Caravan Wiring Advice...

[shadow75]

Hi All,

After a couple of blown fuses (not sure why) I produced a quick schematic of the wiring to try and get some feedback on what others have done and ways in which this could be improved.

Currently I have an 85 Amp hr battery as the Main Aux in the Car, and the Jayco Fitter 100 Amp hr in the Caravan. Would a DC-DC charger be of any benefit between the Main Aux and the Caravan Batt? Leaving the two connected directly should allow for 185 Amp Hr of Battery.

I had the Solar Provision put in, now just what is best Solar Connection / Regulator options - MPPT, Basic Solar Reg etc - How has everyone wired there Solar into the system? Does the Solar have to be isolated from charging the Batteries when the Car is Charging?

The Anderson Plug Wiring from the Caravan is only 6mm (ie 4.57mm2) - I was hoping they would have put at least 6 B&S in but.... Has anyone replaced this cable with 6B&S? I wouldn't have expected the charge rate to the Battery to be above 30Amp, although - Blown fuse??

The Fridge is currently still connected directly (through fuses) to the Battery, hence if left on would drain it.. I'm thinking one of the Fridge Switches at the may be the easiest option for this one.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Glenn

 

[Jim and Tab]

hi there
i cant help you with everything but ill help with what i can
ive just finished wiring in the solar to the van
what i did was mount an mppt 30 amp reg in the van wired to the battery.ive run the solar input side of the reg to an anderson plug mounted at the back of the van
so its completly seperate from the anderson that charges the battery via the vehicle.so i have two seperate systems.
reason being i was told if you conect the car to the van via the solar reg then the battery if the car decides to put out big amps it wont blow the reg.
i wired my fridge direct to battery for better power at the fridge when driving but same as you just make sure its switched of when you finish using the van.
but most times when you have finished using the van its usually on 240 or gas.
looking at your diagram i usume the setec is the one jayco fit as standard.
i cant understand why its wired back to the trailer plug.mine isnt wired back to the car at all is that something you wired
as for solar regs i did heaps of asking/research and every one recomend mppt type of reg
hope this helps
cheers jim\tab and diamond

 

[shadow75]

hi there

i cant understand why its wired back to the trailer plug.mine isnt wired back to the car at all is that something you wired
as for solar regs i did heaps of asking/research and every one recomend mppt type of reg
hope this helps
cheers jim\tab and diamond

Thanks for the reply jim\tab and diamond.
The Factory Fitted SETEC is powered from Pin 2 I believe on a 12 Pin Plug - the way it was wired from Jayco. (Fridge of Pin 9) With power being supplied through Pin 2, you can operate all the 12V lights etc inside without having the Battery on. With the Battery on, and power being supplied by the Car - via pin 2, the SETEC unit also charges the battery at approx .2 Amp/hr (at least that is what I get).

BTW, what brand MPPT / Solar Panels did you go with?

Cheers, Glenn

 

[boots33]

Hi Glenn

As the old saying goes "there is more than one way to skin a cat" and there is certainly more than one way to wire your van, so there is really no "one right answer". A lot will depend on what you want to be able to do and how much power you think your are going to use. One thing I always try to do is make everything as fool proof as possible, if you have to rely on switching things of manually then sooner or later you will probably get caught out.

In your wiring diagram, you can see you have your van battery connected to the car aux battery through the anderson plug as well as through the setec unit. While this is unlikely to cause any serious problems there are a couple of reasons why you should change this setup. The first is the anderson plug wiring is a strait through connection between your van and the car battery, If your main battery in the car fails and you try and jump start off the aux battery you could blow the 30A fuse in the van. Also any power drain on the aux battery will also draw from your van battery.

The other area of concern is if you have your solar panel hooked up while traveling and the regulator shorts or starts to overcharge you could end up with some very high voltages back at the car. Your setec unit is the best way to connect power to your van battery as it has a blocking diode built into the charge circuit to prevent the above things from occurring.

Your diagram shows a 20a fuse at the car and a 30a fuse at the van on the setec unit, these fuses should both be the same value to match the setec unit you have fitted (setec-20 20a setec-30 30a). Another reason to use the setec unit is that it has a low voltage cutout built in and will cut off the supply when it gets to around 10v, this is very important as batteries should not be discharged more than about 50% of there rated capacity.

The fridge is really a personal choice item as to how you wire it up. My advice would be that unless you have a need for running it to an always live connection then don't but seeing as you have the aux battery in the car if you really want to be able to use it on 12v for extended periods then leave it connected as you have it now, this way you won't be able to flatten your van battery by by accident (provided you make the other changes above) but remember you will flatten your aux battery completely if you leave it on too long. it is all very well to fit another switch to control the power to the fridge (which by the way is exactly what the switch on the fridge does now !) but if you don't trust yourself to remember to switch it off now what makes you think a second switch will help

I would not be too concerned about the 6mm wire running back from your anderson plug, unless you are planning to run a 60" plasma with a home theater amp and a seriously big inverter i think you will find it more than adequate for most uses. you can always replace it at a later time if the need arises.

The amount of charge going into your van battery from the setec unit vary depending on how flat the van battery is. remember you also have the anderson plug as well which is also supplying power.

The setup for your solar panel is correct but you might like to replace the fuse with one suited to the regulator you end up with. Many panels now come with the regulator fitted at the panel, this is well suited to portable panels as it will allow them to be hooked up easily to charge other vehicles etc. Yours being a permanent mount i would mount the regulator close to the battery, this will allow for the most efficient use of your panels power and make it easier to add another panel if needed later on. You will need to put the regulator on the panel side of the fuse, remember the regulator may get quite hot when when in use so don't store anything in that area that may be flammable. If you think you may add to your panels at a later date buy a regulator with extra capacity to allow for later expansion

 

[Jim and Tab]

hi shadow theese are the panels and reg we used
panels http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/240-watt-Solar-Panel-Compact-Folding-Kit-REDUCED-PRICE-/170742418668?pt=AU_Solar&hash=item27c10a8cec.$480
reg http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/POWERTEC.../130593661591?pt=AU_Solar&hash=item1e67fd2297. really nice guy to talk to aswell.
cheers jim/tab and diamond