Split charge (re) installation

[Chris]

Well, put the spit charge Victron Cyrix back into the cruiser this weekend. Thought I'd post some pics as I have opened a new flickr account. Seems less than intuitive I have to say. Photobucket might be painfully slow and clunky to organise, but at least it's obvious!

Here goes. Did a much better job this time I think. Benefit of hindsight and all that. Had to put a joint in as some of the original cable was burned away.

Chris


Right, well looks like I am stuck with Kickthebucket. Way too complicated to work out and looking at the FAQ, it seems I may not even be able to.
Will add them later when I have had more beer. So at the moment a pointless thread.

Chris

 

[silvercruiser]

I like it you are talking to yourself on a forum

photobucket is slow to use but dead easy. whats this new one you talk of

Joe

 

[Chris]

Right, start again. BTW Flickr isn't new. It's been around yonks. But as I said, back to PB

OK so charger installed in the subwoofer position again. Looking slightly worse for wear but still functioning fine.

Came up through the heater holes. Made a neat little plate to seal the gap.

Put the mega fuse on the bulkhead this time and fitted a master kill switch too.

Battery installed

Now just need a new fridge!

Chris

 

[Rob]

That does look need Chris, might need to do something similar myself at some point as im not happy with my current arrangement, its far too tight under the bonnet and the positive terminals are too close to the bonnet IMO.

 

[Crispin]

Chris,

Would some rubber grommets on there not be a good idea? I'm guessing (hoping!) the plate is plastic but it would still be nice to have some rubber around it to stop help it over time.

Edit:

You got the fuse ( ) in the bulkhead with 2-3m of unfused heating element in between? ( ) Seeing as it is a split charge (lots of power from both ends, I would opt for a fuse at both ends?
Kill switch is fine but if the cable is making fissing sounds, getting to it could take a bit to long?

Sorry, on the bright side, the battery is mounted nice and square

 

[Chris]

Nope, not plastic. It's steel and 3mm thick so not sharp. The edges of the hole are chamfered in the direction of the cables and they are secured against movement at both sides and surrounded in a pack of RTV. I'm not a complete clot you know.

Chris

 

[Andy Walker]

I thought I'd read somewhere on here that split chargers were best sited as near to the main battery as possible - as opposed to as near the auxiliary battery as possible - I'm sure the above will work well - I'm not questioning your abilities - just making sure for when I do mine...

 

[Red Oktober]

Looks a real tidy instal Chris

 

[Chris]

Andy, when you use 50mm cable it doesn't matter where you site it. The unit works on certain factors such as voltage differential. When you use cable this thick there is so little drop that it makes no difference. Remember that this is the SECOND time that I have put this system in and it worked fantastically well the first time. So I have just repeated the installation using the salvaged unit and some new cable. It works perfectly. You can change the profile on this unit so it's connect and disconnect timings and voltages can be set to suit. Having it near the battery isn't a good idea as it's not waterproof.

Chris

 

[Graham]

Nope, not plastic. It's steel and 3mm thick so not sharp. The edges of the hole are chamfered in the direction of the cables and they are secured against movement at both sides and surrounded in a pack of RTV. I'm not a complete clot you know.

Chris

.
Chris, thinking back to long time ago, when Adam was a lad, I seem to remember about "Eddy currents"
Where your DC cables to to the rear of your truck, run seperate through that piece of 3mm plate, I am sure that this is not good practice.
I think it might be wise to make one single hole, as to the 2 holes you have now.

If I remember correctly, and I am not saying I am, but this is an area where substantial heat can build up in that plate.

Can you remake that plate out of wood?

G.

 

[Chris]

Hi Graham. OK I will certainly check that out, but I'm certainly not going to start making things out of wood. It's a car! These cables have always had to pass though steel at some point and have never caused a problem before. No the fire was not as a result of this set up, before anyone suggests it!

But I shall take the advice on board of course and check it out thoroughly. The rear battery is not used much and consequently only needs a top up. It's not like I am banging 80 amps into it constantly. I shall give it a good run and see if it gets warm. I shall also see if the resistance in the cable goes up at all. I have had to put more joints in this one and they are naturally points where heat can build up. We don't' want another fire do we!!

Thanks Graham

Chris

 

[Crispin]

IIRC, eddie currents are only setup with AC?

Plate, metal or not, there will be a bit of vibration on there. Show me a place on the LC where Mr-T passed a wire though , round, over an edge without something friendly there. Regardless, any length of cable needs a fuse as close to power source as feesable. A £5.00 fuse at each end could save a lot of grief.

I'll keep quiet now.

 

[Chris]

Fuse is fitted Crispin - and not a £5 one I can assure you. Show me a Cruiser where Mr T fitted a third battery in the boot, eh? Always welcome observations, but the cable is secured, and tied together and set in a block of RTV that wasn't in the pic. IE the cable is glued into the hole above and below. There isn't any movement that I feel would translate into wear in the outer sheath. I thought about a fuse at the other end, but as the circuit is broken by the charger itself I figured that for now I wouldn't put that in. I have left slack in the cable to allow for it though.

Chris

 

[Ben]

shouldn't that battery be in a box, to prevent nasty acid leaking everywhere (all over the occupants) in the event of a roll over?

most of the trucks ive seen with a battery in the boot always have it in a box. i think they usually use a marine battery box. not expensive and plenty on ebay.

 

[Chris]

Blimey, I wish I hadn't posted this in the first place! I was only trying to use flickr to get some pics up instead of Photobucket.

The battery is a sealed one and ultimately will be built into the wing of the drawer system. It's not just going to sit in the boot. Remember that my truck caught fire and I am trying to rebuild in a month what it took me a year to do last time. I can't do it all at once. Snorkel today and no, I won't be posting any pics!!

Chris

 

[J66P]

go on Chris i want to see if you have drilled the hole in the wing in the right place

 

[callum]

Whoah, cut they guy some slack. I know you're trying to be helpful, but it can eventually mount up to a bit of a kick in the teeth by the tenth 'shouldn't you have....?' when all you did was post some pictures of what you'd done.

 

[Chris]

Thanks Callum, but don't worry. It's all good natured on here. I give as good as I get and it was all sound advice. I appreciate people looking out for me. There's probably more that I don't know than I do, but combined on here, there is usually someone to help. But as I said this is a work in progress. I am not about to cross the Sahara like this, with batteries loose in the boot, a rusty bumper and no winch with the GPS aeriel stuck onto the shovel!

Some more pics to come. And yes, I did drill the hole in the right place!! In fact I fitted it differently this time. I drilled the large hole first, then drilled each stud hole, one at a time checking the position of the marked hole against the stud tip and adjusting where necessary before drilling. I got all the holes bang on and didn't need any furtling to get it to fit. Used rivnuts again on the A pillar instead of those plastic inserts.

Chris

 

[Ronanjordan]

Nice tidy job there Chris. Fair play to ya.

Just a quick question: Did u run a positive and negative from Front to rear?
I may be putting another battery in my Car for the stereo system and was just going to put negative straight to metalwork of the car( save running 2 cables) and just put an extra cable from negative under the bonnet to the chassis as then there will be no current restriction there. same size cables leaving battery/returning to battery.

Otherwise fair play to ya.
Lead acid batteries give off hydrogen gas when charging so it wont be one of them!!!!!!

 

[Crispin]

Lead acid batteries give off hydrogen gas when charging so it wont be one of them!!!!!!

Sealed batteries shouldn't unless abused.