Battery switch:- What does it actually do?

[Coastrunner]

Hi guys.

I've had my van for quite a while now and really should know the answer, but can anyone tell me exactly what the battery switch actually does.

I`ve turned my switch to the ON position, then turned all my lights on and found that they worked, looked at my charging unit and saw the little red light flickering and saw that my battery was being charged. This was when it was not plugged in to 240v or the back of car. {Just solar panel}

I`ve turned the switch to the off position, done exactly the same thing and saw nothing any different.

So i`m thinking to myself, what does the switch actually isolate?

The guy I bought the van off told me he just left it in the on position all the time.

I`ve done the same, because I don't really know what it does.

Can anyone tell me?

 

[Coastrunner]

I thought when I turned the switch off, it was going to be similar to a boat battery isolation switch and shut the battery connection off. I thought it would be to shut the battery supply off when your using 240V so that you would use 240V instead of your inbuilt battery 12V???

But the battery supplies power to everything whether the switch is on or off?

The battery charges through the solar panel whether its on or off?

 

[Capt. Gadget]

I turn mine off and nothing 12v works. Unless the Setec is plugged into 240v

 

[Burnsy]

Same as CG for me, maybe a mod job there! Battery switch on will supply 12v with no 240v mains on or will charge battery when on mains. If you have a hotwire in trailer plug then 12v will be supplied from tug to van so lights will work when battery switch is off or charge (minimal) battery when switch is on. This is what I've found anyway and I haven't changed anything except I will use the redarc bcdc unit to charge batteries instead.

 

[icetechaus]

I made the mistake of leaving the battery switch off (2nd hand van through a dealer so there was no real handover) 12 months later and 2 x stuffed 110Ah batteries later I now know that I should have had them switched on.

 

[Burnsy]

I made the mistake of leaving the battery switch off (2nd hand van through a dealer so there was no real handover) 12 months later and 2 x stuffed 110Ah batteries later I now know that I should have had them switched on.

Ouch!

 

[icetechaus]

That's an understatement. Fortunately free camping is not on the books for a while, so I just have to accept that I have about 60 kilograms less to tow.

 

[Mike7]

Hi mate, the battery switch is an isolation switch for the batteries. If the switch is off it should completely disconnected the batteries from the Setek unit or anything else for that matter.

I can confirm this as I have a Ctek charger that I use and so want to isolate the Setek trickle charger when using the Ctek charger, I think my brain just melted.

Anyway, when the switch is turned off I notice on my battery management panel that the batteries do disconnect from the van.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Mike

 

[mfexpanda]

I turn mine off and nothing 12v works. Unless the Setec is plugged into 240v

same here

 

[msmith24]

The battery switch will isolate the battery from the Setec unit, stopping from being charged when plugged into 240V or trailer plug, and will also stop the battery from being drained when not in use. Solar panels are usually wired through a regulator directly to the battery, this is why your battery was charging even when your switch was off.
I hope this makes sense and has helped some what.

 

[Coastrunner]

Thanks guys.
I really appreciate your advice.
As I said earlier, I've just always left the battery switch on since I`ve had the van.
I spose the solar panels have always kept the battery topped up.
Another great advantage of having solar panel, battery always kept topped up whether switch is on or off.

The craziest thing I've also I've found that my solar panel still trickle charges the battery through my grey van cover! Don't ask me how or why, it just does it.

 

[Xpandafan]

?..
The craziest thing I've also I've found that my solar panel still trickle charges the battery through my grey van cover! Don't ask me how or why, it just does it.

Ah...you've got a magic caravan cover like me! Good panels don't need much light to start to generate electricity as you've now discovered, enough light gets thru the fabric weave to work. While maximum efficiency (at best usually <20%) is achieved by orientating panels to face the sun, with my 2 x 120w's mounted on van roof, even partial shade still delivers decent charge rate.

 

[Bank of Dad]

If turned ON, it will permit the Setec charger to charge the battery from 240v or from your car. If no 240v supply available, it will power the 12v if turned ON.

 

[Adam G]

It's pretty obvious from the posts here that there is bugger all consistency with how the isolator switch works. For me, with the switch off and no external power source all 12v stuff is off except for the slide-out control. The solar charges regardless of switch position.

 

[jvp]

The only time I would turn the battery switch off would be with the van stored for a long time without 240 volts connected, due to the
cetek draws standby current & would flatten the battery. Solar panels would solve this problem anyway.
jvp

 

[Coastrunner]

It seems I was mixed up.

I was going off memory which really isn't as reliable as I'd like it to be.

When I saw that the battery was still being charged whether the switch was on or off, I thought the battery was still getting power. In actual fact (as one of you guys mentioned earlier) it was only the solar panel charging the battery, hence the little red diode still operating. So now when I double checked, the battery switch, when in the off position cuts off 12v power to everything.

I never realised the solar charging would stay connected. I didn't realise it was seperate to the other charging methods.

So thanks again for all your advice people!

Always appreciated.

 

[Burnsy]

I wired my panels through a switch so I can isolate when on mains or when doing any wiring, I think Jayco should also do this!

 

[Capt. Gadget]

I wired my panels through a switch so I can isolate when on mains or when doing any wiring, I think Jayco should also do this!

Me too!