Hilux Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 My son has just bought a year 2000 Rimor Superbrig 727 on a Merecedes Sprinter chassis and I have a question about the leisure/cab electrics. The leisure electrics are supplied by a leisure battery and are linked to the cab/chassis electrics by a 50amp fuse that is on the underbonnet cab battery. Everything seems to work OK in terms of both batteries being charged on the move or when plugged into the mains. However, it seems that the separation of the leisure bater from the cab battery has to be done manually via the control panel. As an example, when the cab battery was very low recently, the 50 amp linking fuse failed when the engine was cranked. This was caused as a result of the leisure battery supplying current to augment the cab battery. The leisure control panel is very sophisticated allowing all sorts of battery linking combinations. Neverthelss, it has always been my understanding with camper vans that we have had that when the battery voltage drops below about 12.6v the batteries are automatically separated to protect their status. Is the Rimor different in this respect? Thanks H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilux Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Sorry about the spelling - I was in a rush and I do know how to spell Mercedes and the other words. As an afterthought, it had occurred to me that the automatic battery separator might have failed, but nothing shows on the control panel to warn of this fault. All views are welcome. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 The usual arrangement wirh Continental-Europen-built motorhome's is (as you say) to use a 'coupler/separator' to parallel-connect starter and leisure batteries together for charging via the vehicle's alternator, and for this connection/disconnection to be performed completely automatically. On my Hobby the starter and leisure battery each has a 50A fuse in its +-side cable. Each cable leads to an electronics 'black box' that contains a coupler/separator. According to the instruction manual for the system, the coupler/separator parallel-connects the two batteries when the alternator's voltage exceeds 13.3V and disconnects them when the engine's ignition is off or the voltage is below 12V. The Hobby's control-panel is quite simple and does not allow the motorhome user to select alternatve starter/leisure battery combinations. It might be useful to have identification details of the make/model of control-panel fitted to your son's motorhome. On-line comments suggest that Rimor chose a complex panel permitting a good deal of versatility when it came to battery charging. There are instructions here, though these may not apply to your son's vehicle: http://www.arsilicii.com/public/Documents/AS00006_GB.pdf Although it's not unusual for a motorhome control-panel to allow selection of either the starter or the leisure battery to be charged via a 230V mains power-supply, and/or to allow selection of either the starter or the leisure battery to provide power to the habitation area, it would be unusual to provide the ability to manually parallel-connect or separate the starter or leisure battery when it comes to alternator battery-charging. Are you certain that this facility is actually available via the panel? You might also try asking about this on the MHF forum that has a specific Rimor-related section http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forum-55.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 No the leisure battery should not contribute to the starting current. The battery selection on the control panel is most likely to allow you to select which battery you want to use to run the habitation equipment. (Why there is a choice makes no sence but Rimor are not alone with this). Either someone has been playing with the wiring or The split charge relay contacts are welded together or its permanently energised. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hi,,,,Check the connections at the back of your Alt'.(some of the 98/99 models gave trouble here) Disconnect your cab battery first. If OK then replace your relay as Clive suggests as more than likely the contacts are welded. Regards,Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilux Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 Thank yo for your helpful replies. We are going to do a few more tests. We intend to get both batteries charged via a mains hook up. We will then disconnect the hook up and turn on some appliances to run the leisure battery down and at the same time monitor falling voltages. I am hoping we will see separation at about 12.6v. We will continue with this until the leisure batt drops to about 12.2v. The van will then be started to check that the charging circuit re-connects to charge both batts. Hope we get a good result. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Your original diagnosis - that the 50A fuse blew because the starter and leisure batteries were coupled when an attempt was made to start the motor with a heavily discharged starter battery and this may have been due to a malfunctioning coupler/separator - seems logical to me. When I start my Hobby's motor there is a delay of a few seconds before a control-panel light illuminates to indicate that both the starter and leisure batteries are being charged by the vehicle's alternator. There is also an audible click from the underseat 'black box' immediately before the light illuminates that I assume is caused by the coupler/separator 'relay' closing to parallel-connect the leisure battery to the starter battery. I suspect that, if I checked the voltage of the leisure battery at motor start-up, I'd see its voltage rise to +14V when the click occurred and the control-panel light illuminated. If the coupler/separator were malfunctioning, I'd see no voltage rise (and no click/light illumination) if the device was failing to couple the batteries, or no delay before the click/light illumination and voltage rise if the device had the batteries permanently coupled together. Generally speaking, a battery tested at 12.6V would have a charge-state over 75%. I'm not sure what your testing is intended to prove. You certainly want to check that a mains hook-up will permit charging of your leisure battery (and starter battery if the Rimor's system allows this) and you should definitely bring both batteries to a good state of charge. But (assuming the Rimor system has the facility to select which battery gets charged and/or which battery provides power to the habitation area) you ought to be able to check what's happening by monitoring the battery voltages as the various control-panel options are chosen. If there's a fault with a coupler/separator that reveals itself when the motor is started, I don't think you'll identify it by what you are planning to do. If the Rimor has an Arsilicii-based electrical system, then I note that there have been a couple of earlier Out&AboutLive forum threads about this make of equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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