- Feb 5, 2024
- 183
- 338
- Funster No
- 101,061
- MH
- Etrusco CV540 DB
After I fitted my Rewire DB1-Lite 4G tracker I was annoyed to find it showing the van ignition as on and the van idling whenever it was charging, either by EHU or solar. This was despite doing a 3 wire installation and connecting the ignition wire on the tracker. I had some inconclusive discussions with Rewire about this and still have an open issue with their helpdesk, but they do not seem to understand the problem, despite marketing their tracker as suitable for motorhomes.
What I believe is happening is that the device has the ability to determine if the engine is on just by measuring the 12V supply voltage and this would be useful for 2 wire installations in standard cars or vans where the tracker's ignition wire is not connected. In this mode anything over a certain voltage will show as ignition on and the ignition on status can then be used to send out an alert. The problem with motorhomes is that when stationary with ignition off they are often charging the batteries from EHU or solar which gives a higher battery voltage reading.
I thought that by doing a 3 wire installation the actual ignition connection status would take precedence and a give a true indication of whether the ignition was on. Sadly I found that the ignition connection only gives a true indication when the batteries are not being charged. If they are being charged, even only in float mode, it seems like the battery voltage sensing mechanism takes precedence and shows the ignition as on for as long as there is charging going on. This means the ability to send ignition on alerts is useless as the ignition is always seen as on even though it is off. This has niggled me for a while, and triggered by another inconclusive call from the Rewire helpdesk I decided to tackle it.
What I decided to do was interpose a 12V voltage regulator between the tracker's 12V input and the connection to the van's 12V system. I found that many of the variable voltage regulators can only reduce voltage - so called buck regulators and need the input to be at least 1.5V more than the desired output. While the tracker can supposedly run off 10V I thought this might be cutting it fine if the vehicle battery was low for any reason and could result in the tracker not working. To avoid this I used a buck boost regulator which can provide the desired output regardless of whether the input is lower or higher than the required output. The one I used is linked below. I chose this because I didn't need a variable output, just a fixed 12V and because it is encapsulated in a housing so does not need any sort of box to protect it as some of the bare PCB versions would do.
This has fixed the problem in my case, and hopefully may be useful to anyone else having the same problem.
What I believe is happening is that the device has the ability to determine if the engine is on just by measuring the 12V supply voltage and this would be useful for 2 wire installations in standard cars or vans where the tracker's ignition wire is not connected. In this mode anything over a certain voltage will show as ignition on and the ignition on status can then be used to send out an alert. The problem with motorhomes is that when stationary with ignition off they are often charging the batteries from EHU or solar which gives a higher battery voltage reading.
I thought that by doing a 3 wire installation the actual ignition connection status would take precedence and a give a true indication of whether the ignition was on. Sadly I found that the ignition connection only gives a true indication when the batteries are not being charged. If they are being charged, even only in float mode, it seems like the battery voltage sensing mechanism takes precedence and shows the ignition as on for as long as there is charging going on. This means the ability to send ignition on alerts is useless as the ignition is always seen as on even though it is off. This has niggled me for a while, and triggered by another inconclusive call from the Rewire helpdesk I decided to tackle it.
What I decided to do was interpose a 12V voltage regulator between the tracker's 12V input and the connection to the van's 12V system. I found that many of the variable voltage regulators can only reduce voltage - so called buck regulators and need the input to be at least 1.5V more than the desired output. While the tracker can supposedly run off 10V I thought this might be cutting it fine if the vehicle battery was low for any reason and could result in the tracker not working. To avoid this I used a buck boost regulator which can provide the desired output regardless of whether the input is lower or higher than the required output. The one I used is linked below. I chose this because I didn't need a variable output, just a fixed 12V and because it is encapsulated in a housing so does not need any sort of box to protect it as some of the bare PCB versions would do.
This has fixed the problem in my case, and hopefully may be useful to anyone else having the same problem.
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