Help with EBL please (1 Viewer)

[TC3]

Hi guys I had a solar panel and MPPT controller added by dealer (was free) before I picked up a new van. Today I had a look at the EBL and noted block 6 is empty and there is a plug sitting idle. Anyone know if this should be plugged in? Thanks

 

[Guigsy]

I believe that if the solar controller was plugged in via the Elektroblock, it'd use the connector. So either it's unplugged and you'll get no charge.

Or they've connected the solar charger straight to the leisure battery. I think the current the Elekroblock can take is fairly low, so it's possible?

 

[TC3]

I should have mentioned they fitted a dual mppt and it charges 2 leisure batteries but also sends a small charge to the engine battery.

 

[TC3]

I did some reading up and it can be set up several ways. Have emailed dealer to ask the fitter. Unlikely the plug can fall out if it was connected so maybe the EBL is bypassed

 

[seasideBill]

I’d be inclined to plug it in and see what happens. Mine has a different EBL version but exactly the same issue when new. In fact lots of new Adria vans had the same problem and not checked by dealers on pre-delivery check.
You may find small charge will not be sent to vehicle battery unless power drops below around 12.5v and leisure battery is at least 80%

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[jezport]

It will be directly to the battery, if its working its set up correctly

 

[TC3]

It will be directly to the battery, if its working its set up correctly

I think I will look for the mppt manual and see what the lights mean to determine if its charging the batts or not.

 

[autorouter]

You can tell from the leisure battery voltage whether it is being charged or not. If the voltage is 12.9V or less, then the battery is not being charged by anything. If the voltage is 13.0V or more, then something is charging the battery. If the engine isn't running and you are not plugged into EHU, then if the voltage is 13.0V or more then the solar must be charging it.

That 3-way connector is quite low power (max 15A) so solar setups over 150W are usually wired direct to the battery, and this connector is not used. However it connects directly to the leisure battery, so this 3-way connector is often used for anything that you want to be connected directly to the leisure battery, such as a second mains charger.

 

[TC3]

You can tell from the leisure battery voltage whether it is being charged or not. If the voltage is 12.9V or less, then the battery is not being charged by anything. If the voltage is 13.0V or more, then something is charging the battery. If the engine isn't running and you are not plugged into EHU, then if the voltage is 13.0V or more then the solar must be charging it.

That 3-way connector is quite low power (max 15A) so solar setups over 150W are usually wired direct to the battery, and this connector is not used. However it connects directly to the leisure battery, so this 3-way connector is often used for anything that you want to be connected directly to the leisure battery, such as a second mains charger.

Good info thanks

 

[TC3]

Checked mppt manual, its the Truma sdc12. Light on the truma shows green blunking, manual says that means ready to charge. I will check in daylight again see if still blinks.

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[autorouter]

Do the wires to the 3-way plug disappear so you can't trace them? Do they look the same as the wires from the solar controller battery output? Same colour and thickness?

And there's another way to check if the wires from the solar controller output go to the 3-way plug. You could measure he voltage at the solar controller output, and see if it matches the voltage appearing at the 3-way plug near the EBL. If it's not exactly the same, then it's not the same wire. If it's exactly the same, then it may be worth trying to plug it in and see if the solar charging starts working. Are you OK using a multimeter?

 

[TC3]

Do the wires to the 3-way plug disappear so you can't trace them? Do they look the same as the wires from the solar controller battery output? Same colour and thickness?

And there's another way to check if the wires from the solar controller output go to the 3-way plug. You could measure he voltage at the solar controller output, and see if it matches the voltage appearing at the 3-way plug near the EBL. If it's not exactly the same, then it's not the same wire. If it's exactly the same, then it may be worth trying to plug it in and see if the solar charging starts working. Are you OK using a multimeter?

Thanks for reply, 1st thing I shall do is check the solar controller in the morning and see if it says it is charging, this evening it said ready to charge but may well be it said that as there was not enough light for solar panel.

Either way I would like to check everything you said, see if I can trace the wires and do checks with a meter. I have a meter but never used it and no idea how to other than turn it on so better start to learn!

 

[autorouter]

The meter sockets are unfortunately not marked as Positive and Negative. The negative is marked 'COM' (= Common), so plug the black probe wire into that one. The socket with a 'V' in the label will be the positive, so plug the red probe wire into that one.

A good first test is to measure the voltage of the leisure battery. Set the range to 20V DC. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dashed (not the AC symbol, which is a wavy single line). Push the probe tips firmly onto the battery terminals. You should get a reading between 10 and 15 volts. If you get the probes the wrong way round, nothing bad happens, but a minus sign appears in front of the voltage reading.

Note that you won't get a shock from a 12V battery, the voltage is much too low for that. The protective insulation on the probes is for measuring 240V mains voltages, which will definitely give you a shock if you are careless.

Another test you could do is measure the voltage on that 3-way socket on the EBL front panel. Pin1 is negative, Pin3 is positive. You should get a voltage reading almost the same as the leisure battery voltage, because that connector goes straight to the leisure battery.

 

[autorouter]

There is a manual on the Lippert website for the EBL 31-2. Unfortunately it's in German only.

https://res.cloudinary.com/lci-cloudinary/image/upload/v1694803226/lippert-eu/support/power-on-board/pdf/anleitungen/911/9110308/8110308_2019-05-02_EBL_31-2_EBL_31-2_mit_OVP_BA_DE.pdf

However there is an English manual for the EBL 31, I'm sure there's a difference between them, but I can't spot it from a quick scan. The front panels look identical to me.

https://res.cloudinary.com/lci-cloudinary/image/upload/v1694803226/lippert-eu/support/power-on-board/pdf/anleitungen/911/9110306/8110306_2019-05-02_EBL_31_EBL_31_mit_OVP_BA_EN.pdf

There's a wiring diagram near the end of the manual.

 

[TC3]

The meter sockets are unfortunately not marked as Positive and Negative. The negative is marked 'COM' (= Common), so plug the black probe wire into that one. The socket with a 'V' in the label will be the positive, so plug the red probe wire into that one.

A good first test is to measure the voltage of the leisure battery. Set the range to 20V DC. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dashed (not the AC symbol, which is a wavy single line). Push the probe tips firmly onto the battery terminals. You should get a reading between 10 and 15 volts. If you get the probes the wrong way round, nothing bad happens, but a minus sign appears in front of the voltage reading.

Note that you won't get a shock from a 12V battery, the voltage is much too low for that. The protective insulation on the probes is for measuring 240V mains voltages, which will definitely give you a shock if you are careless.

Another test you could do is measure the voltage on that 3-way socket on the EBL front panel. Pin1 is negative, Pin3 is positive. You should get a voltage reading almost the same as the leisure battery voltage, because that connector goes straight to the leisure battery.

Thanks that is very helpful. Will look into this tomorrow as rainy day today.

I have the German manual which was given to me but hard to transalate. I also have the service dept at dealer calling me back this afternoon so hopefully they can provide answers. The mpp light still flashes this morning to say ready for charging but charging light still not illuminated.

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[StillGoing]

As the EBL 31 block 6 doesn’t support a connection to the starter battery, I assume the installer has wired the MPPT controller directly to the starter battery. If your solar exceeds the maximum current for the EBL, I assume the leisure batteries have been wired to the MPPT controller as well. Strange that the solar plug has been left dangling. Have you had the solar upgraded and maybe it was used for a previous solar installation? I’d like to know where the wires from the solar plug go to.

 

[TC3]

As the EBL 31 block 6 doesn’t support a connection to the starter battery, I assume the installer has wired the MPPT controller directly to the starter battery. If your solar exceeds the maximum current for the EBL, I assume the leisure batteries have been wired to the MPPT controller as well. Strange that the solar plug has been left dangling. Have you had the solar upgraded and maybe it was used for a previous solar installation? I’d like to know where the wires from the solar plug go to.

When I ordered the van I had an option to have it solar panel ready. There is a box in a cupboard at the back which was installed and so I assume the wiring comes from there but can not tell as not dismantled the box. They had asked me how I wanted it wired and suggested the solar charger should send 80% charge to the leisure batteries and 20% to the engine battery. I do not know how accurate those figures are as being clueless and new to all this I just accepted that.

 

[TC3]

For the record you can transalate documents such as pdf using google transalate for free so have now done that and reading up...

 

[TC3]

As the EBL 31 block 6 doesn’t support a connection to the starter battery, I assume the installer has wired the MPPT controller directly to the starter battery. If your solar exceeds the maximum current for the EBL, I assume the leisure batteries have been wired to the MPPT controller as well. Strange that the solar plug has been left dangling. Have you had the solar upgraded and maybe it was used for a previous solar installation? I’d like to know where the wires from the solar plug go to.

Just got a call from service dept and yep the dangling wire is from the solar preperation when the van was fitted out. I was offered the mppt solar charger and panel as a sweetner to putting a deposit down and the guy did say he wired the panel directly to the solar charger, hence that plug does not need plugging in.

The ready to charge light that is flashing means its charging and will go out only once all batteries are charged. He said if I wanted to check if it is charging is just remove one of the inline fuses running to the leisure batteries and see if the light goes out which would obviously mean the batteries was not getting charge from the Truma panel.

 

[autorouter]

As the EBL 31 block 6 doesn’t support a connection to the starter battery, I assume the installer has wired the MPPT controller directly to the starter battery.

Actually, the EBL31 and the EBL31-2 do support a connection to the starter battery - Pin2 of the 3-way connects to the starter battery. Many EBLs don't support this , but the EBL31 does. Maybe TC3 could confirm this with a meter: the voltage between Pin1(negative) and Pin2 (positive) should be the same as the starter battery voltage.

When I ordered the van I had an option to have it solar panel ready. There is a box in a cupboard at the back which was installed and so I assume the wiring comes from there but can not tell as not dismantled the box.

Maybe the 3-way plug that isn't plugged into the 3-way socket on the front panel is wired to that box in the cupboard at the back. That would make sense if it was meant to be 'solar panel ready'

They had asked me how I wanted it wired and suggested the solar charger should send 80% charge to the leisure batteries and 20% to the engine battery.

Usually when you arrive at a stop/campsite, or back at home, your starter battery will be full, so you will only need to provide a small trickle charge to keep it topped up, and 20% is usually fine, or even 10%.

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[StillGoing]

Actually, the EBL31 and the EBL31-2 do support a connection to the starter battery - Pin2 of the 3-way connects to the starter battery. Many EBLs don't support this , but the EBL31 does. Maybe TC3 could confirm this with a meter: the voltage between Pin1(negative) and Pin2 (positive) should be the same as the starter battery voltage.

I stand corrected. In that case, I wonder why the installer didn’t use it.