I'd opt for a USB charger outlet instead of the old -- antiquated -- cigarette lighter outlet.
Likewise, circuit breakers would be preferable to fuses. Or, at least, ATO fuses instead the (equally antiquated) glass fuses. (Glass fuses are starting to get hard to find while most grocery and department stores have ATO fuses.)
As a suggestion, before you buy, go poke around Blue Sea Systems website. You don't have to buy from them but you might see things you prefer more ... or better ideas.
BTW - there's two types of lead acid batteries, deep cycle and SLI. Both cost about the same. SLI for your engine battery and deep cycle for your coach (house) battery.
Dual purpose (cough, gag) batteries are a compromise that doesn't do either job very well.
With the right type of battery and reasonable care, your $75 batteries should last 5-10 years or more. (The SLI battery in my van lasted eighteen years before needing replacement ... and I didn't take very good care of it.)
The majority of automotive batteries on the market today are all lead acid ... with a lot of 'technical' jargon tossed about by marketing and sales people who don't really know what they're saying.
(I've written on this topic extensively, in this thread ... a hundred or so pages ago.)
1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis with 318 engine & tranny from 1970 Explorer Class A
![[image]](http://www.riffgan.com/misc/rv_net_stuff/compartment_auxiliary_small.jpg)
The panel itself is a 1/8" thick sheet of black UV-resistant nylon plastic.
The large circle on the top left is an ON-OFF battery switch, for disconnecting the battery when the boat isn't being used.
The large circle on the top right is the battery condition indicator (BCI) I mention in a previous post.
The smaller circle between the two larger circles is an OFF-(ON) momentary (spring-loaded) toggle switch, for activating the BCI when checking the battery's charge level.
The rounded-corner square in the bottom middle is a BatteryMINDer EZC-01 SAE connector for battery chargers/maintainers, permanently wired to the deep cycle battery.
The two small circles on either side of the charger connector are push-to-reset circuit breakers. The one on the left is a 15 amp for the battery charger (EZC-01 connector) circuit. The one on the right is for the mini-automatic charging relay (Blue Sea Systems m-ACR, p/n 7601).
The rectangles around the circuit breakers are panel adapters that make it easier to mount the circuit breakers securely.
The rest of the circles are #6-32 and #10-32 black oxide machine screws and washers, for mounting the panel and components.
Dashed lines indicate things behind the panel.
The eight machine screws around the outside bolt the panel to a corrosion-inhibited powder-coated angle iron mounting bracket. I have a strong tendency to consider maintenance when I design things. The machine screws and mounting bracket provide easier access to the wiring behind the panel. (Also, there's a one amp ATO fuse behind the panel on the BCI circuit.)
The two of the four machine screws around the BCI (on the right) don't serve any purpose other than to maintain a consistent appearance. The two on the left of the BCI are primarily for appearance but also attach short piece of aluminum angle to the back of the panel. (The aluminum angle keeps the toggle switch from rotating in its mounting hole.)
Notes:
I'm a bit of a fanatic on fuses and circuit breakers (collectively called circuit protection devices or CPDs) on permanently-installed and, especially, concealed wiring. I've been involved in three vehicle fires and one house fire, all caused by faulty wiring. So, I'm inclined to believe if a few is good, a lot is better ... within reason.
This panel will be mounted in an open skiff fishing boat so weather- and water-resistance is critical. The EZC-01 charger connector has a permanently attached cap for when the connector isn't being used. Likewise, there are boots, attached to mounting nuts, available for the toggle switch and pushbutton circuit breakers. (The exposed portion of the battery switch and BCI are rated IP67.)
Assuming a similar panel is mounted inside a motorhome coach, a different momentary switch and other type of circuit breakers would be equally suitable. Likewise, some other material, such as 1/8" thick plywood, would be suitable for the panel itself.
The size, equipment, and planned operation of the boat doesn't justify a permanently installed battery charger. The EZC=01 connector provides a clean, easy way of connecting a battery charger, without opening the battery compartment, when shore power is available. (This also eliminates unused, unnecessary weight when the boat is underway.)
On the other hand, permanently installed battery chargers are preferable in a motorhome. So, I'd eliminate the EZC-01 connector on a motorhome version. (In this case, I'd keep the battery charger circuit breaker ... just to be on the safe side.)
The electric will be my last part of the renovation when it's cold outside and cuddly warm inside the motorhome :-)
There is a lot of things i need to change.
1. now there is only one battery for the engine and for the home
2. the transformer is humming very loud when 220V plugged in and transforming 220V to 12V
3. changing all fluids
4. changing rims and tires 16.5 to 16
5. solarpanel for the rear battery
6. bigger watertank
7. carburator-service (new gaskets, float needle valve....)
8. changing, spark cables, sparks, spark plugs, airfilter.... (maintenance work)
9. maybe an Impco 300a propane(lpg)-system for the engine
Yesterday i have changed the old original ICM to the Hirev 7500 and the new connector.
The cold engine is started immediatly. WOW!!!! :-) The 4 pin ICM seems to work great inside the 5 pin system!!!
I turned the engine off after 30 second running to put the cables to the right position. After 1 minute i have heard a "click" inside the engine (i think the carburator but don't know exactly). Then i have tried to start the engine again but the engine didn't wanted to start.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm :-(
All the sparks, cables etc are very old and i need to replace them, but maybe it is a well known problem that the engines don't like to start when not cold but not warm enough?
Maybe the automatic choke turns off, spark cold engine voltage is off or float needle valve is old and leeky and need to be replaced....
Do you know this behavior?
'79 Dodge Sportsman 5.9 LA 360 TEC Campmate
The clue is in the picture of the Hirev 7500 instructions Eric posted and the link to the Jegs .pdf instructions I posted.
BTW - I believe the resistance (ohms) in both of these may be in error. Most of the stuff I've found on the web states 5 ohms for Dodge OEM single (two connector) ballast resistors. Likewise, 5 ohms for one side and 1.2 ohms for the other side of dual (four connector) ballast resistors. (Finding one of the ones I have and actually measuring is on my to-do list ... but it's dark outside and the weather is miserable right now.)
Both of these specify 7 to 9 volts at the coil's positive terminal when the ignition switch is in the run position. (Eric used a red box to outline the relevant section in his post.)
The voltage for a fully charged automotive battery is 12.7 volts. This is roughly 40-80 percent higher than what an ICM should be receiving during normal operation.
(13.5 volts is the approximate voltage in an electrical system with the engine running and the alternator working.)
Electronics, like what's in our stock ICMs, can withstand brief periods of higher voltage. (Definitely less than a minute, preferably less than 15 seconds, and ideally 5 seconds or less.) Longer periods of higher voltage will cause the device to overheat and can cause permanent damage.
The ballast resistor is intended to reduce 12-14 volts input to 7-9 volts output to the coil during normal operation. (i.e., ignition switch in the RUN position.)
Overheating due to extended exposure to higher voltage is the most likely reason some ICMs are leaking.
Possible causes of extended high voltage is:
1. A missing, bypassed, or faulty ballast resistor.
2. Incorrectly wired ignition system.
3. Cranking the engine for extended periods.
(I can imagine everybody's reaction when they got to the third possible cause.)
This is an excellent reason why you should not crank the engine for more than 10-15 seconds at a time. Likewise, you should wait a few minutes between starting attempts, to give the ICM a chance to dissipate heat.
As I've stated repeatedly, Mopar ignition systems with single (two connector) ballast resistors bypass the ballast resistor when the ignition switch is in the START position, sending a full 12-14 volts to the coil.
On dual (four connector) ballast resistors, the larger resistance (5 ohms??) side is connected to the ignition switch's RUN terminal and the lower resistance (1.2 ohms??) side is connected to the switch's START terminal. The output on the RUN side should be 7-9 volts and the output on the START side should be less than but close to 12-14 volts.
(Depending upon your ignition switch, the RUN terminal may be labelled IGN or simply I. Likewise, the START terminal is probably labelled ST or simply S.)
On dual ballast resistors, it's entirely possible to get the connectors mixed up. Assuming it doesn't prevent the engine from running, crossing wires would cause hard starting, with the coil receiving less voltage than necessary for a cold engine. More importantly, the coil would be receiving more voltage than it should when the ignition switch is in the RUN position.
(I've seen a few pictures of connectors that should prevent incorrect connection. However, a lot more just show a collection of individual connectors, leaving it up to you to know which goes where.)
There's more I could say but I'll leave it there for now.
Before closing, I will say I haven't, until now, really studied Dodge ignition systems. I haven't experienced any problems, other than one failed ballast resistor, and definitely none of the problems some people are having.
Eric Hysteric wrote:
The electric will be my last part of the renovation when it's cold outside and cuddly warm inside the motorhome :-)
I turned the engine off after 30 second running to put the cables to the right position. After 1 minute i have heard a "click" inside the engine (i think the carburator but don't know exactly). Then i have tried to start the engine again but the engine didn't wanted to start.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm :-(
Maybe the automatic choke turns off, spark cold engine voltage is off or float needle valve is old and leeky and need to be replaced....
Do you know this behavior?
The electric will be my last part of the renovation when it's cold outside and cuddly warm inside the motorhome :-)
I turned the engine off after 30 second running to put the cables to the right position. After 1 minute i have heard a "click" inside the engine (i think the carburator but don't know exactly). Then i have tried to start the engine again but the engine didn't wanted to start.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm :-(
Maybe the automatic choke turns off, spark cold engine voltage is off or float needle valve is old and leeky and need to be replaced....
Do you know this behavior?
It was twenty below zero (F) outside when I rewired my '49 International Metro stepvan. The propane mobile home heater a previous owner had installed was hard to set low enough to keep the van from turning into a sauna. My girlfriend was helping and wound up stripping down to panties and bra ... the distraction caused the work to take a lot longer than necessary.
Off the top of my head, I'd say the 'click' you heard was a circuit breaker tripping or a tripped circuit breaker resetting.
Alternatively, it could be a piece of sheet metal cooling off and contracting.
I'm assuming it was a single 'click' ... loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to be truly disturbing. (The volume and nature of the sound would be helpful.)
As for your to-do list, there's some pitfalls in there. I'd recommend continuing to ask questions and trigger discussions before tackling each task. (The first purchase for someone buying an old motorhome should be a notebook, to keep track of their to-do list, among other things.)
This comes from ramchargercentral.com and is apparently an image scanned from a reliable repair manual. (OEM or something like a thick Motor manual.)
If all else fails, go to the source. (Scratch that ... start with the source ... you'll save yourself a lot of heartburn and headaches.)
I've spent the last several days, almost nonstop, wading through the wonderful World Wide Web, trying to find definitive information. Never have I encountered a more confusing and contradictory collection of information ... at least not since I listen to a group of twelve- and thirteen-year-old boys explaining sexual intercourse.
I'm starting to get the impression, not yet confirmed, that the dual ballast resistor is associated with the hated Lean Burn system. Or, it's unique to "California-compliant" vehicles.
I'm starting to get very, very frustrated ...
I don’t remember the 360 with lean burn having a dual ballast resistor.
'73 Concord 20' Class A w/Dodge 440 - see profile for photo
Is it CARB or non-CARB?
My '69/70 M300 and '77 B200, both with 318 engines, had single ballast resistors. The '77 was OEM as I was the first owner and hadn't modified anything to do with the engine. Can't say the same for the '69/70.
'77 was definitely non-CARB and (I think) '69/70 predates CARB.
If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll wander down to Junior (the '72 M375) and take a look ... same with the 'donor' Dakota.
I don’t remember, to be honest.
I’m not near home to look, either.