Deesider Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 I seem to have a problem with our Sergeant700 ECU in a 2018 AT Tracker EKS. During the winter months we keep it on permanent electric hookup. On the power settings screen - with the Active Battery Select button set to "Smart" it is failing to keep the Vehicle battery fully charged. The only way we can keep the Vehicle battery charged is to set the Smart button off and manually set the vehicle button on. Whilst connected to hookup the battery voltage levels on the Power Levels screen show both batteries at 13+v. On switching off the hookup the vehicle battery shows 0v then after a few seconds shows 13+v but does not maintain this over a period of a few days. My understanding of the Smart option is that the panel would keep both batteries charged, switching to whichever one requires charging. Any comments/help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 What voltage is shown on the engine battery after it has been off charge for a couple of days. The 13.5 shown when on hook up will drop after a couple of hours off charge. It is known as free surface voltage. 12.6 -12.7 is a fully charged voltage I would expect to see off charge and no load. Your engine battery will drop slightly as it powers alarm/ immobiliser and may be unable to start after 2/3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 It sounds as though the connection from your vehicle battery to the Sargent unit is faulty. Do you have a voltmeter to directly measure the voltage of the vehicle battery? You can measure it at the cigar lighter socket if it is permanently live and you use extreme caution to prevent shorting the meter probes. Alternatively you will have to take a trip to your dealer and ask them to look at it under warranty. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I don't know if the new EC700 works the same but I have a vague recollection of the Smart feature on the EC500 not being very intelligent. From memory it only charges up the Starter battery once it has dropped below 12.3v, which is fine for a battery from 10 years ago, but if you have a modern battery it can cause deterioration. As stated above 12.8v to 13.0v is more normal for a quality battery these days. If the battery voltage drops only to about 12.4v and then charges up, then the Ec700 is probably working as per other Smart systems, but if it drops below 12.2v it probably needs to go back to the Dealer? I have attached a chart showing the difference between modern quality battery voltages and old fashioned conventionals. The best modern batteries will have similar voltages to the VRLA/Sealed column, you can that at see a 12.3v a modern battery is heavily discharged. The Ec700 has dedicated power points to supply an Alarm/Tracker so ensuring the Dealer uses this to power an Alarm, etc from the habitation battery will preserve the Starter battery life by quite a margin as well as enduring the Alarm doesn't disable the vehicle when it runs the Starter battery flat.. This power power is permanently live so the Alarm will still function when the EC700 is 'off'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.