Electrical Questions

[Tress]

So... turns out my girlfriend and I are going to be living in my van for the summer in her dads yard:h We're renting out the house. Needless to say I'm doing everything in my power to avoid using his house:R Beyond an extension cord anyway..... I built the van a few years back and it was designed to live pretty far off the grid for a trip i took up to AK and down into central America. Im about to be getting her ready for the summer and Ive got a few questions.

My lifecycle 6v 300ah batteries are charged by a small solar bank and a 40amp charger that comes off the alternator. This might be a dumb question but ive never dealt with using a converter. Is it possible to plug a 40 amp PD converter charger up to a standard 110v household outlet? I mean i know there are 50 amp and 30 amp hookups and cords but im pretty sure they are for 220v right? Either way im planning to just run an extension cord to the charger and then of course the charger to the batts but figured i should probably make sure its doable before i go ahead and get a charger.

Second question..... for now;) When i built the van i wanted to run the stereo off the aux batteries for obvious reasons, dont want to kill the starter batt. while i jam out to awesome music, but i dont think my electrical system has enough power to run the 4 6x9 speakers because the stereo shuts down when i turn it up too high. Is it possible to hook up a switch so i could choose to use the aux batts when im parked and the starting batt when the van is running? Or maybe the 4 6x9 speakers are just too much for the stereo to power and thats why its shutting down... in which case can deep cycle batteries this size power a stereo amp?

Thanks mucho for the help, enjoy the ride neighbors

[pianotuna]

Hi Tress,

PD with or without Wizard?

With AGM it is best to contact the maker and ask for specific charging instructions.

How much did you pay? (nosy Parker am I)

Tress wrote:
Is it ok to charge agm batteries with this pd chsrger?

[Tress]

Is it ok to charge agm batteries with this pd chsrger?

[Tress]

Well ive eaten the bullet, went ahead and ordered 2 new lifeline 300ah 6v's, found a great price on ebay and couldnt pass it up. I figure one way or the other im going to need to get some new batts. Still need to get clear on the entire system but im confident i can at least get the converter charger doing its job and at least for now everything will function for the time being. Ill spend some time this summer getting the charger controller and rest of stuff figured out. Still need advice on my setup so if anyone here can help i really appreciate any suggestions. Either way thanks a lot everyone!!

[LittleBill]

you need to measure the voltage per battery then total

but if the batterys are at 1 and 2v, they are pretty much toast

[Tress]

Ohh and just so im clear on this... do i have the connections style right for 6v batts? THey do want to be in series right? And that does mean pos to neg and pos to neg and use one pole from each battery to connect the load?? Is grounding multiple things to one pole an issue? How about multiple terminals on the pos of the batt? I swear i have it all wired up really cleanly but idk perhaps im missing something, i mean besides the possbility that my batts could be dead. Does anyone know anything about these pro mariner charge controllers?

[Tress]

Hmmmm.... Tempting! DO they work like they say they do???? And are there any recomended models..... Im not seing any for 6v batts either??? Thanks either way though that sounds like it could be worth a shot!

[Tress]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Tress,

You might try one of the "pulse" desulfator chargers.

Yes i might:) WHat exactly are they??? I spose ill go google it

[pianotuna]

Hi Tress,

You might try one of the "pulse" desulfator chargers.

[Tress]

i couldn't say for sure but if i had to try i would say around a volt or two, possibly even less, but not sure about the amps part. AM still a little foggy on how to measure that. Besides my Battery monitor. But it sounds like i must have killed them because i would have to say they probably did sit deeply discharged for a long time, even though they didnt have a charge on them.....

So assuming they are dead any suggestions? I suppose i might just bite the bullet and get the same ones again..... they are sweet batts as long as i take care of them. But are there any comparable options that might be a little cheaper?

[wolfe10]

Tress,

The operative thing here is "batteries sat idle for 3 years".

If they were allowed to deeply discharge and stayed for along period in a deeply discharged state, the is the death of virtually all batteries.

Important: What was the battery voltage when you got them out of storage? That will give you a good indication of their ability to "resurrect"

[Tress]

Ohhh and assuming i have destroyed my batteries does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement?? Cant beloeve i may have to replace those batts!!

[Tress]

Ohhhh K, So let me start by saying i feel pretty dumb after receiving the converter/charger, its got a normal household plug that comes already attached! Doesnt get much easier than that!
However! And again im no electrical technician but i spent half the day trying to get my system back in working order and by the end of the day i was no farther forward then when i began.
So i guess i should take it from the top, i have like i said (2) 300ah lifeline deep cycles, which have been sitting for about idk 3 years..... I recently brought the batts to a marina and they said to charge them really slowly and they could be used again. Soooo i bought a small 6v 1.5amp batt charger and put them on for a good week a piece, and im pretty sure i put my volt meter on them and they had come wayyy up. So i went ahead and re-purhcased a http://www.pmariner.com/productFeature.php?ProductNum=0550412v to 12v charge controller which is what i had used to charge the batts originally. I figured i would wait to get the PD charger hooked up after i had everything else in place. The charger controller is fed by a 2awg wire coming from the 12v side of the solenoid, goes through a breaker and into the batt in pole of the charge controller. From there it goes through the charge controller and out through another breaker where it enters the battery. After that isnt much relevant because if it was charging properly i could figure out any problem from there forward, pretty simple its either wiring or fuses or whatever it is your trying to power. Oh and the ground comes off a ground terminal on the charger and is grounded to the frame. Soooo after hooking everything up, triple checking my connections, putting in a new bus bar because my positive terminal was getting jammed up with too many connections, i went ahead and fired the van to see how the hole system would perform. At first everything went well, the charge controller said it was putting out maximum output and the red light was on indicating it was an AGM battery which is the type i want to be charging. However after just a few moments the lights went out and i immediately got my volt meter on the batts to see if they were getting a charge. Of course they were not. If i test the incoming wire to the charge controller its reading idk 12 almost 13 volts but coming out of the charge controller its at like .4 or .5 volts. So i guess my question is do you think its the batts are dead and wont take a charge or do you think there may be something wrong with the charge controller, orrrrr am i doing something wrong. I wish i had the ability to draw up a schematic of exactly how everything is hooked up so anyone who as any interest in helping could see exactly what i have done but i dont know how i could do that. Maybe ill give it a shot if its necessary. Soo like i said the charge from the alternator comes out of the 12v side of the solenoid and into the incoming pole of the charge controller, then out of the charge controller into the batt. The 6volt batts are wired in series, so one neg to one pos and vice versa and the charger is going into the pos on one batt and out of the neg on the other into the neg on the charge controller which goes through the floor and is grounded to the frame of the van. There are a few different grounds on the same pole of the charge controller, and there are a few hot wires on the same pole of the battery, if that makes a diff.

So not sure what else might be helpful... oh! ive disconnected everything from the batts and put the volt meter on each battery separately and i get about 2 to 3v on one and under 1v on the other. Aaaand ive just hooked up my little batt 1.5amp 6v charger (to the one that waw reading real low volts) and it says its charging at around 4.7 volts. Oh and i realized i had something wrong..... well at least one thing, i had my power coming off of one of the 6 volt batts and the ground coming out of the same batt. Soooo i just switched them and hooked the small charger up to one pole of each batt and it woulds charge them at all.

Sooo i apoligize for the lengthy post, im just trying to give you as much info to you all as possible. Thats about all i can get out at the moment, if i think of anything more ill let you all know. Thanks so much for any thoughts in advance!!

[LittleBill]

this is a mute issue, if your buying a converter/charger to keep the battery's charged, then the stereo will play just fine since the converter will keep up with the stereo usage,

if your twin 6v(12v) batteries are in good condition. then you have a problem with the stereo, either not getting enough voltage due to wiring issues, or if cranking it too high and loud, the amp inside the deck can potentially be overheating and shutting off to protect itself

i ran 8 speakers and 2 subs, around 1000w rms, off a single red top 12v battery for over an hour before issues.

hooked up to a 20 battery charger it will play for days

no need to bounce between battery's

[Tress]

wa8yxm wrote:

Tress wrote:
Is it possible to plug a 40 amp PD converter charger up to a standard 110v household outlet?

Short answer YES.
Long answer, that would be an excellent way to do it. With 300 amp hours of battery you could go up to around 90-100 amps, but.. alas, a standard 15 amp household outlet is going be a bit anemic at that level. the 40 amp will take a bit longer to charge.. but won't overtax the outlet... Make sure you get one of the WIZARD controlled units like a 9200 or if you get a 9100, get the optional wizard plug in.

I actually consider your suggestion the best way to do what you want to do in fact. Can't think of a better way.

Second question..... Is it possible to hook up a switch so i could choose to use the aux batts when im parked and the starting batt when the van is running?

Short answer is again YES

Long answer: Many motor homes come this way from the factory.. Only requirement is to make sure the switch has the amps capacity for the radio. IE: if it's a 100 watt radio (50 per channel or 25 if it's a 4 channel) that's 10 amps, Make sure the switch can handle the full amprage of the fuse plus about 10% just to be safe (if 20 amp fuse, 25 amp switch)

Single pole, double throw, radio goes to the center terminal, batteries to the end terminals. (0ne to each end) DO NOT switch the memory lead. (This one will have a smaller fuse, often 5 amps or less, as opposed to the larger 10-whatever amp main fuse)

Again you have as they say "Done well" in thinking this out and have a very good plan. Go for it.

So i dont know where all this info was but thanks!!! I cant tell you how much i appreciate the postive and constructive comments! THat all makes perfect sense and ill definitely have a look at the stereo to see what it requires and what it can provide. But again thanks for the encouragement its really good to know im not totally lost here!