Pablo79 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Hi all, A few months ago I bought my MH, and am going through the process of upgrading and checking things. A few weeks ago the starter battery was flat, which surprised me as the van has a good solar set up (215w solar, MPPT,) and has a CBE Csb2. The Csb2 is like a battery master in that it sends some amps to the starter battery when the leisure batteries reach a certain voltage. The leisure batteries are charged, and the csb led status light goes on (green) and off in line with the specified voltages. However, the starter battery is gradually losing its charge. The battery could be duff. It's 4 years old and I've ordered a new one. However, I'd like to test things are working as they should. This might be one for those with CBE set up knowledge. How can I test that the csb is working? Is there a simple way? The red, blue and black wires leave the csb2 into a small block connector, and then continue into big chunk of wires. I'm not sure where they end up in the DS300I, so I'm not sure where to stick my votmeter or what to expect. Any ideas anyone? Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefitz Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 The black wire is negative, connected the the battery negative or chassis. The red wire connects to the leisure battery positive and the blue wire to the engine battery positive. There should be fuses, 5 or 10 amps in the feed cables to the CSB2. I would expect if the CSB2 is mounted near the DS unit and would be connected via inline fuses to the main battery terminations on the DS unit. If you have access to the wires in the block connector, with the unit and batteries in place I would expect to see battery volts on the blue, engine battery and red, leisure battery, with respect to system negative. You may be able to make a continuity test between the respective wires and the negative and positive of the batteries. The fuses and connections would be the first place to inspect if readings are not as expected. If the leisure battery is under charge, with say a 13.8 volt float charge, I would expect to see the engine battery with a voltage higher than its resting voltage, over 13 volts. ( with the engine battery in poor condition this may not be the case as the CSB2 may not be able to supply enough current). Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 If you are relying on the solar to keep both batteries charged at this time of year is it possible that the output from the solar panel is insufficient to provide the float charge to the starter battery, as well as the normal charge to the Habitation battery? I'm assuming there must be a minimum input voltage to the CBE equipment before the starter battery float charge is initiated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo79 Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 mikefitz - 2021-03-10 3:29 PM The black wire is negative, connected the the battery negative or chassis. The red wire connects to the leisure battery positive and the blue wire to the engine battery positive. There should be fuses, 5 or 10 amps in the feed cables to the CSB2. I would expect if the CSB2 is mounted near the DS unit and would be connected via inline fuses to the main battery terminations on the DS unit. If you have access to the wires in the block connector, with the unit and batteries in place I would expect to see battery volts on the blue, engine battery and red, leisure battery, with respect to system negative. You may be able to make a continuity test between the respective wires and the negative and positive of the batteries. The fuses and connections would be the first place to inspect if readings are not as expected. If the leisure battery is under charge, with say a 13.8 volt float charge, I would expect to see the engine battery with a voltage higher than its resting voltage, over 13 volts. ( with the engine battery in poor condition this may not be the case as the CSB2 may not be able to supply enough current). Mike Perfect, thanks Mike. I unplugged the white connector and got the expected voltage from the leisure batts, but nothing from the starter... a blown 10a fuse. Which looked good to the eye but a continuity test showed it was blown. All sorted. I would hope the solar could keep up. The solar charger is only in absorption for a short while and moves to float by mid morning. The solar isn't generating lots of course, but it should be plenty to keep charged batteries topped up (it's keeping the 160a leisure batteries full without any issue, even with a little use here and there) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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