Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --

[Sackmycook]

Full sunny day in North Northumberland meant I managed to get my Jackery 500 up from 58% to 65% today via the Jackery 100 folding solar panel.......

 

[TallPaul_S]

i can see what people are saying on solar panels output this time of year being pitiful at best even on a large setup , powerpack with a 240 charger sounds interesting but how long a affordable powerpack with a 240v charger pluged in would last ?.
will have a read of Dellmassive post on "[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --" and try and educate myself .

For me, before I got my leisure battery setup and Ablemail topping up the starter battery, it'd only take a couple of weeks not driving the van for the starter battery to get below 12v.

You need some method of putting charge back in, and there's only a finite amount of essays to do that. Solar, alternator, mains, or another battery.

80% to 50% (around 12v) is 22.5Ah on a std 75Ah AGM battery. That's 270Wh. If your starter battery is getting to 50% in 2 weeks then a 300Wh power pack (allowing for inverter losses) should keep it fully charged for 2 weeks, if starting out from fully charged.

 

[Mick]

hello Dellmassive . i know this is a old post but is one of the few that seems relevant to my situation , i have a victron shunt fitted and as you say during a long run after first charging starter at 14.4-14.6v drops to 12.2-12.4v . my van is set up as a camper and not used very much this time of the year ,the voltage seem to drop about 0.1v per day when not in use so at what point do you think i should run out with the charger been leaving it till about 11.5v, van parked on road so a bit inconvenient running charger down path once a week do you think a small window mounted solar panel a option , was thinking of removing battery into house but after reading about it think this might bring up more problems than it solves . any comments welcome .

I had the same issues. @Dellmassive sold me small solar panel he had spare in his garage. Search Blue Fusion on eBay. I insert into my lighter socket, lay on the dash and then walk away from it.

It works a treat.

 

[roadtripper]

i can see what people are saying on solar panels output this time of year being pitiful at best even on a large setup , powerpack with a 240 charger sounds interesting but how long a affordable powerpack with a 240v charger pluged in would last ?.

The idea with a portable power pack here is to use it as a virtual extension lead, not as an always on second battery (the idle losses on them are generally too high for that)

So just nip out with the power pack and a maintenance charger plugged into it once a week and let it run for a few hours, then take it back inside and recharge it for next week.

Bonus is you now have a nice little power pack for power cuts over the winter, or you can take it with you camping to do the same top up. Grab yourself some cheap portable solar panels and camping you can get some free electricity - the Renogy 100w basic folding set seem to crop up at around £65 on the major Amazon sale days.

 

[cgtmiles]

I had the same issues. @Dellmassive sold me small solar panel he had spare in his garage. Search Blue Fusion on eBay. I insert into my lighter socket, lay on the dash and then walk away from it.

It works a treat.

I searched blue fusion on eBay and got a male energy supplement. Searching bluefusion solar panels was more productive (depending on what your needs are I guess)!

Did yours come with the cig lighter connector fitted?

 

[lummy]

I searched blue fusion on eBay and got a male energy supplement. Searching bluefusion solar panels was more productive (depending on what your needs are I guess)!

Did yours come with the cig lighter connector fitted?

did the same search 50w panel was the smallest but the parking spot for the van does not get full sun and we are in a bit of a valley so may not get much charge . up to now i have tried -- i have a small 300w inverter and set my charger to slow and have charged starter battery from the leisure battery but dont like leaving the inverter on for a extended length of time but i can run into the house with the leisure battery and charge it up easy .(idea from "Dellmassive"). but going 12v to 240v to 14v does not seam very efficient way of doing things . Was looking at a "AMT12-2 Trickle Charger" and have phoned them up to ask a few questions ,the man says it will do what i want that is keep the starter at 12.1v and only use just what is needed from the leisure battery to do it , the only problem is the £96 . the money could go towards a power pack ? . so seem to have to many choices at the moment , then there is the question should i get a lithium leisure battery . dose it ever end

 

[lummy]

after a bit of thought i have decided to give the "AMT12-2 Trickle Charger" a go , seems to be quite well thought of on this forum and managed to get it for £65.53 from Roadpro with a Out & About Live members' discount code of -5% . so will see how it looks after the starter battery .

 

[ChrisBell]

after a bit of thought i have decided to give the "AMT12-2 Trickle Charger" a go , seems to be quite well thought of on this forum and managed to get it for £65.53 from Roadpro with a Out & About Live members' discount code of -5% . so will see how it looks after the starter battery .

Hi @lummy is your plan just to use the Trickle Charger.... No other solar or mains connections to it etc... if so sounds great and what I am gonna do as well. Ran it past garage which can hopefully sort for me...

 

[Sasquatch]

after a bit of thought i have decided to give the "AMT12-2 Trickle Charger" a go , seems to be quite well thought of on this forum and managed to get it for £65.53 from Roadpro with a Out & About Live members' discount code of -5% . so will see how it looks after the starter battery .

I was recently gifted an unopened AA smart charger and conditioner by my BiL. Fortunately it has some very positive reviews and it seems to be doing to deed well.

It also waterproof, which is handy as I'm not going out in that weather to unplug it!

 

[lummy]

Hi @lummy is your plan just to use the Trickle Charger.... No other solar or mains connections to it etc... if so sounds great and what I am gonna do as well. Ran it past garage which can hopefully sort for me...

hi chris . the idea is to extend the life of the starter battery at the sacrifice of the leisure battery which i can get out of the van and charge in the house , the leisure battery seems to get to about 13.1v after a charge so should/hopefully extend the life of the starter . dont have any solar on van but hope this will keep vane above the dreaded 12v mark for a bit longer periods . i do have a victron shunt fitted and have just set it up to read starter voltage over the blue tooth so i dont have to open van to check voltage of the starter or leisure battery just have to stand next to van . just to add a point when i check the starter this morning got 12.38v on opening a door but not switching the ignition on starter battery dropped to 12.05v and after exiting and leaving it for a few minuets for the clicking and moaning and groaning from under the bonnet to stop it went back to 12.38v , seem like there is something very power hungry going on when you just open a door . best thing i bought was the victron shunt , or was it ? . ( spent loads after this )

 

[Salty Spuds]

…. just to add a point when i check the starter this morning got 12.38v on opening a door but not switching the ignition on starter battery dropped to 12.05v and after exiting and leaving it for a few minuets for the clicking and moaning and groaning from under the bonnet to stop it went back to 12.38v , seem like there is something very power hungry going on when you just open a door .

This is normal. When you open a door/unlock the van, the van wakes up & powers up the electrical system in anticipation of a start. The fuel pump starts, the ECU powers up, the head unit powers up & the interior lights come on, to name a few. This is why folks get a flat battery when camping & not running the van.

 

[lummy]

This is normal. When you open a door/unlock the van, the van wakes up & powers up the electrical system in anticipation of a start. The fuel pump starts, the ECU powers up, the head unit powers up & the interior lights come on, to name a few. This is why folks get a flat battery when camping & not running the van.

All very good if you are a Yodel delivery van getting ready for a flying start but a paine if you are wild camping and counting every milliamp.

 

[Salty Spuds]

All very good if you are a Yodel delivery van getting ready for a flying start but a paine if you are wild camping and counting every milliamp.

Which is why you need a “wild camping” setup. Plenty of solar/lithium/AMT-12. Problem solved. Don’t forget that these are commercial vehicles & were never designed to be campers. If we want them to serve a purpose for which they weren’t designed for, we need to make allowances & adapt them.

 

[lummy]

Which is why you need a “wild camping” setup. Plenty of solar/lithium/AMT-12. Problem solved. Don’t forget that these are commercial vehicles & were never designed to be campers. If we want them to serve a purpose for which they weren’t designed for, we need to make allowances & adapt them.

hi Spuds ,do agree with you but i am a lover of minimalistic approach to camping and seem to be fighting the system VW have used just to keep the lights on , on this forum keep seeing people complaining on running flat the starter after just gong in and out of the van on a parkup . as you say "we need to make allowances & adapt them." but this dose not mean not having a moan now and again.

 

[lummy]

"AMT12-2 Trickle Charger" fitted and running as expected , my setup is no solar , no electric hook , just using the leisure battery to maintain the starter on a sacrificial basis with the AGM leisure battery to keep the starter above 12v . just to let people who might be interested what seems to happen is when the starter goes under 12.1v the Ablemail kicks in till the starter gets above 12.1v and then stays there waiting for another drop so with a full charged leisure battery should be able to keep starter over 12v for quite some time .

when voltage on starter Ablemail starts

dropping 1.5amps into starter

working

the rest of my setup , solar controller is just for a portable setup when camping.
Thanks for the help from this forum , i think its a brilliant source of information from anything from the best collapsible bucket to full diagnostic advice .