Iota conversion to blue sea ARC

[RAB]

I'm in the process of switching out my 2008 FWC iotato to a blue sea # 7622 ARC. Does the + wire from the iota go to house terminal of the ARC? Does the truck battery wire relocate to the other terminal of the ARC? There is also a plug end from the iota , that I assume plugs into the receptacle behind the drawers. Does this ARC allow power to house,and charging capabilities, if plugged into shore power?

 

[Vic Harder]

I'm confused. The Iota is a battery charger that runs off of shore power to charge your camper batteries. The 7622 ACR is a relay that protects your battery bank(s) from draining each other by disconnecting them if either the camper or truck batteries get too discharged. Most of us have BOTH devices or equivalents.

 

[esimmers]

As Vic says, it's not clear what RAB is hoping to accomplish by "switching out" the Iota (a shore-powered battery charger and power converter) to a Blue Sea 7622 automatic charging relay (ACR). They serve two entirely different purposes. The Iota inputs 120 volt AC from shore power and exports 12 volts DC to charge the camper's house battery and power the camper's 12 systems (lights, water pump, refrigerator control panel, etc.). The ACR simply sits in the connection between the truck's battery and the camper battery to prevent one of those batteries from discharging the other.

In any event, the ACR wiring diagram <http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/wiring_diagram/ML-ACRs.jpg> shows that the wire from the truck's starting battery connected through a fuse to Terminal B on the ACR; Terminal A on the ACR is connected through another fuse to the + pole of the battery.

Does that help?

 

[Ruck_and_Roll]

@RAB, did you mean the Surepower 1314/1315?

 

[RAB]

Ok. In keeping the iota, does the original wiring stay the same? Then hooking up the ARC , One side to truck battery, other side to camper battery, both positives?
Thanks for all the help guys.
Rich

 

[Vic Harder]

You have the 7622 - Info here - https://www.bluesea.com/products/7622/ML-ACR_Automatic_Charging_Relay_with_Manual_Control_-_12V_DC_500A

Did you get the remote switch? If not, the wiring is much simpler than this diagram shows - http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/wiring_diagram/ML-ACRs.jpg

Instructions here - http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/instructions/990180180-005.pdf


But, in answer to your question, yes. PLUS the small black wire goes to ground.

 

[RAB]

I did get the remote toggle switch. I haven't started the wiring, waiting for more parts and nicer weather. I'm not sure of the wiring for the remote switch. I may contact you later on that. Thanks for the help Vic.
Rich

 

[Vic Harder]

I did get the remote toggle switch. I haven't started the wiring, waiting for more parts and nicer weather. I'm not sure of the wiring for the remote switch. I may contact you later on that. Thanks for the help Vic.
Rich

Rich, that remote switch baffled me for a while too. I haven't added that part to my current build yet, but if travel plans are on hold because of covid, i could be tackling that again soon. Timely question.

Maybe we could get the mods to change the title of this thread to be more about "Replacing SurePower with BlueSea" or something like that?

 

[Ruck_and_Roll]

The above discussion actually brings up another question I had between the differences in the Surepower 1314/1315 (I'm assuming to Stock 2008 FWC) wiring.

My Surepower was wired like this
-"Aux Battery" had a 10 AWG wire going to the IOTA and another going to the house(camper) battery
-"Main Battery" had a 10 AWG going to the plug, then to the truck battery/alternator

I've looked at the wiring diagrams and a lot of posts refer "to just kept wiring the same."

So mine is currently wired with Terminal A (to house distribution and to house battery-two separate wires) and Terminal B (truck). Anyone see a problem with this?

 

[Vic Harder]

The above discussion actually brings up another question I had between the differences in the Surepower 1314/1315 (I'm assuming to Stock 2008 FWC) wiring.

My Surepower was wired like this
-"Aux Battery" had a 10 AWG wire going to the IOTA and another going to the house(camper) battery
-"Main Battery" had a 10 AWG going to the plug, then to the truck battery/alternator

I've looked at the wiring diagrams and a lot of posts refer "to just kept wiring the same."

So mine is currently wired with Terminal A (to house distribution and to house battery-two separate wires) and Terminal B (truck). Anyone see a problem with this?

If I visualize this correctly:

1) the former "main battery" connector from the surepower is now "terminal b"... and heads off towards the truck and its alternator/batteries
2) the former "Aux battery" connector from the surepower is now "terminal a" ... and is connected to the +ve output of the IOTA charger and also to the +ve terminal on your camper battery.

Right?

Sounds fine to me. Odd to use the ACR/Surepower isolator as a terminal block that way. Not the way I would physically do it, but fine logically and in practice.

 

[Ruck_and_Roll]

Thanks Vic. That is exactly it.

 

[RAB]

Thanks guys for the info. I've got all the parts now. I've removed some cabinetry to get to the 1314 surepower. Yes Ruck and Roll, it is the surepower I'm replacing and not the Iota.There are two terminals on the surepower for each of the two battery's, truck and camper. I'm removing the truck battery wire entirely .The camper battery wire (positive) is connected to the other terminal along with a wire to power the 12 volt fuss block. I'll remove the surepower . I'll splice the two wires together, that we're connected at the terminal. The camper battery wire (positive) will now go to a positive buss bar. The camper battery positive terminal will go to one side of the Blue Sea ACR, 6 gage wire.I'll also connect to this terminal a 6 gage going to a positive buss bar. I'll use the buss bar to now power the 12 volt fuse panel,using that wire I spliced together from the surepower. The other side of the ACR will connect to a 60 amp breaker ,then to truck battery,6 gage wire. Both battery negatives , connect to a negative bussbar, 6 gage wire.From here I can connect solar controller,inverter, and battery monitor using the buss bars. Do you see anything wrong or maybe improved with this wiring?
Thanks everyone
Rich

 

[Vic Harder]

We want pictures!

 

[RAB]

The diagram is a picture of the system. It is mounted on three-quarter inch by 13” x 13” ply. It will screw to the back side of the bench seat, right next to the batteries , sorry for the small pictures, it wouldn’t load otherwise

 

[RAB]

Here’s an updated drawing

 

[pvstoy]

[SIZE=18pt]Quick look, [/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]I would be taking the positive and negative wire from the truck battery straight to the camper battery (after the positive goes through the Blue Sea ACR. It would be good that the ACR sees at the battery voltage. You have a 60 amp breaker at each battery. Good with 6-gauge wire.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]The inverter positive that you have at the buss bar, remove it from the ACR and go straight to camper battery with about a 40-amp breaker.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]I would have the output on the MPPT go straight to the camper battery. You can add about a 40-amp fuse on the positive wire at the camper battery.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]That is a quick look.[/SIZE]

 

[RAB]

Thanks Patrick. Check out the new modified version.
Thanks Rich

 

[RAB]

I’ll try the picture again

 

[RAB]

Sorry I will work on the picture

 

[RAB]

I’m trying to get this picture to upload in the proper direction