Charging Battery / Switch Positions

[Andy_374346145]

Hi

Please forgive my inexperience......brand new to caravanning and want to get it right before I actually do my first trip.

In my instruction manual regarding the electric settings it states to place the 'Car-Off-Van' Selector Switch on the electrical distribution board to 'Off' (central position) for travelling.

1st Question - It isays "When in the central (off) position....with the 'charger' switch 'on' power is provided to all 12 volt circuits via the 'transformer/charger' unit". Am I right in assuming therefore that in the central position, this power would only be provided by the transformer/charger unit if it were connected to a 240v mains supply.

2nd Question- Regarding the 'charger' switch it states' "when the van battery requires charging press the 'charger' switch to the 'on' position and ensure the Selector Switch is in the 'Van' position". Again presumably this is only when connected to a mains power supply. The reason I ask this, is that someone suggested that the transformer may work similarly to an inverter, and invert the 12v power from the battery to 240v to 'charge itself' so to speak, but I'm not sure that's right is it? The other confusing information in the manual is that at a different point it says, ""When the selector switch is in the 'Van position, dc power is available from the caravan battery to power all 12v electric circuits. If the charger is switched 'on' the caravan battery will be charged via the transformer / charger unit".

3rd Question - When travelling, does the power from the car, charge the battery on the Van via the 12S connection, (as i beleive it may) and is this powerful enough to provide an adequate charge or is it merely a small trickle charge.......if at all. I ask this because it states that the selector switch can be placed in the 'Car' position should the caravan battery become discharged and no mains power is available, but the van must be connected to the car via the 12S socket.

I'm sure those of you who are seasoned caravanners know exactly what the manual is saying but to a newbie it can be confusing when the manual makes assumptions that you know what does what.

Any help would be gratefully welcome......

Thank you......Sizzler

 

[rayc]

Andy, I can only speak for my van which is a 2006 Ace Award:-

Van position: The van 12v is fed from the caravan battery and when connected to EHU and the charger is switched ON it will charge the van battery.

Mid position: This disconnects the van battery so that the van 12v is provided only from the charger when on EHU.

Car position: The van 12v is fed from the car battery via pins 4 [+] and 3 [-] of the 12N.

I leave the switch permanently in the van position and I believe through experience, though have not actually measured it, that the van battery is charged from the car whilst travelling. The circuit diagram is very micky mouse but I am an electronics engineer and the above stacks up. There are variants on the theme, I have seen postings where some say for the van battery to charge from the car the switch must be in mid position. I guess it all depends upon the control unit fitted . What make / model do you have?

 

[rayc]

Andy, I can only speak for my van which is a 2006 Ace Award:-

Van position: The van 12v is fed from the caravan battery and when connected to EHU and the charger is switched ON it will charge the van battery.

Mid position: This disconnects the van battery so that the van 12v is provided only from the charger when on EHU.

Car position: The van 12v is fed from the car battery via pins 4 [+] and 3 [-] of the 12N.

I leave the switch permanently in the van position and I believe through experience, though have not actually measured it, that the van battery is charged from the car whilst travelling. The circuit diagram is very micky mouse but I am an electronics engineer and the above stacks up. There are variants on the theme, I have seen postings where some say for the van battery to charge from the car the switch must be in mid position. I guess it all depends upon the control unit fitted . What make / model do you have?

Andy said "The reason I ask this, is that someone suggested that the transformer may work similarly to an inverter, and invert the 12v power from the battery to 240v to 'charge itself' so to speak, but I'm not sure that's right is it?"

Andy if we can get this to work we are on a winner and should patent it.

I think we would have perpetual motion in electronics and could save ourselves a fortune. In practice if you took the battery voltage and inverted it to power a charger which then fed the battery there would be a gradual drop in battery voltage, due to the losses and inneficiencies, that would lead to a flat battery. I havn't tried doing it of course so have no idea how long it would last especially if you were also powering 12v items such as Tv's at the same time.