[p1w1]

one for the electric guru's
I have just fitted a sterling battery to battery charger 30amp version and although it seems to be working well, wired up correctly and no charging issues,  there seems to be a slight issue with the controller dead ending now for some reason.

Basically when i switch the engine ignition off  after running for a while the charger seems to stay on for a few extra mins (some kind of shutdown mode i presume) while it's doing this when i turn the controller on to start cleaning windows it starts to dead end ( as it would do when you stop the water flow) and switch the pump off for a brief second and then start again, the delay in the controller dead ending gets slightly longer each time it dead ends until after a couple of minutes it then runs fine once the battery to battery charger has switched off.
The controller is calibrated fine for this weather and it worked fine with a basic split charge fitted just wondering what could be causing the issue...any boffins out there with any ideas.

[Spruce]

one for the electric guru's
I have just fitted a sterling battery to battery charger 30amp version and although it seems to be working well, wired up correctly and no charging issues,  there seems to be a slight issue with the controller dead ending now for some reason.

Basically when i switch the engine ignition off  after running for a while the charger seems to stay on for a few extra mins (some kind of shutdown mode i presume) while it's doing this when i turn the controller on to start cleaning windows it starts to dead end ( as it would do when you stop the water flow) and switch the pump off for a brief second and then start again, the delay in the controller dead ending gets slightly longer each time it dead ends until after a couple of minutes it then runs fine once the battery to battery charger has switched off.
The controller is calibrated fine for this weather and it worked fine with a basic split charge fitted just wondering what could be causing the issue...any boffins out there with any ideas.

Maybe one to ask Ian Sheppard from Spring controllers about. There is a facility on the Sterling unit (one of the jumpers if memory serves me) that you wire an ignition feed into so when you switch the ignition off the Battery to Battery charger immediately stops working as well.
That Sterling unit also has a battery choice mode. Different modes use different charging algorithims.

The controller's dead end works on amp draw. Once the pump wants to draw more than the calibrated amount the controller kicks in and switches off. The only thing I can think of is that the charging voltage output  of the Sterling unit is somehow 'disturbing' the controller's electronics. As a first step you could try and increase the calibration figure manually and see if this improves the situation. But I would probably opt for the extra feed wire option as the long term solution.

[p1w1]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

[Spruce]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

Found this

from 3 minutes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJvMStGYow

What size cable have you used as your power feed if I may ask?

[p1w1]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

Found this

from 3 minutes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJvMStGYow

What size cable have you used as your power feed if I may ask?

Nice one, looks like i need mode 3 then and have to wire into the ignition..no to work out how to do that 

I used the existing 10mm cable that i used with the original  vsr i had but changed the fuses to 40amp ones (I'm using the 30amp sterling charger) I've changed it because i will be getting the grippamax heater fitted and need to get the best charge i can to the 2 batteries that will be going in. I originally was going to use their b2b charger but my Dad had the sterling that he's not using one only a few months old so trying to use this to save a bit of cash.

[Anthony Jardine]

Just a thought when comes to your grippa heater they seem to need power, as there hungry for it two 105-110 or larger if possible( when my two expire I’ll be fitting 2x 140 or 180amp I’ve found some online at a place called alpha batteries)

Even  with the battery to battery charger through the day, when using the heater, the batteries are happier with a bench charge over night I fitted a 20amp charger for when I park at night after about 8-10 hours there nicely chargers if I’m using heater. overwise just once a week to keep them healthy

Hope you enjoy the heater

[Spruce]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

Found this

from 3 minutes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJvMStGYow

What size cable have you used as your power feed if I may ask?

Nice one, looks like i need mode 3 then and have to wire into the ignition..no to work out how to do that 

I used the existing 10mm cable that i used with the original  vsr i had but changed the fuses to 40amp ones (I'm using the 30amp sterling charger) I've changed it because i will be getting the grippamax heater fitted and need to get the best charge i can to the 2 batteries that will be going in. I originally was going to use their b2b charger but my Dad had the sterling that he's not using one only a few months old so trying to use this to save a bit of cash.

You need to find a suitable ignition feed that is on when the ignition is on and is off when the ignition key is either in start or off mode. The only negative I can see with mode 3 is that if you need the ignition on to play the radio then you will be 'combining' both leisure and starter batteries without the engine running.

The most common place to start is either the cigarette lighter feed or the windscreen wiper motor feed. Some cigarette lighter/aux power sockets don't switch off with the ignition key.  These circuits can usually be found in one of the fuse boxes and a power takeoff can be done with a piggy back fuse holder and fuse insuring the right fuse holder is purchased. (Most vehicles use mini blade fuses these days.)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5Pcs-Add-a-Circuit-Fuse-Tap-Micro-Auto-Mini-Blade-Piggy-Back-Fuse-Holder-15A-UK/162989306570?hash=item25f2eb72ca:g:xsEAAOSwjH5azY8~:rk:7:pf:0

Your vehicle owners manual will identify where the fuse is to try. If the fuse fitted to the vehicle is 10amp then you need to stick to a 10 amp fuse.

[p1w1]

Just a thought when comes to your grippa heater they seem to need power, as there hungry for it two 105-110 or larger if possible( when my two expire I’ll be fitting 2x 140 or 180amp I’ve found some online at a place called alpha batteries)

Even  with the battery to battery charger through the day, when using the heater, the batteries are happier with a bench charge over night I fitted a 20amp charger for when I park at night after about 8-10 hours there nicely chargers if I’m using heater. overwise just once a week to keep them healthy

Hope you enjoy the heater

Thanks mate..i intend to bench charge each the batteries  every day after work, still dont know how i will use the heater, on all the time or just when i feel is necessary.

[p1w1]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

Found this

from 3 minutes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJvMStGYow

What size cable have you used as your power feed if I may ask?

Nice one, looks like i need mode 3 then and have to wire into the ignition..no to work out how to do that 

I used the existing 10mm cable that i used with the original  vsr i had but changed the fuses to 40amp ones (I'm using the 30amp sterling charger) I've changed it because i will be getting the grippamax heater fitted and need to get the best charge i can to the 2 batteries that will be going in. I originally was going to use their b2b charger but my Dad had the sterling that he's not using one only a few months old so trying to use this to save a bit of cash.

You need to find a suitable ignition feed that is on when the ignition is on and is off when the ignition key is either in start or off mode. The only negative I can see with mode 3 is that if you need the ignition on to play the radio then you will be 'combining' both leisure and starter batteries without the engine running.

The most common place to start is either the cigarette lighter feed or the windscreen wiper motor feed. Some cigarette lighter/aux power sockets don't switch off with the ignition key.  These circuits can usually be found in one of the fuse boxes and a power takeoff can be done with a piggy back fuse holder and fuse insuring the right fuse holder is purchased. (Most vehicles use mini blade fuses these days.)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5Pcs-Add-a-Circuit-Fuse-Tap-Micro-Auto-Mini-Blade-Piggy-Back-Fuse-Holder-15A-UK/162989306570?hash=item25f2eb72ca:g:xsEAAOSwjH5azY8~:rk:7:pf:0

Your vehicle owners manual will identify where the fuse is to try. If the fuse fitted to the vehicle is 10amp then you need to stick to a 10 amp fuse.

Thinking about it, i'm not going to wire into the ignition, the van is not even a year old and i dont want to risk anything with the warranty and to be honest i wouldn't be sure or confident on what i would be doing.
I can change the cut off voltages on the charger looking at the manual so currently it starts charging when it hits 13.2v and cuts off when it goes below 13v. So my thinking is to get it to switch of quicker (currently now around 30 sec after turning the ignition off, as the voltage drops on the charger) would be to raise the cut off voltage  13.4v however this would mean that the voltage to start charging  would increase to 13.6v instead of 13.2 as it only changes operational voltages as a whole and not individually.
Do you think this would be acceptable or is the 13.6v to start the charging to high.
I'm pretty clueless with electrics.

edit: looking more at the manual it seems i can change the voltages in  0.1v  increments

[Spruce]

Thanks Spruce..
bit of investigating done..its definitely a conflict of the controller and the charger with the battery, however i've managed to cut the time down it takes the charger to switch off,  the charger has a regen timer so basically if the voltage drops below i believe 13.1 for more then 5 seconds it will start a 240 sec timer going (this is to do with the regen braking /smart alternators which i dont have on my van) if it then goes above 13.1v within the time limit it will start charging again if it doesn't then it will switch itself off.
So basically i have turned the regen timer off and the charger now stays on till it gets below 13.1 then switch off (this takes about 30 seconds or so after switching off the ignition).
There is also an option of making it turn off at a set higher voltage but i dont know that much about these things or if it will hinder anything else to start changing that just yet.
Hopefully Ian will see this post and add his opinion or a better solution.

Found this

from 3 minutes on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJvMStGYow

What size cable have you used as your power feed if I may ask?

Nice one, looks like i need mode 3 then and have to wire into the ignition..no to work out how to do that 

I used the existing 10mm cable that i used with the original  vsr i had but changed the fuses to 40amp ones (I'm using the 30amp sterling charger) I've changed it because i will be getting the grippamax heater fitted and need to get the best charge i can to the 2 batteries that will be going in. I originally was going to use their b2b charger but my Dad had the sterling that he's not using one only a few months old so trying to use this to save a bit of cash.

You need to find a suitable ignition feed that is on when the ignition is on and is off when the ignition key is either in start or off mode. The only negative I can see with mode 3 is that if you need the ignition on to play the radio then you will be 'combining' both leisure and starter batteries without the engine running.

The most common place to start is either the cigarette lighter feed or the windscreen wiper motor feed. Some cigarette lighter/aux power sockets don't switch off with the ignition key.  These circuits can usually be found in one of the fuse boxes and a power takeoff can be done with a piggy back fuse holder and fuse insuring the right fuse holder is purchased. (Most vehicles use mini blade fuses these days.)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5Pcs-Add-a-Circuit-Fuse-Tap-Micro-Auto-Mini-Blade-Piggy-Back-Fuse-Holder-15A-UK/162989306570?hash=item25f2eb72ca:g:xsEAAOSwjH5azY8~:rk:7:pf:0

Your vehicle owners manual will identify where the fuse is to try. If the fuse fitted to the vehicle is 10amp then you need to stick to a 10 amp fuse.

Thinking about it, i'm not going to wire into the ignition, the van is not even a year old and i dont want to risk anything with the warranty and to be honest i wouldn't be sure or confident on what i would be doing.
I can change the cut off voltages on the charger looking at the manual so currently it starts charging when it hits 13.2v and cuts off when it goes below 13v. So my thinking is to get it to switch of quicker (currently now around 30 sec after turning the ignition off, as the voltage drops on the charger) would be to raise the cut off voltage  13.4v however this would mean that the voltage to start charging  would increase to 13.6v instead of 13.2 as it only changes operational voltages as a whole and not individually.
Do you think this would be acceptable or is the 13.6v to start the charging to high.
I'm pretty clueless with electrics.

edit: looking more at the manual it seems i can change the voltages in  0.1v  increments

You could just make the adjustment in small portions as see if you are going in the right direction.

When I start the engine of my van the charging voltage jumps up to 14.0/14.2 volts very quickly so if it works the same I don't think that 13.6v is too high. The good thing is that the 'break' between the starter and leisure batteries should happen sooner.  As with most things, its trail and error in the field that find issues.

 My vsr cuts in at 13.3 volts and cuts out at 12.8v. Depending on the state of charge of the leisure battery, it can take quite some time before the vsr disconnects. It would disconnect quicker if the VSR cut out at 13.6v rather the 12.8v.

[p1w1]

I'll have a mess around at the weekend and see what happens, even at around 30 secs to a min is not that bad, by the time i have the pole and hose reel out for cleaning it will have shut off. I also want to check if it does this while the engines running as ideally i will like to have a second pump circulating the hot water while im travelling to work and through the day.

[Ian Sheppard]

one for the electric guru's
I have just fitted a sterling battery to battery charger 30amp version and although it seems to be working well, wired up correctly and no charging issues,  there seems to be a slight issue with the controller dead ending now for some reason.

Basically when i switch the engine ignition off  after running for a while the charger seems to stay on for a few extra mins (some kind of shutdown mode i presume) while it's doing this when i turn the controller on to start cleaning windows it starts to dead end ( as it would do when you stop the water flow) and switch the pump off for a brief second and then start again, the delay in the controller dead ending gets slightly longer each time it dead ends until after a couple of minutes it then runs fine once the battery to battery charger has switched off.
The controller is calibrated fine for this weather and it worked fine with a basic split charge fitted just wondering what could be causing the issue...any boffins out there with any ideas.

Can I ask please can i ask for the following voltages as shown on the controller
1. Voltage as shown on the control with the engine running?
2. Voltage shown on the control with engine off (with relay in timer limit)
3. Voltage shown on the control with engine off ( Charging stopped completely)

I also noted you have  40 amp fuse on the B2B this may be over rated for the unit, what does the Sterling guide recommend

Cheers

ian

[p1w1]

one for the electric guru's
I have just fitted a sterling battery to battery charger 30amp version and although it seems to be working well, wired up correctly and no charging issues,  there seems to be a slight issue with the controller dead ending now for some reason.

Basically when i switch the engine ignition off  after running for a while the charger seems to stay on for a few extra mins (some kind of shutdown mode i presume) while it's doing this when i turn the controller on to start cleaning windows it starts to dead end ( as it would do when you stop the water flow) and switch the pump off for a brief second and then start again, the delay in the controller dead ending gets slightly longer each time it dead ends until after a couple of minutes it then runs fine once the battery to battery charger has switched off.
The controller is calibrated fine for this weather and it worked fine with a basic split charge fitted just wondering what could be causing the issue...any boffins out there with any ideas.

Can I ask please can i ask for the following voltages as shown on the controller
1. Voltage as shown on the control with the engine running?
2. Voltage shown on the control with engine off (with relay in timer limit)
3. Voltage shown on the control with engine off ( Charging stopped completely)

I also noted you have  40 amp fuse on the B2B this may be over rated for the unit, what does the Sterling guide recommend

Cheers

ian

Hi Ian
Thanks for the reply, I will get the info you want tomorrow. Regarding the fuse I'm not sure the sterling unit was brought by my dad and the fuses were recommended to him at the time.

Edit: Have just checked the manual and they recommend 40 amp fuses