david lloyd Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Our latest motorhome is a 2014 Hobby Premium Drive on a Fiat 2.3 150 Maxi chassis. The fairly comprehensive control panel can show the battery state for engine/auxiliary/charging etc but, I fear, has been left calibrated for the original batteries supplied new. When I go to the page on the control panel that allows me to change the battery profile it currently (sorry!) shows: M: 095ah Standard A: 092ah AGM B: C: It's not clear in the handbook what this means but I read it as the main engine battery (M) is programmed in as a 95ah standard wet acid battery. The auxiliary battery (A) is programmed in as a 92ah AGM battery. I am not sure what B and C are for. The owner from new replaced the batteries in January this year but I have since replaced the auxiliary battery with two Varta LFD90 batteries. The (new in January) engine battery is an Exide Premium 100 (EA1000) which I believe is also a sealed lead acid battery. The panel allows me to change the programmed in battery type and capacities and there is a built in sensor which then continues to monitor and display the battery state while camping. Obviously, with the present settings shown above this display will be wrong, again the handbook is not very clear but I think I need to go to the settings page on the control panel and change it to something like: M: 100ah standard A: 180ah standard B: C: Or, if B and C are second and third leisure batteries, should it be: M: 100ah standard A: 090ah standard B: 090ah standard C: Finally, as I believe all the batteries are sealed lead acid, is the charging regime set at standard correct? Help - Allan (and caravans), Brambles - anyone......... David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 If the two LFD90 are wired as usual in parallel then it will be as you think, 180Ah under A. I presume the B&C are for 2 more battery banks although that's probably very uncommon. Maybe on boats (just guessing)? Do you have any info on charging profile presets for different battery types? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 spirou - 2018-10-28 5:34 PM Do you have any info on charging profile presets for different battery types? Hi spirou, thanks for that - but no, I don't even know what that means! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 The question was whether you have any documentation on the differences between those AGM/standard/gel? settings? But from what I can gather the Exide is a flooded battery so standard will probably be fine for both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 The link below is to an October 2015 Hobby motorhome manual https://tinyurl.com/l9bgaln Chapter 7 “Electrical Installations” starts on Page 86 and information about the dreaded TFT-Control-panel begins on Page 88. It’s quite possible that the display of a 2014 Hobby’s control-panel differs from that of a 2015 motorhome, but I agree with spirou that it would make sense to considert the pair of Varta LFD90s to be a single 180Ah standard battery and program the dispay as M: 100ah standard A: 180ah standard B: C: It might also be worth reading this earlier thread https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Newbie-seeking-guidance-reassurance-please-/46721/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Thank you spirou and Derek - have read your links to the other threads. I do have the manual for my Hobby and the TFT panel differs slightly from the one in your links but mainly in its appearance. It is quite a bit larger with the button controls in two rows beneath the display rather than at the side. However, most of the displays and functions appear to be the same. Incidentally, when I put my van on hook up the charger fan comes on and runs for some time. Today was after returning from 3 nights away without hookup and the heating used most if the time so depleting the 12v quite a bit. So it seems best advice is to reprogramme the panel as both of you suggest. Many thanks David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Images of the TFT control-panel do show variations in design https://tinyurl.com/y9hpv2gn As I understand it, Dometic was heavily involved with the system used by Hobby. The 2018 Dometic RV catalogue includes information on their MPC01 Intelligent Battery Management System that can have several habitation-batteries each with its own ‘battery-sensor’. In your case, with the motorhome starting life with just a single habitation battery, presumably it will have just two battery-sensors - one for the starter-battery and the other for the habitation-battery - meaning that you’ll need to program the control-panel so that the 2 x Varta LFD90s are shown as a single 180Ah battery. Not sure what this will do regarding readouts: you’ll just have to suck it and see. The MPC01 diagram in the Dometic catalogue marks the starter-battery as “M”, with the first habitation-battery marked as “A” and the second habitation-battery marked as “B”. But - as I said above - each battery has its own battery-sensor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 Sorry Derek, slightly misleading information regarding the TFT panel. It is about A5 size with the two rows of touch switches above the screen, the control knob to the right of the screen and a third row of buttons below the screen. When the battery monitoring page is showing it gives the following information: The charging voltage (U) The charging current (I) The remains time until discharge depending on the capacity and the actual flow (current) As well as the charging status of the batteries in (%) I have changed the two battery configurations as suggested and now the last parameter (charging status in %) is not showing on the screen for the auxiliary battery although it is for the main battery. It has been on charge through the EHU since about lunchtime yesterday so I assume it simply means the battery is now charged fully - although I would have expected it to show 100% rather than no symbol at all. In the thread you kindly directed me to there was some discussion about the purpose/position of the four dip switches on the charging unit. With mirror and torch I have been able to confirm the presence of these and that all four are in the 'up' position. I have emailed Hobby to try to get some clarification on what the symbols mean, how setting the battery type should be configured with this arrangement and also some info on the different charging regimens of the charger. The handbook confirms it is a CA-360, 25A charging module. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Not that familiar with the Dometic chargers, but I understood they could support multiple batteries as independent banks, rather like a boat system. On some boats the Bow Thruster batteries are charged completely independently to the Habitation area batteries from the same charger. Getting different charging currents and voltages as required. . They are treated rather like the separate battery banks on the best motorhomes, such as Starter and habitation batteries with differing charge voltages and currents.. I don't know much about the Dometic systems, but I think the second battery should be set up as battery three (B), not as an addition to the aux battery. If I am right the second habitation battery (B) will have it's own intelligent sensor as part of the positive terminal, like the one on battery 1. If battery C has a conventional battery clamp the two batteries are probably linked from a single sensor so 180Ah would be the correct figure. Sorry not an expert on these as it is probably 2 years since we repaired one of these chargers. The charger fan will operate as required to match the workload on the charger, so the more the charger has to work on a very flat battery, the longer (and faster) the fan will run for. You can set the fan to run more slowly but obviously the charger would then run too hot, so drops down to a lower charge rate to compensate. Switching to a slow, quiet fan rate can result in the charge time taking twice as long which can mean it is still charging well into the night which can disturb sleep. Allowing the charger to run 'flat out' usually means it gets the batteries up to full charge well before night time resulting in less 'night time' noise. If the fan runs for a very extended period, that would suggest you are over discharging the batteries. We would advise you don't let the Vartas drop to less than 12.4v. 12.2v in exceptional circumstances. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 david lloyd - 2018-10-29 10:21 AM Sorry Derek, slightly misleading information regarding the TFT panel. It is about A5 size with the two rows of touch switches above the screen, the control knob to the right of the screen and a third row of buttons below the screen... David As I said above, the exact design of the “TFT” contril-panel fitted by Hobby varies. This will be evident from the photos here https://tinyurl.com/ycaczv35 though none of the images appear to exactly match your description (with the control-knob on the right of the screen). The “M” on the battery profile clearly relates to the motorhome’s ‘Motor’ battery (ie. its starter battery) while the “A”, “B” and “C” relate to ancilliary batteries (ie. leisure batteries). The implication of your panel’s A/B/C letters is that the system can handle up to 3 leisure-batteries, but (as one might expect) your 2014 Hobby motorhome was originally fitted with just a single 92Ah AGM leisure-battery. If more than one leisure-battery had been factory-fitted to your motorhome, each additional battery should have its own monitoring sensor, be wired appropriately and the control-panel’s display should indicate the battery’s presence by a readout appearing in the “B” field (one factory-fitted additional battery) or in the “B” and C” fields (two factory-fitted additional batteries). As your Hobby only has “M” and “A” readouts, it’s reasonable to assume that its wiring makes no provision for a 2nd SEPARATE leisure-battery to be added, but I assume you would have noticed if extra cabling and extra battery sensors were present when you fitted the 2 x Varta LFD90s. If you just installed a pair of parallel-connected Varta LFD90s in place of the 92Ah AGM battery, logically the Varta batteries will need to be programmed as if they were a 180Ah ‘standard’ battery. Presumably the battery-sensor that originally monitored the single AGM battery will happily monitor the paired ‘lead-acid’ LFD90s, but the system’s rationale (as Allan says) is clearly to monitor each battery independently. Good luck with obtaining technical information from Hobby - your best bet is probably to contact the Hobby Motorhome Owners Club https://hobbyowners.org.uk/ as it’s quite likely that someone there has added extra leisure-batteries to a vehicle with this complex electrical system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Derek/Allan thank you for the replies. I did have a conversation with the after sales guy at the original supplying dealer (my email to Hobby UK was forwarded on to him) and he confirms your own thoughts that the system can support up to three individual battery banks - but - each would have their own battery sensor. As Derek quite rightly points out, my Hobby would have been supplied with just one sensor to the original battery and the dealer confirms that pairing the two LFD90's with one sensor will show up as battery A - 180ah standard. So I should be good to go now. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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