No they weren't Jayco's, actually can't recall the brand but that is an interesting observation, I once toyed with the idea of moving mine to chassis racks but the thought of lifting a battery up into a rack turned me off the idea, glad I didn't do it now.
Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"
- Thread starter Drover
- Start date
No they weren't Jayco's, actually can't recall the brand but that is an interesting observation, I once toyed with the idea of moving mine to chassis racks but the thought of lifting a battery up into a rack turned me off the idea, glad I didn't do it now.
In preperation for the new battery arrival, I redid the wiring for a single battery, the new fella will sit on the slide rack and I removed the 2nd AGM which sat in boot in a box, Bugga me nearly had to rig up a handy billy to lift the damn thing out, age is catching up to me quickly, never used to be a struggle but it dam well is now......................... When it arrives in a coupla days it will be a simple plug n' play, no stuffing around .................................................... I had forgotten the fun of lifting an AGM from boot so Wise decision to go a Lithium, wish I had the extra pennies to have bought two as at the moment we have just kept the status quo...........
I am not a lover of cold weather at all...so no Snow trips on the cards...same goes for hot weather. I would be thinking long term hot would be more of a potential issue. I was out at Lightening Ridge when it was a constant 40 degrees plus earlier this year...thing is I suppose, the batteries are inside the van under where the dinette was, so as I prefer the inside temp to be mid 20's rain hail or shine, the batteries will benefit. Be a different matter if they are hanging off the chassis somewhere...
I am not a lover at all of the BMPRO stuff either...only that this van has the BMPRO J35B BMS in it did I go to the BMPRO shunt. I will be looking at changing the whole system I think going forward, as the system now tells me nothing...if not for the MPPT I have wired in along with the Victron charger being Bluedtooth I would have no idea of the battery condition.
Thats why I stayed at home while you went to The Ridge, I looked at the weather report and thought stuff that I'm staying at home .............. Most people don;t have any idea or need or want to know the mysteries of electrickery and just want something that does its own thing, if the units were fitted and set up properly they will perform great most of the time ................ Some get sucked into the flash adds so spend heaps of bling bits that are just sugar coating.............. I prefer KiSS as I like simple ............... some even think I'm the latter as well, which could be a fair assumption at times.......................
New battery in place yesterday arvo, at about 70%, all fitted before the rain came back thank goodness I had prepped the battery compartment, reprogrammed the Epever Controller for Lithium with a few tweaks just for this unit, morning arrives, cloudy/rain, 81%@ 13.5v, took till lunch till the weather came good and it powered up really well andby the time I checke dit again a few hours later it was at 100%@14.6v, have a check again at 0500 dark if working properly should be 99%@13.6 or 8................ then will give it a good load test and see how it recovers in the morning but if its really a nice morning will go out on the boat instead.
Lifted the thing into place one handed, has won me for sure............
Lifted the thing into place one handed, has won me for sure............
The thing I love is the lithium charge/discharge efficiency. My battery monitor counts down to 0 during recharge from whatever it counted out over night, and shortly after that the battery voltage starts to rise showing it's near 100% soc. A lead acid battery would count down to 0 and then take ages and many amp hours to get it back to 100%
Testiing completed, Ticks all round until in the next week or so the real on road test will happen to see if it needs more storage ............................ Also discovered or remembered why I liked this Epever Xtra4210N MPPT unit, it has a simple on/off button which shuts down solar and battery load yet still shows battery state, so I can put the lithium to sleep till needed without stuffing around tripping breakers and stuff when it gets down on charge a bit its just a simple push of button to energize it .............. especially as they like to sit around the 70-80% mark when doing nothing and I want this unit to last .....................................
EDIT: Well that statement is incorrect it doesn't shut down just the load...............
EDIT: Well that statement is incorrect it doesn't shut down just the load...............
Last edited:
Yeah, the Ridge trip was really only a shake down to properly "road test" the tug in the heat to make sure I had sorted out it's heating issues before heading on this lap...
Just when you think the stars align, the Breaksafe battery craps out, shows green for a little bit then goes to red, give it a charge and a load test, drops to 11.5 from 12.7 in seconds, stuffed.................................... So my $50 fathers day Bunnings Card was spent on a new battery from Bunnings $37 for a Century battery, certainly beats the RV store prices by miles and not a no name brand either .............................
The recovery of this Lithium is brilliant you weren't wrong about that @jazzeddie1234 ............................... hope it all goes well over the coming weeks.....
The recovery of this Lithium is brilliant you weren't wrong about that @jazzeddie1234 ............................... hope it all goes well over the coming weeks.....
Just a small point there Ian. I understand that you now have a lithium battery set up for van and specific charging parameters set for charging lithium batteries. Now that you have had to replace the Breaksafe battery, how do you intend to charge it? Is it a SLA of about 7ah or around that figure.? Surely not a good idea to charge it in parallel with the main (lithium) van battery. 12 volt Lithium batteries around the 7 to 10ah capacity are around the $60.00 to $90.00 mark on Ebay and higher. Might have to use your old 12 volt battery charger and charge it up separately?? What have you done @jazzeddie1234 ??
Mine is wired (amazingly) standard. The battery is charged via the 12 pin or the supplied little 240v power pack. Both ways use the internal breakaway charger
I haven't measured the battery voltage when charged via the 12 pin (say 14v ish) to see if it is enough to charge vs maintain. I think...the power pack is 15 or 16 volts???
A Breaksafe battery is a 7ah VRLA/SLA job, could be GEL or AGM, the Breaksafe unit charges its battery with its own inbuilt charger with power sourced from the tug via the 12 pin or from van 12v, its only a trickle charge of if I recal an amp or 2, not much anyway, when its fully charged and had a rest they seem to sit around the 12.7-8 mark, must be able to maintain a draw down for 15 mins and since they are hidden away I doubt many get checked at all and only get charged when towing so if its parked up for 6 mths the battery would be flat, mine gets its charging supply from the van 12v and I have a switch fitted for maintenance, its always up to speed, no 12v supply from tug to van at all, though I could piggy back from fridge power but why bother, the van is wired into the Breaksafe as if its 12v is coming from the tug ......... old breaksafe was about 8 years so no drama....
Most Breaksafe units are useless anyway, by the time the pin has been pulled the draw bar has come away from the vehicle and dug into the road surface as they are fitted with stretchy cords which extend way beyond a metre so when the brakes come on its wheels up anyway............... I use mine for checking brakes after adjustments.....
The Century PS1270 price ranges from $35 to $65, when I got mine I put it on the bench charger to bring it up to speed before fitting in the van so it can start at full charge...
Looks like a standard type VRLA/SLA type, not a Gel or AGM. Would certainly do the job, but may not hold the charge as long and as well as an AGM type. I bought a 12 volt 7ah AGM as a back up battery for elderly lady in case power was lost to telephone system. A better buy and cheaper than the standard type in my opinion.. But as a standard VRLA in your case is not required to provide sustained power for a long period, hopefully you never have the need for it. The picture below is similar to the one i bought.
12V 7Ah Sealed Lead Acid Alarm Security AGM Battery 1270 1272 <7.2 7.5Ah DP7 | eBay
Designed to go the distance and are the choice for remote operation over extended periods. They have special grid alloy that produces less gassing and less self-discharging providing a longer cycle life.
www.ebay.com.au
Looks like a standard type VRLA/SLA type, not a Gel or AGM. Would certainly do the job, but may not hold the charge as long and as well as an AGM type. I bought a 12 volt 7ah AGM as a back up battery for elderly lady in case power was lost to telephone system. A better buy and cheaper than the standard type in my opinion.. But as a standard VRLA in your case is not required to provide sustained power for a long period, hopefully you never have the need for it. The picture below is similar to the one i bought.
12V 7Ah Sealed Lead Acid Alarm Security AGM Battery 1270 1272 <7.2 7.5Ah DP7 | eBay
Designed to go the distance and are the choice for remote operation over extended periods. They have special grid alloy that produces less gassing and less self-discharging providing a longer cycle life.www.ebay.com.au
Same , same battery, a 1270 is what is used in NBN boxes as well as Breaksafe units, in fact I think the charging set up is very similar and they are AGM's, (VRLA) they are also used in lamps, computer back up power etc, I think like a lot of things the branding adds to the cost in a lot of cases, Breaksafe advise to change them every 2 years which when you look at the standard set up for them, being they get charged from the tug then probably a good idea, it would sit idle for many months and they drain 3% a month in theory so getting hooked up to tug after the usual idle period of months it would want a long drive to recharge as its only a trickle charger, at least with mine it gets a regular tickle and isn't reliant on the tug to charge, possibly why mine has lasted so long ....
..................... oh and while I was stuffing around being a contortionist in the tiny space they fitted it, I got inspired and pulled the water pump out and gave it a bit of TLC, all quite good, it has a micro filter in the line which was quite good considering, I fitted the pump back in a much more accessible position as I think they originally put it in place and built the cupboard around it............. I was going to see how the motor was wearing but decided its working okay leave the bugga alone ........................ "Kiss" and " If it ain't broke leave it " being my base line of maintenance ....
Hi Drover, Could you show a simple schematic of how you have connected the charging supply to the Breaksafe battery and where in the circuit you have have placed your "maintenance" switch? Was it just a matter of connecting it across the solar charged house battery, or did you connect it the Load Supply of the solar controller?
Hey @BaldEd , don't forget that @Drover has his solar controller set up to charge Lithium battery, which may not be the best idea if you were charging VRLA/SLA battery/ies connected in PARALLEL with the lithium. If going to charge VRLA/SLA batteries, I think it would be best to charge from its own a separate 12 volt charging source, not to a varying voltage source suitable for lithium Perhaps some "Techo" could clarify this.
My Breaksafe is mounted inside a cupboard in van, near the fuse box so I just located the main 12v feed to fuse box and tapped into that, if I remember correctly the black wire from the Breaksafe is the 12v feed from the tug via the 12 pin, so I cut that and fitted the end from the Breaksafe to a rocker switch mounted in a handy and ran a line from the rocker switch to the vans 12v supply, in my case it was running in the wall behind the Breaksafe other wise I would have run it to the fuse panel itself which is in the cupboard above...................... You will have to look at your set up as they are not always placed in similar places... My mates is in his boot so tapping into his fuse panel for 12v supply is dead easy.........
It doesn't matter what sort of battery or charging system is in your van as the Breaksafe charges itself it just requires a 12v supply (post#594) and you don't try to connect to the screw terminals on the outside they won't work .....
Graham, Back shed Techo here !!!!!!!!!!
The Breaksafe is an enclosed unit which has its own trickle charger for its battery, it only requires a 12v supply, nothing to do with the van charging system so the van battery type and charging regime is irrelevant...
All one is doing is swapping the 12v supply from tug to van battery, it is a direct .........
Last edited:
Hi guys, My system is probably similar to Drovers. My van is a 2016 Starcraft with pin2 of the 12pin plug connected to the Breaksafe, ESC and the SETEC, thus receiving power from the tug when on the road.
I have just upgraded to LiFePO4 (from GEL) and as a consequence have disconnected the 230v AC input from the SETEC to remove its non-lithium compatible battery charger from the system. (The SETEC is now only used as a 12v DC distribution centre for lights and appliances.) A new 230v lithium capable charger has been installed in readiness for the odd dash into a commercial campground to recharge the batteries - I generally camp off-grid.
The Breaksafe battery is currently charged by either 12v DC from the tug or via the little 230v charger when connected to mains power. Thus the Breaksafe battery only gets charged intermittently, i.e. whilst travelling or when pre-cooling the fridge using 2230v AC prior to travelling. For long periods of the year the van is parked up not used - not good for battery longevity.
As I would like to completely forget about the necessity to regularly recharge that 7A Breaksafe battery, I'll probably do what Drover has done and connect a couple of wires from across the house batteries and into the plug where the little 230v charger currently feeds it's 1A DC.
I have just upgraded to LiFePO4 (from GEL) and as a consequence have disconnected the 230v AC input from the SETEC to remove its non-lithium compatible battery charger from the system. (The SETEC is now only used as a 12v DC distribution centre for lights and appliances.) A new 230v lithium capable charger has been installed in readiness for the odd dash into a commercial campground to recharge the batteries - I generally camp off-grid.
The Breaksafe battery is currently charged by either 12v DC from the tug or via the little 230v charger when connected to mains power. Thus the Breaksafe battery only gets charged intermittently, i.e. whilst travelling or when pre-cooling the fridge using 2230v AC prior to travelling. For long periods of the year the van is parked up not used - not good for battery longevity.
As I would like to completely forget about the necessity to regularly recharge that 7A Breaksafe battery, I'll probably do what Drover has done and connect a couple of wires from across the house batteries and into the plug where the little 230v charger currently feeds it's 1A DC.
Sorry, I have been using the wrong name for the breakaway device fitted to my Jayco. It is actually a TOW SECURE TS1500 unit. It came with a small 230v switch-mode plug pack that provides 15v DC @ 1A to charge the 7Ah battery whilst the caravan is connected to 230v AC. The end of the lead from the plug pack is inserted into a connector lead protruding out of the TOW SECURE control unit. What I was thinking of doing is replacing the 15v DC output from the plug pack with a feed from the lithium house battery (approx 13.34v - though voltage will vary a little up and down from that within the setting limits of the solar controller and BMS systems). Anybody see problems with trickle charging the 12v 7Ah SLA battery using that? That way I wouldn't have to worry about the 7Ah going flat.