Leisure battery/split charge

[dukey300]

Hi guys, I'm looking at installing a leisure battery but I've been told it won't be as simple or cheap as normal due to the way the alternator charges the battery. I've had a quote of around £300 just for the kit not including the battery instead of the normal £60-£70. please can someone who knows what they're doing verify this. Thanks

[se7en]

I fitted a Victron energy Cyrix-ct battery combiner 2 years ago, so far, never had any problems, Google in Victron energy , go to there sit and look up Cyrix battery combiner, simple to fit,no fancy wiring,they cost around £45, they have a handy little trick that a momentry switch or push button can be wired in, that, when pressed, will connect both batteries together for 30 second, so if your starter battery went dead, you can use your services battery to start, got me out of trouble a couple of times, anyway, look it up and see what you think.
I am a marine engineer and we recommend and fit them to most boats we have to do any electrical work on that have multiple batteries, its such a simple system.

[dukey300]

Thanks for the reply. Could you put a link up to the one I need? I've looked on the website and there's loads of different models!!

[se7en]

Cyrix-ct 12/24 V120A is the one I use
note; I have just looked up the latest price and they now seem to be around £85, however, I feel they are worth it, get in touch with Victron direct, there very helpful

[se7en]

Just found a web site, " 12 volt planet " that have the right model for just under £40..!! , bargain.....thought this may help.

[dukey300]

I looked at 12volt planet but couldn't find a specific kit for the custom. Can you put a link up to the one you've seen please?

[dukey300]

I checked the battery last night with a voltmeter over a 20 minute period for the first 10mins it stayed at a steady 15v then dropped to a steady 13v after that.

[se7en]

Go to 12 volt planet web site , and in the search box write," Cyrix-ct 12/24V 120A," it should the come up, its not a kit for the Transit, its the split charger unit.

[dukey300]

Found it thanks. Will I need anything else to go with it??

[se7en]

Apart from the Cyrix split charger unit you will need suitable cable and terminals, and if you want to use the " 30 second battery link feature" you will need a push button momentry switch, I've mounted my push switch in the front of plastic hand brake lever base surround , I put it there as its close to the batteries , I have both batteries under the driver seat ,easy to fit, and within reach if you need to use it, oh, and nobody notices it.
Look at the wiring diagram on Victron energy site, tells you all you need to know.

[moley551]

Apart from the Cyrix split charger unit you will need suitable cable and terminals, and if you want to use the " 30 second battery link feature" you will need a push button momentry switch, I've mounted my push switch in the front of plastic hand brake lever base surround , I put it there as its close to the batteries , I have both batteries under the driver seat ,easy to fit, and within reach if you need to use it, oh, and nobody notices it.
Look at the wiring diagram on Victron energy site, tells you all you need to know.

I've just been on the 12 volt store's their site and they list this smart relay as "not" suitable for modern charging systems, they recommend a battery to battery charger for a starting price of £249. I've been using a similar relay and they do not fully recharge the leisure battery, 80% is about the limit as mentioned on the site.
There was another thread exploring the possibility to disable the smart charging system as covered in the Bemm, it allows you to swap between conventional and smart charging!

[moley551]

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=168682

[dukey300]

Thanks for your help. Do you think you would still have the same problems if you don't have the Eco model engine??

[moley551]

I believe someone else says it does revert to conventional charging when eco is disabled? it's mentioned in the bemm but it seems to say it can be added to the eco off function rather than its part of it, I don't have eco to try it. A few people seem to have split charging relays and they do function ok, but the charge is limited it may be ok for you depending on how much you use the leisure battery, mine is powering a 1500w inverter and It gets a beating.

[yasser]

I had split charging on my old DCiV with a 1500w inverter. Everything was great to start with, it would boil a 900w kettle and run a 1200w hoover without any problems but after a short while the inverter kept shutting down. I thought it was the inverter as it was only a relatively cheap one from china but as the van was written off everything came out of the van ready to go into the new one. I checked the leisure battery as it was in the garage for a few months and it wasn,t fully charged so I charged it up and connected to inverter and everything worked perfectly, back to running a kettle and hoover again. I have since been doing some reading on this.... it appears with the smart charging the batteries (vehicle) do not get fully charged, there is always some capacity to store the recovered energy from breaking ect ect. this 80% charging will also effect a leisure battery if fitted and this is what was causing my inverter to cut out when a load was put on it. Also there is a fair bit of info on the web about disabling the smart charging and it appears its not a good idea. As far as I can see at the moment to solve this problem is this

http://sterling-power.com/collections/b ... =978775683

It has been posted before by somebody and it does seem to solve all the problems. the downside is the cost, size of unit and noise.