doghouse_owner
Seattle
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I have this battery separater in my RT - standard. The 1315-200 version so charging of the chassis battery may take place while on shore power or generator. No thinking required on my part.
Wendy
Owned and trained by Cocoa, Mikey and the Ollie-man - all with great recalls
2008 Roadtrek RS Adventurous - recall x 3
2009 Honda Sport Fit - no recall
Stowaway2 on swingaway tow frame - no recall
2002 Honda Odyssey EXL - now with a recall!
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loving retirement
SF Bay Area
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Joined: 06/30/2006
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pianotuna wrote:
I agree--Kiss may often be better. But we still don't know what the OP was referring to--and it might be fascinating.
In this thread I was referring to the type of "Smart Solenoid" system which I understand Roadtrek started installing in all of their "B's" in 2008/09 and also doghouse_owner stated he had in his RT.
According to the manufacturer Sure Power Industries
"The battery Separator monitors the battery system to determine if the batteries are being charged. When the engine or auxiliary batteries reach 13.2 volts, indicating charging is taking place, the Battery Separator will engage, joining the two battery banks. If the drain on the charging system by the auxiliary or main battery bank reduces the system voltage below 12.8 volts, the battery separator will disconnect the battery banks from each other, thus protecting the respective battery banks from excessive drain. A delay function has been incorporated in the conterol circuit to prevent the battery separator from reacting to momentary voltage fuluctuations and chattering. When the starter is activated the battery separator compares the voltage of both battery banks. If the chassis battery is lower than the auxiliary battery bank, the battery separator will engage allowing the auxiliary battery bank to aid in vehicle starting. The start signal must be at least three volts for the operation to occur.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Joined: 12/18/2004
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Hi,
While it appears to be a nice system--I still prefer manual control.
I can just see the contacts getting burned as someone attempts to start their unit with a dead starter battery. It would have to be one heck of a relay to withstand 500 or 600 amps of demand from the starter.
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
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loving retirement
SF Bay Area
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pianotuna wrote:Hi,
While it appears to be a nice system--I still prefer manual control.
I can just see the contacts getting burned as someone attempts to start their unit with a dead starter battery. It would have to be one heck of a relay to withstand 500 or 600 amps of demand from the starter.
Page 3 of the Sure Power's spec sheet states:
Continuous Relay current: 200 amps
Inrush Relay current: 600 amps
Contact life: 50,000 cycles
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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I would not worry about an isolator designed as an battery isolator failing, but I have read about the contacts inside 100 amp prestolite continuous duty solenoids failing, and have personally seen 1 unknown brand solenoid from Napa fail.
Here is a quote from a different forum from a guy who is building an incredible 4x4 diesel class b beast. He has gone through 2 solenoids.
"The second solenoid was most definately junk. I broke it open this weekend just to get an idea of what kind of problem I was having (knowing full-well that breaking it open means buying a new one). The high current contacts were trashed. I bought the pair of solenoids off Ebay in their original packaging under the premise that they were new. After seeing the guts of the second failed unit, I suspect I got duped. All is fair in Love and Ebay, so I've got a totally new solenoid on order from Delcity which will hopefully be the end of the fiasco.
For the record, the primary trigger coil on Prestolite 100A Cont Duty solenoids draw 0.98A at 14v...not nearly enough current to warrant an additional relay to trigger the trigger "
A full 22 pages of interesting thread:
Boomer build
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diyvanner
Rhode Island
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Joined: 07/04/2007
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I've used Hellroaring's battery combiner for over 5 years to connect my main and auxilliary starting batteries and it's been very reliable on the few ocassions I've forgotten to turn stuff off. The "both" feature is very usefull when starting in real cold weather also. Check this site for using the combiner fucntion when the alternator fails. With negligable voltage drop and the remote automatic selection , I can't think of a better alternative to a set it and forget it battery charging operation.
diyVanner
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booster
Minnesota
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Joined: 10/14/2007
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I like the separator on our 07 190P Roadtrek, as it allows the van battery to charge with the house batteries while plugged in. It has a 3 step charger, so we can leave it plugged in all winter and all 3 batteries stay full and in good condition, otherwise the van battery has to be disconnected so the small loads don't kill it in a couple of weeks.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi loving retirement,
This is one time I'd really love to be wrong! Thanks for the information. I wonder how many amps a gas engine for a Class C V-10 engine draws?
loving retirement wrote:Page 3 of the Sure Power's spec sheet states:
Continuous Relay current: 200 amps
Inrush Relay current: 600 amps
Contact life: 50,000 cycles
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