Campervan electrics proposal - looking for feedback

[drinfinity]

Standard approach on the 240v charger is to connect via a socket. On mine I got a rugged extension lead type socket to plug the charger in. I made a consumer unit to go under the bonnet, with the hookup on a flying lead.

More details

CandyVan conversion journey

Left roof beam back in and trimmed. Original courtesy light refitted, and it lights up, and no blown fuses!

www.t6forum.com

 

[Atwcm]

You need to connect the 240v EHU into a consumer unit, that's a must have.

If you're fitting hook up and you won't have an inverter I'd get at least one 240v socket installed at the same time.

Basically, your 240v input goes into the consumer unit, with breakers for both the battery charger and your 240v socket(s). Then the output from the consumer unit breakers go to the charger and your sockets.

240v hookup is something you'd definitely want to get tested and checked over buy someone qualified, it's a lot higher risk than 12v if something isn't right.

Ah yes. RCD. I knew that a week ago and today gone.
And that's why I'm not plugging anything in or adding fuses till a pro's checked it all out. Thank you.

 

[Atwcm]

On the Renogy side you will need the BT unit on the DCDC to monitor the output and voltages from the alternator and the charging state of the battery. The M1 will display all the information from Battery and DCDC and you can via the app too. But it'll need to be connected to both BT units to do that. Re the battery charger cutting the plug iff and crimping on I assume 240v is a no from me. Needs to be fused somehow and I've never used crimps on 240v. I have run mine to the RCD and on its own trip under the bonnet. Re charging the leisure off the same charger unless both batteries are lithium and it's set for that I can't see how that would work. But I stand to be corrected.

Thanks for that. I'll order the Bluetooth module for the dc-dc.
And good idea with the tough socket - I can leave that permanently connected to the Victron charger under the seat I presume as long as I've got the RCD set up under the bonnet.

 

[Atwcm]

Thanks for that. I'll order the Bluetooth module for the dc-dc.
And good idea with the tough socket - I can leave that permanently connected to the Victron charger under the seat I presume as long as I've got the RCD set up under the bonnet.

Sorry - mixed up my replies.
So I might've totally misunderstood what I think was a Dellmassive post about charging both the starter and leisure battery off the renogy dcc50s.

 

[drinfinity]

And good idea with the tough socket - I can leave that permanently connected to the Victron charger under the seat I presume as long as I've got the RCD set up under the bonnet.

Yes

 

[Atwcm]

Standard approach on the 240v charger is to connect via a socket. On mine I got a rugged extension lead type socket to plug the charger in. I made a consumer unit to go under the bonnet, with the hookup on a flying lead.

More details

CandyVan conversion journey

Left roof beam back in and trimmed. Original courtesy light refitted, and it lights up, and no blown fuses!

www.t6forum.com

Good idea with the tough socket, thanks - I can leave that permanently connected to the Victron charger under the seat I presume as long as I've got the RCD set up under the bonnet.

 

[Matt-T68]

And if you have wifi in the van you can connect the M1 to that and monitor it live as well. I can control the interior lights from the phone. It is a handy feature when it's a dark campsite.

 

[Atwcm]

Nice. Looking forward to having a play with that.

 

[Lee540]

If you're building a camper, standard layout with units down one side you'll easily hide bigger electrical components elsewhere rather than under the seat.

 

[Atwcm]

I've gone for bench seating left and right which will be removable so I've got to hide all the electrics under the seats. Should fit if I'm tidy (I hope)

 

[Lee540]

I've gone for bench seating left and right which will be removable so I've got to hide all the electrics under the seats. Should fit if I'm tidy (I hope)

I've managed 105Ah lithium, DC/DC, EHU RCD, fuse box and all associated wiring under my drivers seat. Easily enough.

 

[Atwcm]

I've managed 105Ah lithium, DC/DC, EHU RCD, fuse box and all associated wiring under my drivers seat. Easily enough.

That's reassuring to hear. Thanks.
I've found the thread where Dellmassive mentioned using the Victron smartcharger with the Renogy DCC50S.
I read it as though with engine off and the Victron Bluesmart 12v/25A hooked up to ehu the Renogy DCC50S will charge the starter battery to full and then automatically switch over to charge the leisure battery.
I'll copy and paste the quote below.
Have I misunderstood this?

With apologies if I've taken this out of context what I read was as below;

"and yes the RENOGY DC50S has the "Auto VSR feature"

++++++
so when parked with engine off. . . you connect the Victron EHU charger 12/30/1 - via your 40A fused Anderson SB50 connector.

it will start charging the starter battery,

when starter battery rises above 13.8v or so,

the Renogy dc-dc will switch on and start charging your LB.

the Victron is a great charger for this setup as you can "tweak" the charge voltage. . . as in some chargers have some volt drop over the connection, and the dc-dc charger wont kick in, with the Victron you can tweak the charge profile and UP the charge voltage a bit"

 

[TallPaul_S]

That's reassuring to hear. Thanks.
I've found the thread where Dellmassive mentioned using the Victron smartcharger with the Renogy DCC50S.
I read it as though with engine off and the Victron Bluesmart 12v/25A hooked up to ehu the Renogy DCC50S will charge the starter battery to full and then automatically switch over to charge the leisure battery.
I'll copy and paste the quote below.
Have I misunderstood this?

With apologies if I've taken this out of context what I read was as below;

"and yes the RENOGY DC50S has the "Auto VSR feature"

++++++
so when parked with engine off. . . you connect the Victron EHU charger 12/30/1 - via your 40A fused Anderson SB50 connector.

it will start charging the starter battery,

when starter battery rises above 13.8v or so,

the Renogy dc-dc will switch on and start charging your LB.

the Victron is a great charger for this setup as you can "tweak" the charge voltage. . . as in some chargers have some volt drop over the connection, and the dc-dc charger wont kick in, with the Victron you can tweak the charge profile and UP the charge voltage a bit"

This is how I understand this, it's not how you understand stand it.

The Renogy DC-DC is triggered by an increased voltage on the starter battery, so whenever the SB voltage is above 13.8v (which would normally be when it's beginning charged by the alternator) the DC-DC will kick in, charging the LB. All good.

You can 'fake' this 13.8v at the SB, by plugging in a mains charger to the SB, and charging at 13.8v or above.


Electric hookup is normally a 240v input to a mains charger which is connected to the leisure battery not the starter battery - this will charge and feed your LB connected devices when camping.

You would never normally connect a charger to another charger.

But you could connect the EHU hookup charger to the starter battery, which would charge both LB and SB, LB being charged indirectly via the SB charger.


In short:
DCC50S only ever charges LB

Victron 240v charger only ever charges SB

DCC50S is activated by the increased SB voltage, either when the SB is being charged by the alternator, or by the Victron SB charger

 

[Atwcm]

This is how I understand this, it's not how you understand stand it.

The Renogy DC-DC is triggered by an increased voltage on the starter battery, so whenever the SB voltage is above 13.8v (which would normally be when it's beginning charged by the alternator) the DC-DC will kick in, charging the LB. All good.

You can 'fake' this 13.8v at the SB, by plugging in a mains charger to the SB, and charging at 13.8v or above.


Electric hookup is normally a 240v input to a mains charger which is connected to the leisure battery not the starter battery - this will charge and feed your LB connected devices when camping.

You would never normally connect a charger to another charger.

But you could connect the EHU hookup charger to the starter battery, which would charge both LB and SB, LB being charged indirectly via the SB charger.


In short:
DCC50S only ever charges LB

Victron 240v charger only ever charges SB

DCC50S is activated by the increased SB voltage, either when the SB is being charged by the alternator, or by the Victron SB charger

Ok great. Thanks very much for the clarification.
So EHU to Victron Charger which could be permanently rigged to starter battery which then sends a charge via the Renogy DCC50S to the Leisure battery?
Is this an unusual set-up then?
Seems like a useful one or is it that the starter battery would rarely need a top-up on arrival at a site or on returning home because the alternator would have already taken care of that en route?
Cheers

 

[Bigsidavies]

If it was me wanting to keep things simple I’d have the Victron 240 set to Lithium and connected to the LB (as I currently do) and leave the Victron quick connector accessible at the front of the drivers seat so you can unplug it and thus disconnect it from the LB and plug in the cig lead connector (Victron accessory) and then charge the SB via the dashboard lighter socket on the odd occasion that it needs a little too up when on EHU.
This deffo works on a T6, not sure about the lighter socket arrangement on a T6.1

That’s the quick connect on the right. Photo of front of drivers seat taken from footwell.

 

[Atwcm]

If it was me wanting to keep things simple I’d have the Victron 240 set to Lithium and connected to the LB (as I currently do) and leave the Victron quick connector accessible at the front of the drivers seat so you can unplug it and thus disconnect it from the LB and plug in the cig lead connector (Victron accessory) and then charge the SB via the dashboard lighter socket on the odd occasion that it needs a little too up when on EHU.
This deffo works on a T6, not sure about the lighter socket arrangement on a T6.1
View attachment 236105
That’s the quick connect on the right. Photo of front of drivers seat taken from footwell.

That's a good plan - thank you.
Anyone know if it would work as described on a T6.1?
Cheers

 

[TallPaul_S]

Is this an unusual set-up then?
Seems like a useful one or is it that the starter battery would rarely need a top-up on arrival at a site or on returning home because the alternator would have already taken care of that en route?

It's definitely more common to have the EHU charger going to the LB, yes. As when you're staying somewhere for a few days the LB will be getting the most use, and unless you have solar and/or a hefty 200Ah lithium LB you'll need hookup to last more than 2-3 days.

Generally, you only need to worry about the SB if you've been staying somewhere for 4 or 5 days or longer, the only things that would drain it are the unlocking and locking of doors, electric sliding doors if you have them. You might need to top up the SB in this case, which can be done just with a 5a charger plugged in (via 240v hookup socket) into the cigarette lighter port on the dash on a T6. T6.1 12v sockets might be different, you basically need a permanent live 12v socket going to the starter battery.


FYI this is how mine is set up, I have a Victron 15a 240v charger connected to 240v hookup (all under the driver's seat), this feeds the LB. Then if I ever need to top up the SB I've got a separate 5a victron charger with a 12v socket adapter which I trickle the SB with from the 240v socket inside the van. At the moment I just have the std OEM split charge but this will be getting upgraded at some point.

 

[Atwcm]

It's definitely more common to have the EHU charger going to the LB, yes. As when you're staying somewhere for a few days the LB will be getting the most use, and unless you have solar and/or a hefty 200Ah lithium LB you'll need hookup to last more than 2-3 days.

Generally, you only need to worry about the SB if you've been staying somewhere for 4 or 5 days or longer, the only things that would drain it are the unlocking and locking of doors, electric sliding doors if you have them. You might need to top up the SB in this case, which can be done just with a 5a charger plugged in (via 240v hookup socket) into the cigarette lighter port on the dash on a T6. T6.1 12v sockets might be different, you basically need a permanent live 12v socket going to the starter battery.


FYI this is how mine is set up, I have a Victron 15a 240v charger connected to 240v hookup (all under the driver's seat), this feeds the LB. Then if I ever need to top up the SB I've got a separate 5a victron charger with a 12v socket adapter which I trickle the SB with from the 240v socket inside the van. At the moment I just have the std OEM split charge but this will be getting upgraded at some point.

That's great thanks. I'm new to it all and making it up as I go along. This forum's just the thing for keeping me on the right path.

 

[TonyM]

This post is probably a bit too late for anyone who has posted to this thread so far, but may be useful for anyone doing new research.

It's perfectly possible to keep the starter battery topped up by using a second mains charger as suggested above, but that does require manual intervention. It is preferable to automate this, especially if you already have some way to keep your leisure battery topped up - whether by solar, a DC-DC charger or EHU.

Two products commonly used to achieve this are the VanBitz Battery Master or the Ablemail trickle charger. Both take a small charge from the leisure battery to the starter battery, with protection not to flatten the leisure battery in the process. If your leisure battery is lithium, this is even less likely to be a problem, even without a charging source. The advantage of these products is that they are designed to be fit & forget.

 

[Qnapper]

This post is probably a bit too late for anyone who has posted to this thread so far, but may be useful for anyone doing new research.

It's perfectly possible to keep the starter battery topped up by using a second mains charger as suggested above, but that does require manual intervention. It is preferable to automate this, especially if you already have some way to keep your leisure battery topped up - whether by solar, a DC-DC charger or EHU.

Two products commonly used to achieve this are the VanBitz Battery Master or the Ablemail trickle charger. Both take a small charge from the leisure battery to the starter battery, with protection not to flatten the leisure battery in the process. If your leisure battery is lithium, this is even less likely to be a problem, even without a charging source. The advantage of these products is that they are designed to be fit & forget.

Or one of these:

12 volt battery maintainer

Provide an auxilliary battery a maintence charge. Perfect for looking after the start battery on a generator.

www.sterling-power-usa.com

Used for the past 4/5 years works great.