Poorly fitted split charging systems

[Faultylecy]

Hi As an electrician I have been asked to look at a few camper/motor homes recently that have had burning smells coming from around their leisure batteries. I was quite shocked to see how poorly the cable terminations had been fitted which was causing them to overheat and melt the insulation around the cables.

Maybe something that you could put on your check list befor your next trip.

All the connections should be clean, secure and crimped properly.

[aandncaravan]

Even better would be to not wire any electrics direct to the battery, but do as the Motorhome and Electronics manufacturers recommend by wiring devices only from the Power Distribution/Charger unit.

 

It's purpose is to safely control all power.

 

Almost all modern Motorhome electronics are now designed on this premise, like the Sargent EC328/EC325 which 'supercharges' the Habitation battery with up to 18v to charge it more quickly, when appropriate.

 

Hence the Sargent documentation stating nothing should ever be directly connected to the battery on it's Top range power units, for obvious reasons.

 

Units like the Schaudt DT220 are specifically designed to calculate the remaining power in the battery by monitoring all discharge/Charge in and out of the Batteries. If even a USB phone charger connected directly to the battery is taking power the DT 220 doesn't 'see', the display will be useless, even fault.

 

 

The sophistication of the Charger/Power distribution unit is set to develop, time for the 'After Market' World to move with it and specify on the installation instructions exactly how you wire Solar Power to an Sargent EC500, Schaudt Elektroblock, etc.

Or at the very least, show they understand their market and say, "don't connect direct to the battery".