charge even with an old fashioned split relay set up, but you should get more with a B2B. How more will depend upon the size of the B2B fitted. The larger size of charge the more expensive the B2B is. So you can guess what some converters will do.

 

[Guigsy]

If your van is older the assumption is that the hab battery is lead acid (or similar). So when the engine is running, a relay just connects the hab battery to allow it to charge off of whatever the alternator could provide. This was adequate when hab batteries were relatively small and couldn't take massive charge rates. Although having a B2B would charge the battery faster.

Just using a direct connection from the alternator started to become an issue with smart alternators in Euro 6 vans. They switch on and off to conserve fuel and maintain the battery at a lower charge, so often don't provide enough current to even run a 3-way fridge in 12v mode. So some manufacturers started fitting B2Bs.

Now people are fitting Lithium hab batteries. They have much higher capacity and can take significantly higher charge rates. And they don't have the same voltage charge profile as a lead acid. While you can sometimes get away without a B2B with a Lithium, most people recommend you get one.

 

[PaulC70]

Looks like I need to do some investigating then :-(

 

[The Artilleryman]

Easy way to check - not fullproof - look at the solar controller, if it's a pwm, then B2B not fitted, on the other hand if it's a mppt controller, then it should have a B2B fitted.

Location of solar controller - either in forward top locker on O/S, if fitted facing you WILL be pwm, otherwise in small cupboard forward of top locker, fitted on side of cupboard - due to weight - it will be mppt. Checked at NEC last year.

B2B if fitted will probably be in bottom of wardrobe behind front passenger seat, mounted on bulkhead.

Will post picture of pwm controller later.

 

[The Artilleryman]

Truma pwn solar controller fitted to Bailey 68-2.

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[Ditcha]

The temperature shown as - 26.4 will be wrong, but I suspect that it will cause the BMS to stop any charging happening. Therefore the first thing you need to do is get Fogstar to recalibrate the BMS. Edit - beaten to it by Lenny HB

Then I suspect you will need to spend some more money to get the best out of your new battery in winter. You need to buy a decent mains charger and a B2B, both with LiFePo4 profiles. They will then provide enough charge to allow the heating pad to get the battery warm enough to start taking the charge it needs. As it is I suspect that all of the very small charge that is going in when you are on EHU or driving is spent on trying to keep the battery warm enough in -5C weather and not succeeding.

See post #50 Peter battery will have to go back to fogstar you can't calibrate the the temp the plug in thermistor works correctly or it doesn't will need to be opened up and changed.

 

[PaulC70]

Truma pwn solar controller fitted to Bailey 68-2.

View attachment 726176 View attachment 726177

yep that's what I used to have but replaced it with a mppt victron one.

 

[The Artilleryman]

yep that's what I used to have but replaced it with a mppt victron one.

Same here the rest of the kit is waiting to be fitted, need better weather and less side effects from meds.

 

[PaulC70]

Think this would do my job? https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/victron-orion-tr-smart-1212-30a-non-isolated-dc-dc-charger.html says it's compatable with euro 5 and later smart alternators too.

 

[Guigsy]

Think this would do my job? https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/victron-orion-tr-smart-1212-30a-non-isolated-dc-dc-charger.html says it's compatable with euro 5 and later smart alternators too.

Yes. Although the Victron Orion isn't that efficient and gets warm enough to start throttling down to prevent overheating. It needs a fan or a large heatsink. I went for the Votronic 30A to avoid the issue. All the rest of my kit is Victron.

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[The Artilleryman]

Yes. Although the Victron Orion isn't that efficient and gets warm enough to start throttling down to prevent overheating. It needs a fan or a large heatsink. I went for the Votronic 30A to avoid the issue. All the rest of my kit is Victron.

I also went for the Votronic 121230 and Victron BMV712.

PaulC70 the 2 leads to the battery appear to be 1 for 12v charger and the other is the feed from the alternator - it's the later I need to confirm.

 

[Diabalo]

Think this would do my job? https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/victron-orion-tr-smart-1212-30a-non-isolated-dc-dc-charger.html says it's compatable with euro 5 and later smart alternators too.

PaulC70 If you go down the B2B route you will may need to isolate the current split charge system. Others on here seem to be ok running both but some have had problems.

 

[PaulC70]

So I'm going to have to shell out about another £600 to get the system to work properly, assuming fogstar can sort what appears to be a duff battery? :-(

 

[The Artilleryman]

Victron IP22 12v/15a charger & Votronic 12 12 30 B2B £300 from Amazon. + battery master or Ablemail.

And a few quid for cable and terminals.

Having had a 2nd look at your photo of the battery box, as long as the strap will secure the battery leave the lid off and accept you cannot store anything in there.

 

[PhilandMena]

So I'm going to have to shell out about another £600 to get the system to work properly, assuming fogstar can sort what appears to be a duff battery? :-(

I would contact Fogstar first about the temperature indication. Members on here do not always get it right!

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[Ditcha]

So I'm going to have to shell out about another £600 to get the system to work properly, assuming fogstar can sort what appears to be a duff battery? :-(

Keep us informed please, would be good to find out how fogstar handle your problem and what the customer service is like for others.

 

[PaulC70]

Well they replied stating it's obvious that the temp sensors malfunctioning and have given me instructions on how to disable that sensor via the advanced settings which will allow me to use it while waiting for a replacement.

Only problem is, the sensor wont turn off. There's 2 other's that do, just not the knackered one. I've tried several times and even deleted and re downloaded the app, still no good.

 

[Ditcha]

Well they replied stating it's obvious that the temp sensors malfunctioning and have given me instructions on how to disable that sensor via the advanced settings which will allow me to use it while waiting for a replacement.

Only problem is, the sensor wont turn off. There's 2 other's that do, just not the knackered one. I've tried several times and even deleted and re downloaded the app, still no good.

Pain in the butt that how long do you have to wait for a replacement, thought they would have swapped it straight away as its no good the way it is.

 

[PaulC70]

Pain in the butt that how long do you have to wait for a replacement, thought they would have swapped it straight away as its no good the way it is.

Im assuming end of April as thats what it says on their site

 

[PaulC70]

Bit of an update, the workarounds they sent me didn't work so they sent a courier to collect and redeliver, all went smoothly and they have fixed the issue themselves

After just a couple of days of solar it went from 51% to 65% just using the standard truma 120w panel and is reading at a normal temperature now

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