Thread: I did want to ask a Question about Batteries

If you have solar feeding the batteries, surely you can run without connecting the Anderson plug - that would only be needed if you've been drawing power from the batteries for a few days?

The second plug on your D4 (the white one) has both an ignition-fed 12V and a battery-fed 12V line, so you should be able to just rewire your (fridge) trailer plug to use the one you want.

Cheers,

Gordon

Ok didn't consider just letting the solar do the job for the van batteries while rolling...

I should have added I do use a CPAP (stops snoring) machine over night so the batteries do get well used over night. And in the cold south it will have to run a Diesel heater as well. So by morning the batteries will need some volts back.

I will get the multi meter out and check the 12 pin plug on the D4.

What if you put a meter on the Anderson plug leaving the van, when it's in the sun and see what ya get.

Cheers Ken

Hi mowog, do you have a dual battery isolator under the bonnet?

You can still have a dual battery isolator and no auxiliary battery in the tow vehicle, the isolator just supplies power to a CT or van.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi mowog, do you have a dual battery isolator under the bonnet?

You can still have a dual battery isolator and no auxiliary battery in the tow vehicle, the isolator just supplies power to a CT or van.

That's exactly how I've got my D2 set up. The isolator will disconnect the feed to the trailer when the capacity of the cranking battery is getting too low to start the car.

To answer your final question. The solar panels should be charging all batteries that are connected to them. This includes the vehicle battery via the Anderson plug.

If I understand your problem and recall correctly...

the problem you have (without resorting to adding a DBS to the car) is actually in the trailer.

your 3 way position switch is not correctly wired.

in one position it should hook your anderson plug on the trailer to the house batteries so you can charge from the car, in this position the fridge (assuming its one of the 3 way 12/240/gas items or one of the smarter 12/240V units)is hooked to the house batteries.

in the next position the anderson plug is in the off position and the fridge is hooked up to the house batteries

in the last position the anderson plug is off and the fridge is connected to the aux power feed from the vehicle socket.

if your setup is like the one I remember there should be a couple of low wattage 12v lights that can also be powered up with the fridge. IIRC the one I'm thinking about was done this way so that the fridge and minimum lighting could be kept operating while battery maintenance or work on the primary 12v house system was being done and in an emergancy the 12v Aux from the vehicle could be used to get minimum functionality back in a hurry.

Mowog,

It might be worth checking with your van dealer on how the Anderson plug is actually connected. On my van i have 2 solar panels charging my 2 van batteries. However, my Anderson plug is only connected to my van fridge so that it continues to remaincool/cold while driving. If i leave the fridge on 12 volt while disconnected from the vehicle, the fridge does not operate. My fridge is a manually switched version with options for either gas, 240 volt, or 12 volt.

Cheers

As explained to me.

The fridge does not connect to the house batteries for operation at all (I have confirmed this). Its control board does take power from the house batteries. The only way to run the fridge of 12v is with the 3 way switch set to car and the 12 pin trailer plug connected to the D4.

The Anderson plug only charges the van batteries.