bad battery separator?

DO

DonC

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I generally see no charging from my truck alternator. 4 - 5 hours of driving adds nothing to my batteries - I have a Trimetric. So even now that my solar is finally working after going through 6 Renogy flexibles, my batteries get low on cloudy days. I have also noticed a number of times that the wood cover to my battery compartment is hot - and the top of the battery separator is very hot.

I did a test today. I let my truck warm-up to get the battery separator to open, and it did in about ten minutes and I saw 9 amps of charging at 13.0 v. So it works, but it must be intermittent given that I generally get zero charging on a trip. Maybe it shuts off when it gets hot and is then essentially closed for the bulk of my driving time?

I then connected my truck battery directly to the camper batteries with 4 gauge jumpers and saw 15 amps at 13.3 V.

So... could I have a bad battery separator that is working intermittently - shuts off when it gets hot? Does the difference I see between when it did work (9amps, 13.0v) and a direct connection (15 amps, 13.3 v) make sense? Or is something else going on? Sure would be great to have those 15 amps.

I currently have the SurePower 1314A. Is there an upgrade to this if I replace?
 
DonC said:
I generally see no charging from my truck alternator. 4 - 5 hours of driving adds nothing to my batteries - I have a Trimetric. So even now that my solar is finally working after going through 6 Renogy flexibles, my batteries get low on cloudy days. I have also noticed a number of times that the wood cover to my battery compartment is hot - and the top of the battery separator is very hot.

I did a test today. I let my truck warm-up to get the battery separator to open, and it did in about ten minutes and I saw 9 amps of charging at 13.0 v. So it works, but it must be intermittent given that I generally get zero charging on a trip. Maybe it shuts off when it gets hot and is then essentially closed for the bulk of my driving time?

I then connected my truck battery directly to the camper batteries with 4 gauge jumpers and saw 15 amps at 13.3 V.

So... could I have a bad battery separator that is working intermittently - shuts off when it gets hot? Does the difference I see between when it did work (9amps, 13.0v) and a direct connection (15 amps, 13.3 v) make sense? Or is something else going on? Sure would be great to have those 15 amps.

I currently have the SurePower 1314A. Is there an upgrade to this if I replace?
Click to expand...
Don,back in June of 2011 there was a recall from Surepower for that model.
How old is yours? Member Uglyscout did the info on the recall.Not sure where the post is I think it was under " FWC campers.
You need to get that taken care of.If you can't find the post try PMing Uglyscout or search the Surepower company.
They will replace or refund.
I went with the refund and have a battery isolator from ATC and it works great.
Frank
 
Frank, I remember that post and the 1314A was not part of the recall. I just checked their website again and its the 1314 (-B, BP-D). Does not mean that my 1314A has not gone bad, maybe for other reasons.

Is there an upgrade to the 1314A? I'll check with SurePower directly, but this site always offers practical in the field experience.
 
When looking at the percent charge on my Trimetric I get little from my truck when driving either, especially on cloudy days. It was suggested to me that maybe since the solar charges at a higher voltage than the truck that the separator is shutting off at a lower voltage than what the Trimetric thinks is a full charge. Basically that the separator and solar don't play well together. The dealer that I got my FWC from (Adventure Trailers) is taking a look at a marine isolator to see if it performs better with solar.

FWIW
 
First off, the difference is 82.5 watts. No wonder something is getting warm. Won't happen fast, but that is enough to make it happen.

They are not inexpensive (and as such I have no experience with one yet), but I've been looking at one of these for my next charging system iteration:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LBCVL4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1WJFO5EAJMISV&coliid=I1LW6VAW7Y7TI1

Essentially it is a charge controller and isolator combined into one unit. It takes which ever is the better source, alternator or solar and uses it to charge the camper battery using a 5 stage algorithm.
 
http://roadslesstraveled.us/charging-rv-marine-batteries-solar-power-shore-power/

This is a bit long but worth the entire read. This explains a lot. May not be your issue but I can see possible issues for anyone in these circumstances :) I asked one solar dealer about this and the answer I got was it doesn't matter the charge controllers will sort it out. Seems that is not necessarily true as I had suspected :)
 
happy - what a great source of info, if I understood it :)

until I figure out what's going on with my truck alternator charging through the camper system, is there any harm in doing the direct truck battery to camper battery connection in an emergency if I get caught in some cloudy weather and need to idle my truck and do some charging?
 
Don,
I would remove the solar input and see if the batteries charged 1st.
If you bypass the separator make sure you are fused to the house batteries. (You should be anyway but just checking :)
If there is an issue you don't want to take out your electrical system.
What gauge wiring is used between the house batts and the alternator?
I am a firm believer in heavy duty wire as lesser wire can cause voltage loss and heat build up all which are not good for charging systems.
I notice you have heat issue problems which could also be caused by a bad connection. Crimps can be intermittent if they are being used. Check all of the connections for wiggle. Wiggle is bad in this case....lol
I am not an expert in car stuff though, just a technician so if someone sees that I am off base then speak up :)
Good luck figuring it out. Curious about the solution :)
 
DonC said:
happy - what a great source of info, if I understood it :)

until I figure out what's going on with my truck alternator charging through the camper system, is there any harm in doing the direct truck battery to camper battery connection in an emergency if I get caught in some cloudy weather and need to idle my truck and do some charging?
Click to expand...
Actually some of our members do just that.
The SurePower used by FWC can be bypassed by just connecting a wire between the separator, which some members have done before.
The real danger is running down power when the truck is off so that you can't drive home.
That is the real purpose of the separator.
 
They didn't always use a separator. None in my rig. I'm willing to bet theres no issue with your solar controller.
 
They didn't always use a separator. None in my rig. I'm willing to bet theres no issue with your solar controller.
 
They didn't always use a separator. None in my rig. I'm willing to bet theres no issue with your solar controller.
 
They didn't always use a separator. None in my rig. I'm willing to bet theres no issue with your solar controller. Keep in mind the alternator they're describing in roadlesstraveld is a multi stage charger which few of us will have in our vehicles.
 
We have a breaker on both ends of the truck to camper wiring since there is a battery at both ends. The breaker in the camper also serves as the Main for the camper. Breakers are 80 amp and the wiring is 6 ga. for both power and ground.

It would be a pretty sophisticated unit that could detect actual battery voltage while it is being charged by some other system. So, one unit could fooled into thinking the battery is near or fully charged when in fact it is seeing the charging voltage of another system.
 
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