Hi all...
My first post here after getting our new to us 2009 Swift Kon Tiki 679 a month or so ago. This might take a while to explain so bear with me.
I have been doing a few upgrades myself, being technically and electrically minded. The first was to sort the fact that the aftermarket solar panel and PWM controller were only going to one of the two leisure batteries and nothing to the cab battery at all. Sorted that by replacing the controller with a Victron dual output one and running a new set of cables to the cab battery (fused accordingly).
Although when I came to re-wire the pair of 110Ah leisure batteries, I noted that for some reason each of the two batteries has its own 40A fused feed from the factory. I would have expected them to have been wired in parallel locally within the battery box, then a single feed taken off the + of one battery and the - of the other.
The old solar charge controller feed only went to one of the x2 batteries (never seen that before).
Given both batteries had a draw on them when something was turned on, it stood to reason that they must be wired in parallel somewhere else, other than locally within the battery box. I have a NORD control panel and control box.
So, I made up some cables, wired the batteries in parallel locally, took the existing pair of feeds, neatly re-wired them into a single feed and attached them to the + on one battery and the - on the other battery accordingly.
There appeared to be no negative effects of doing this, both batteries charge accordingly from either the EHU charger and/or solar. I did note that with the EHU charger turned off, the Victron solar controller raises all battery voltages up to 14.4V, but if you turn EHU charger back on again, the voltage is lowered to 13.8V, so assume the EHU charger is clipping voltage due to it's fixed settings.
My issue is, when I turn the hab control panel off, while on EHU, there is a what sounds like a relay clicking away for 10 seconds or so every few minutes. It stops when you turn the main control panel back on again - It seems to be coming from the main NORD box with fuses. This doesn't happen when the EHU is unplugged though.
Anyone know what that might be? It only started after I wired the dual battery inputs into parallel locally within the battery box. I can't imagine there is a split in the charge system for the dual leisure batteries, charging them individually, one and then the other via a relay, that would just mean that both batteries would end up being out of balance at some point.
All batteries show 14.4v on the meter when the engine is running, so that side of things is working.
I want to switch to a single large 280AH LiFePO4 battery in the future but don't want to do so until I find out what is clicking that shouldn't be. I know that I will need to deal with the EHU charger when I do that, but will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Many thanks for your replies in advance.
My first post here after getting our new to us 2009 Swift Kon Tiki 679 a month or so ago. This might take a while to explain so bear with me.
I have been doing a few upgrades myself, being technically and electrically minded. The first was to sort the fact that the aftermarket solar panel and PWM controller were only going to one of the two leisure batteries and nothing to the cab battery at all. Sorted that by replacing the controller with a Victron dual output one and running a new set of cables to the cab battery (fused accordingly).
Although when I came to re-wire the pair of 110Ah leisure batteries, I noted that for some reason each of the two batteries has its own 40A fused feed from the factory. I would have expected them to have been wired in parallel locally within the battery box, then a single feed taken off the + of one battery and the - of the other.
The old solar charge controller feed only went to one of the x2 batteries (never seen that before).
Given both batteries had a draw on them when something was turned on, it stood to reason that they must be wired in parallel somewhere else, other than locally within the battery box. I have a NORD control panel and control box.
So, I made up some cables, wired the batteries in parallel locally, took the existing pair of feeds, neatly re-wired them into a single feed and attached them to the + on one battery and the - on the other battery accordingly.
There appeared to be no negative effects of doing this, both batteries charge accordingly from either the EHU charger and/or solar. I did note that with the EHU charger turned off, the Victron solar controller raises all battery voltages up to 14.4V, but if you turn EHU charger back on again, the voltage is lowered to 13.8V, so assume the EHU charger is clipping voltage due to it's fixed settings.
My issue is, when I turn the hab control panel off, while on EHU, there is a what sounds like a relay clicking away for 10 seconds or so every few minutes. It stops when you turn the main control panel back on again - It seems to be coming from the main NORD box with fuses. This doesn't happen when the EHU is unplugged though.
Anyone know what that might be? It only started after I wired the dual battery inputs into parallel locally within the battery box. I can't imagine there is a split in the charge system for the dual leisure batteries, charging them individually, one and then the other via a relay, that would just mean that both batteries would end up being out of balance at some point.
All batteries show 14.4v on the meter when the engine is running, so that side of things is working.
I want to switch to a single large 280AH LiFePO4 battery in the future but don't want to do so until I find out what is clicking that shouldn't be. I know that I will need to deal with the EHU charger when I do that, but will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Many thanks for your replies in advance.
