Drifter control panel

TTBRIDGE

TTBRIDGE

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2013
382
348
63
Brisbane - Northside (North Lakes)
Hey guys,

As my wife has already said we are waiting on the arrival of out 17.52.2OB to arrive. I will NBC doing the electrics on it as it is more cost affective and I like to know what I have and how it works.

Anyway I do like the drifter unit. They are a Setec unit and I can get them online. But there is not much info about senders For the tanks etc. Can anyone tell me about the other gear required. Looks like the panel comes with the electric connections, but what about the senders. Even the Setec site dose not have a lot. I will probably email them but thought I would ask here first as someone might have already had a fiddle.

Regards,
Tim
 
Burnsy

Burnsy

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2012
2,663
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Newcastle
G'day Tim,

I looked at replacing my control panel with one of these but I abandoned the idea as I had to run cables for the shunt and it was pretty much impossible to get them where Jayco put the control panel. As far as I know it does come with the tank senders which are the same that they use for the control panel. If you need info on them the guys at Page Brothers seem to what their talking about, I forget the blokes name I spoke to but very helpful.

Another option for you depending on where they would mount the panel (able to run cables to unit) is get Jayco to install a control panel, like I said they use the same tank senders and that way you don't need to fit senders yourself and run the wires. Then purchase the drifter, cheaper off the net, then sell the control panel with the senders that come with the drifter, a bit of mucking around but will save you some work!

Cheers.
 
Bmhdg76

Bmhdg76

Well-Known Member
Oct 6, 2012
769
516
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North Lakes, Qld.
Have a question re these Which I cannot seem to locate an answer to anywhere.
Can anyone tell me if the USB connection on these will charge an iPad (10watts) or is it only for iPods and iPhones (5watts)?

This will determine if I have to get a Narva USB socket or not.
 
TTBRIDGE

TTBRIDGE

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2013
382
348
63
Brisbane - Northside (North Lakes)
Bmhdg76,

Information on these units is scarse, i emailed Setek direct and got a user manual, but not install instructions. I have instaleld the unit myself and as proved to be a hard slog.

However, i think i can answer your question. The USB port is a Rated Current of 0.9 Amps, So with the aid of Dr Google for the conversion, and happy to be corrected it would be 10.8 Watts. So you should be right to charge from it.

But i will plug my ipad into mine tonight and confirm.
 
Ligedy

Ligedy

Active Member
Oct 13, 2012
230
176
43
Mackay
Yep... it's not worth trying to charge an iPhone from the Drifter panel as it takes for ever and I recall my iPad or iPad mini just displaying the not charging screen...

The twin USB adapter chartrock listed is the go – I have one in the van and my cars. The ARB sidewinder one is 3.1A combined (one USB port @ 2.1A and the other 1A). I picked one up from office works that is 4.2A / 2.1A out of both for $19.95 (tax deductible…).

In the car I replaced the bulky single GPS charger with the USB PC lead and this double adaptor to free up an extra sockets for charging devices whilst on the road out of the same socket if you get my drift…

TTBRDIGE – have you finished the install of the Drifter Panel?

I got nowhere trying to get installation info so left out the senders on the 3rd water tank and just equalised the rear tanks to give me water levels for now.

Do you have any photos of the wiring and back of the Drifter Panel? I was told there only two wires that connect to the back of the panel (standard twin pair would do) from the water level senders - the two into four wires on loom from the tank senders. If it’s that easy I’ll look at wiring up the 3rd tank…

Cheers
 
AndrewC

AndrewC

Active Member
Mar 20, 2013
207
233
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Murrumba Downs, Brisbane
Ligedy,

I will answer this on Tim's behalf as I acctually nutted this side of things out for Tim and I have the electrical brain (Tim has the mechanical one so we make a good pair!)

As far as the sensors go, each tank only has one wire back to the panel. Then each tank has an earth that gets run from the bottom sensor straight to ground or your closest negitive terminal. Tim's kit acctually neglected to supply the earth probe.

This is a common problem as my kit in my van was the same and I went back to jayco to get some more. In tim's case, he just raided some probes from the sensors for the third tank which he does not have.

as for which of the three tank wires is which on the back of the unit, just hook the up one at a time to get the right levels lighing up on the screen that you reqire

See these two documents I found. Colours are not the same but wiring concept is the same.
http://www.rvvent.com/images/a7749install.jpg (use this drawing for the sensor probe wiring), and
http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/files/products/BMS-0011331857611_2.pdf fot the power supply and shunt wiring.

Not noted on any of these above drawings is the 2 sets of no volt contact wires (4 wires total) These control the switch for the water pump and the main power relay switching back to the setec power supply. To identify these, use a multimeter and switch the switches until you find the two pairs. The bigger two cables are for the pump and the smaller two are for the power supply relay.

Tim will be able to confirm all the colours when he has a look.

From here, you just need to extend your water pump wires and power supply wires to these connections on the drifter panel.
 
AndrewC

AndrewC

Active Member
Mar 20, 2013
207
233
43
Murrumba Downs, Brisbane
Tim and I are going away this weekend, and I could acctually draw out a full schmematic including colours over a coldie if you want? That way I will have the van in front of me to do so.
 
matsoutback

matsoutback

Member
Mar 28, 2013
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Sunshine Coast
Bmhdg76 said:
Have a question re these Which I cannot seem to locate an answer to anywhere.
Can anyone tell me if the USB connection on these will charge an iPad (10watts) or is it only for iPods and iPhones (5watts)?

This will determine if I have to get a Narva USB socket or not.
Click to expand...

You can charge ipods, ipads and iphones with the USB, it is pretty handy actually!
The only weird thing is the display shows the voltage drop (from the shunt) very quickly when charging. Then the time to empty stuffs up massively. When disconnecting (the I device) the voltage "recovers". At first I panicked and disconnected the ipad, then I thought i'll leave it, and it was fine. The van battery still was good and the voltage fully recovered afterwards. So I use it and ignore the erroneous voltage display while doing so.
 
Ligedy

Ligedy

Active Member
Oct 13, 2012
230
176
43
Mackay
AndrewC said:
Tim and I are going away this weekend, and I could acctually draw out a full schmematic including colours over a coldie if you want? That way I will have the van in front of me to do so.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Andrew - you've saved me a lot of time and swearing there :) . No need for the schematic - I'm picking up what you're putting down. Just drink coldies instead - have a good weekend.
 
Ligedy

Ligedy

Active Member
Oct 13, 2012
230
176
43
Mackay
Gee i
matsoutback said:
You can charge ipods, ipads and iphones with the USB, it is pretty handy actually!
The only weird thing is the display shows the voltage drop (from the shunt) very quickly when charging. Then the time to empty stuffs up massively. When disconnecting (the I device) the voltage "recovers". At first I panicked and disconnected the ipad, then I thought i'll leave it, and it was fine. The van battery still was good and the voltage fully recovered afterwards. So I use it and ignore the erroneous voltage display while doing so.
Click to expand...
I'll have to try it out again... does the battery switch need to be on position o_O ...?
 
TTBRIDGE

TTBRIDGE

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2013
382
348
63
Brisbane - Northside (North Lakes)
Hey All,

I have the actual install PDF that Setec provide to Jayco, so it has wire colours of the plug at the Drifter end as well as the tank end. While Andrew and i spent nights sorting this out there were still some things not adding up. Once i got this PDF it all made sence.

I have to tank the Jason at Caravan Electrical Solutions P/L in Melbourne. I was revered to him, one discussion with him he gave me everything i needed. I did not buy anything from him and he was more than happy to help. Even asked if i can give him a call back and tell him how i went. No that is great service.

I will upload the install & the User Manual, i have both and i am sure it will be helpful to someone else in the future, it has everything you need. Including info for those wanting to install extra tanks.

Having now done this, i understand what was needed. It was a hard slog, but the end is near. I think the attached will make the road forward for anyone else so much easier as i think i might be the first to try a full install of these units as they are so new.
 

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BigSkiddy

BigSkiddy

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May 7, 2013
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Bargo NSW
Went to charge my Samsung S3 by plugging it into the Drifter USB. Funny thing was the Drifter displayed 'charging' on the screen and showed 0.6 Amps coming into the battery??? My phone did charge up.
I obviously had no other sources of power coming in such as solar, 240v or DC.
Anyone else experienced this?
 
Brad

Brad

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Jan 2, 2012
2,645
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Rowville, Victoria
Interesting you mention this. I installed a couple of USB ports for iDevices. It runs off the same line as the booster for the antenna.
I reacon if I charge two devices at the same time then I get a degradation in signal quality for the TV.
 
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