Automatic Charge Relay - How to Improve your battery isolator

[lonepinetech]

I had noticed the following on my 2013 Fleet and retested it again today to confirm...

While my truck is running my stock Sure Power 1314A engages bridging the truck and camper batteries together. If I enable my solar system On and turn Off the truck, the 1314A remains engaged and the solar system then shares the charging of the truck and camper batteries. Not excited about that...

If the solar system is then turned Off or a significant load (ie furnace or fridge) is turned On, then the common batteries voltage drops and the 1314A finally disengages.

It appears that the 1314A does not sense the truck-side only contacts to determine when to disengage.

Have others experienced the same 1314A behavior?

Is there a smarter separator/isolator on the market?

The 1314a does only sense on the truck side, when it is opened. Once the 1314a is closed by the charge from the alternator the banks are connected and there are no more sides. The 1314a waits for the system voltage to drop below 12.8 and opens, separating the banks, keeping the main battery at 12.8, no matter how low the house battery gets. So yes I have observed this behavior and I think it is good?.

 

[Stalking Light]

When I had the 1314a in my FWC it would engage and then immediately disengage when the house battery voltage was low and I had to charge the house batteries with either solar or shore power to get the voltage back up before I could get any charge from the alternator. I replaced it with an ACR and it will charge the house battery at a lower voltage, plus it allows my solar to charge the truck battery when the house battery is charged. I'm happy with the swap. FWIW

 

[DaveL]

I just did the same as Stalking Light (thanks to all who shared about switching out the units!) & it finally charges off the alternator correctly. Love the bonus of charging the truck battery with my solar.

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[Vic Harder]

Bigger wire than the stock 10g helps too. I'm looking forward to what my 2g will be capable of!

 

[ntsqd]

No idea how the SurePower works, but there are some misstatements about the Blue Seas VSR (which they acquired by buying BEP Marine). I wonder if the Blue Seas ACR is being confused with the BEP sourced VSR? They do work slightly differently.

There are two generations of VSR, the first is a single-sense version in that it only senses voltage on one side. How you wire it determines which battery it is looking at for a charging source. I don't recall our BEP Marine single-sense VSR having any option for an external 'forcing' switch. The next generation, and they overlapped for 1/2 a year or more, is a dual sense unit. These look at both battery banks and will close once either has achieved a full SoC to allow charging of the other bank. We have managed to run our FLA's dry a couple of times and the VSR has never failed to bring them back up, so I'm not sure about the low voltage = no close statement. Again, I suspect that is a function of the ACR and not of the VSR.

2 ga. is big enough to self jump-start, but do the rest of the components that would be in such a circuit have enough ampacity?

 

[Vic Harder]

2 ga. is big enough to self jump-start, but do the rest of the components that would be in such a circuit have enough ampacity?

I doubt I will want to do self-jump starts often (but that ONE time will be great!). I bet the 100A breakers on either end of the 2g will trip before the truck would start if the starter battery was truly dead. Other than those and the ACR, there is nothing else to stop it from working.

 

[ntsqd]

Set it up so that a set of jumper cables can jumper across those low ampacity components only?

 

[Advmoto18]

For those that upgraded the wiring from the truck battery to the ML-ACR (Blue Seas 7622) to a heavier gauge, did you run one continuous length of wire from the truck battery to the ML-ACR bypassing the camper to truck electrical plug? Assuming the ML-ACR is mounted inside the camper where (or near) the 1314a was located.

Thanks!

 

[Vic Harder]

I have a 100A breaker 7" from the truck battery, and another about 12" from the camper battery. Linked via separately run 2g welding wires (one for power and one for ground). Only the power wire is fused. At the truck bed I have an Anderson Power Pole connector.

 

[craig333]

No ACR but I left the original wiring in place.

 

[DrJ]

I just actually doubled my wiring from the truck battery to the camper. I think that might help some but Craig probably had the best idea of wiring it directly to the alternator. I'm sure that would make a bigger difference.

I'll test out later this month if this change made any difference for me.


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[Advmoto18]

I have a 100A breaker 7" from the truck battery, and another about 12" from the camper battery. Linked via separately run 2g welding wires (one for power and one for ground). Only the power wire is fused. At the truck bed I have an Anderson Power Pole connector.

Thanks Vic.

To ensure I'm tracking...you are only using the Anderson and eliminated the FWC electrical harness/plug? I assume you used the existing hole for the factory electrical harness/plug?

Thanks!

 

[Vic Harder]

Thanks Vic.

To ensure I'm tracking...you are only using the Anderson and eliminated the FWC electrical harness/plug? I assume you used the existing hole for the factory electrical harness/plug?

Thanks!

Yes, I eliminated the factory plug/harness. No, i didn't use the existing hole. Mine was on the passenger side. Made new ones on the driver's side, 1/2" each to accommodate the two fat wires.

 

[Advmoto18]

Yes, I eliminated the factory plug/harness. No, i didn't use the existing hole. Mine was on the passenger side. Made new ones on the driver's side, 1/2" each to accommodate the two fat wires.

Thanks!

Info helps a lot!

Not sure I need to go this route since my Super Duty has 2 batteries under the hood. But, good to know none the less!

Thanks again!

 

[ntsqd]

I ran 6 ga. to the LH starting battery. 80A breaker at both ends, Anderson connector bolted to the bed. BEP Marine VSR in the camper next to the batteries. Currently both wires come thru an existing hole, but the plan is to change that to a large J box with an RTV formed seal where the cables come out the next time the camper comes off the truck.

 

[Advmoto18]

I ran 6 ga. to the LH starting battery. 80A breaker at both ends, Anderson connector bolted to the bed. BEP Marine VSR in the camper next to the batteries. Currently both wires come thru an existing hole, but the plan is to change that to a large J box with an RTV formed seal where the cables come out the next time the camper comes off the truck.

I like the idea of the J-box. But not sure where to install it on the exterior of the camper other than on the front wall. I don't have enough clearance between the sides of the camper and rear quarter panels (where the tailgate latches).

 

[ntsqd]

Our wires come thru the lower side panel ~8" back from the front panel near the top. The shape of our fender-wells is such that I think I can point the J-box straight down at the original hole and still clear the bed on camper R&R.

 

[Advmoto18]

Our wires come thru the lower side panel ~8" back from the front panel near the top. The shape of our fender-wells is such that I think I can point the J-box straight down at the original hole and still clear the bed on camper R&R.

I have ~ 1.25" clearance on each side the the quarter panel tailgate rotary latches. It would be a very, very tight fit (if even possible) slipping the camper with a J-box attached to the side of the camper in/out of the bed.

I still like the idea...just need to brain storm it more for my setup.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Quick thanks to DrJ for this thread, it definitely saved me some heartache and confusion on our AK in Sept. On at least one occasion the Sure Power refused to connect the house battery to the truck which would have meant dead house battery/ruined food in the fridge after a day of driving. Because I was checking the house voltage after starting the truck, and had wired a manual switch to bypass the isolater, it was a simple flip of the switch to get the house battery back up to where the Sure Power took over. I'm also convinced that doubling up the 10ga powers/grounds shortly before we left greatly helped our charging situation.

Because the truck only gets used for trips and may not come out of the garage until March, I'm using the manual bypass switch to let the Iota charger (and IQ4) keep the truck batteries charged. Other than the 3 batteries seeking slightly different voltages, anybody see a problem with that?

.

 

[DrJ]

You are welcome Dynobob. Nothing worse than running out of power with a compressor fridge.
This has been one of the more helpful mods in my camper. I was very happy to see FWC make this change too.



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