Battery Separator and Possible Stray Current Draw

[Bwht4x4]

I put the Hawk on this weekend and went fishing with a friend. When I got home I jumped into the camper to clean things up and I noticed that the Trimetric unit was showing a draw of -0.6 amps. I thought everything was turned off, so I double checked and found that everything was turned off. There was nothing on, other than the propane/CO detector (draws -0.1 amp), so I became a bit concerned and puzzled.

The camper was still plugged into the truck so I thought that could be where the draw was coming from. Since I couldn't be sure I also opened the battery compartment and jiggled the wires in there to see if the Trimetric would show the draw flicker up or down. Sure enough it did, both up and down (between (-0.04 to -0.8 amps). I still wasn't sure if there is a wire or something else. The other thing was that the battery separator was warm, not hot, and I though that maybe with it warm it drew a small amount of electricity, but I hadn't seen that before.

In the morning my battery discharged to 92% just from this small current draw, but the Trimetric was now back at -0.1 amp, which is normal with the propand/CO detector. So I had to run an errand and when I got home the Trimetric was again showing a draw of -0.6 amp and when I opened the battery compartment I once again could get the Trimetric to show the amps fluctuate by simply wiggling wires around the battery separator. While doing this I heard a faint click (can't be sure) and I looked at the Trimetric unit and it was back down to -0.1 amp!

I'm not sure what I did or heard, but something seems amiss. Is it an issue with the battery separator, wires or a connection (crimp)?

Anyone have thoughts?

 

[Bwht4x4]

I just went out there and wiggled the wires all around the battery separator and could not get a fluctuation in current draw on the Trimetric. I'm guessing this has to do with separator being warm, but I'm not sure. I've got a call into SurePower to see what they say.

 

[ski3pin]

What model SurePower separator do you have?

 

[Bwht4x4]

Model 1314A. From what I can tell the recall does not affect mine.

 

[ski3pin]

Model 1314A. <snip>

Yours is unidirectional, meaning the charge is only allowed to flow from the truck to the camper battery when it switches.I was curious if you may have had the bidirectional unit with that possibly causing an intermittent draw. I'm curious the info SurePower provides. Good luck.

 

[Bwht4x4]

I called SurePower and spoke with them. They were very helpful.

From that call I need to check a few things to see what is going on and I'll report back once I know.

 

[camper101]

Yes please let us know what you find out. I've got the same separator and seem to be losing power somehow. May not be the same cause but I don't even know where to start... Thank you.

 

[Bwht4x4]

No worries. I'll post the results up. Without the Trimetric unit I would have been blind to this situation. Who knows this could be nothing in the end, but it'll be nice to know for sure.

 

[dsrtrat]

There is a lot of confusion about how this relay works. This info is for the 1314 Sure Power.
These relays are designed to operate within a voltage range of 13.2 to 13.5 volts on the main battery. They close when the main battery reaches this voltage to allow current to flow to the auxiliary battery.

They open when the main battery drops below 12.4 12.9 volts to keep the main battery from being discharged.

If your main battery is fully charged when the truck is not running the relay will still be closed until such time the main battery reaches the lower limit.

This may be what you are experiencing and would result in a current draw as the relay draws from both batteries until the lower limit is reached. It is only designed to protect the main battery from being discharged by the auxiliary battery.

There is a small ground wire attached to a spade terminal on the relay. Try disconnecting this wire and see if you hear a click. This will disconnect the relay from the circuit. Check the amp draw and see if it drops to the lower limit you had of .01 amp.

It could be that when you wiggled the wires this is what happened. Check for tight connections on the relay terminals.

Sounds like the relay is operating as designed.

Hope this helps.

Dsrtrat

 

[Bwht4x4]

Thanks dsrtrat for the info, but I have a couple of comments.

I'm a little confused because Ski3pin said the separator is uni-directional, but your info makes it sound like it's bi-directional.

Also, the amp draw I was seeing also occurred when I disconnected the camper from the truck.

Once I get my refrig installed I'm going to put the camper back on the truck and see if I can figure this out.

 

[dsrtrat]

The 1314 is unidirectional in that it will activate only when the main battery exceeds 13.2 to 13.5 volts.

The 1315 is bi directional and will activate only when either the main or auxiliary battery exceeds 13.2 to 13.5.

The 1315 would allow you to charge the main battery from a camper source like solar or shore power something the 1314 prevents as it isolates the camper battery if the main is below the voltage limit.

It may be that the 1314 is sensing the camper battery and remaining closed until the battery drops below the 13.2 to 13.5 limit. It has no way to know what battery it is protecting as it is connected to both in normal operation.

It should open at 12.9 to 12.4 volts according to the Sure Power instructions. Check your auxiliary battery voltage and if it's below this it should be open, if not the relay may be bad.

Try disconnecting the relay using the ground wire and see if it opens.

Dsrtrat