14' Series What do you have connected to the Setec vs hard wired etc

[Maciej Jankowiak]

Ok so i am finally getting around to sorting out the rest of my wiring. Today I found the wiring for the fridge was not connected as they melted the pin on the 7 pin plug. This didn't bother me as i have ran in separate Anderson plug from the tow vehicle anyhow.

So at the moment, Setec III 35a has the factory wiring, which does the lights, rang hood etc.

The water pump, radio, booster for the TV antenna and a few minor things on a separate 12V fuse panel under the seat, including the solar feed to battery etc.
My setec is 35A, and current i have the fridge wired into it, however it was running very hot, drawing 12Amps so currently i have rerouted it to the secondary fuse panel.

Question i have, is do i rewire all the current feeds so that everything comes off the Setec.

I like the facts that even if i dont have a battery present, the Setec will power things off the 240V mains.

So what do you have connected to yours etc. ???


And should i bother at all.

 

[Crusty181]

Ive not touched the Setec, everything Ive added on has been added directly to the batteries (via the Drifter shunt). Nothings blown up or caught fire yet

 

[Maciej Jankowiak]

thanks mate. Yeah I think I will pull a few things back out and add them onto the setec. I'm just not sure what others are doing.

 

[Vere]

I have added low draw items like additional LED lighting and a radio. Larger draw things like diesel heater I bypassed the Setec to battery via in-line fuse

 

[Bellbirdweb]

All of the 12v accessories I have added have all been wired to the setec, so I'm not hunting all over the place for different fuses, and the battery switch controls everything.

I'm a bit puzzled why you would run your fridge via the setec however.

It's not recommended to connect your fridge 12v to your house batteries as it will flatten it very quickly (I'm assuming this is a 3 way fridge)and won't cool.

You would normally run this from the vehicle supply only, via a voltage sensing relay or auxiliary battery to maintain temperature whilst driving only, so moving it to a separate fuse panel is good. Is this only being supplied via the Anderson from the vehicle ?

 

[Maciej Jankowiak]

the reason I had it from setec was purly for convenience. all in one spot. mine works really well now that the wiring has been upgraded to match the current draw. I have had it on 12v for a day, with the setec doing battery charging and it freezers water in the main compartment no problems.

I'm only trying to rectify what others have done lol. I think all the small stuff I'll re-run to the setec and the big stuff I'll running of the battery. I have an Anderson plug wired into the car and the caravan now so that's all good.

typically I run the fridge on 240v or gas but want to make sure on 12v the two 110ah batteries can run it for a day or so if worse comes to worse.

 

[mikerezny]

the reason I had it from setec was purly for convenience. all in one spot. mine works really well now that the wiring has been upgraded to match the current draw. I have had it on 12v for a day, with the setec doing battery charging and it freezers water in the main compartment no problems.

I'm only trying to rectify what others have done lol. I think all the small stuff I'll re-run to the setec and the big stuff I'll running of the battery. I have an Anderson plug wired into the car and the caravan now so that's all good.

typically I run the fridge on 240v or gas but want to make sure on 12v the two 110ah batteries can run it for a day or so if worse comes to worse.

Hi @Maciej Jankowiak,
I don't know what model or type of fridge you have. But, I have a 90l Dometic RM2350 3-way fridge, one of the smaller 3-way fridges. It has a 175W 12V element and it draws about 15A. At that current draw, your two 110 Ah batteries would not last more than 15 hours.

Larger Dometic 3-way fridges have a higher wattage 12V element, 225W from memory.

One advantage of running through the Setec is that it has a low voltage cutout that disconnects the load to ensure your batteries are not run completely flat. But you will most likely have issues trying to connect the fridge through the Setec without issues. The quick connect terminals on the Setec are unlikely to handle the cable size or the current you need to draw without significant voltage drop or heating at the quick connect terminals. Also there will be further voltage drop across the battery supply fuse, the load fuse, and the leads from the battery to the Setec.

If you are relying on the Setec to recharge, it has a maximum charge rate of 15A. So, if you discharged your batteries, it would take at least 15 hours to recharge them. You need to also note that if the battery voltage is below about 10.5V, the Setec will only trickle charge at 0.8A until the battery voltage gets above 10.5V or so before it will increase the charge rate to 15A. During this time, you may still be drawing 15A for the fridge plus 15A to charge the battery. You will then have only 5A left to run anything else in the van before the Setec is overloaded.

cheers
Mike