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We just set a limit of $100pw and financed the wife's Yaris, which we've just rolled over for a Mazda 2. Vehicles are a terrible investment which lose up to half their value in their first three years, so I regard the financing as like renting. Why sink many thousands of $s upfront into something which is a woeful investment?
That said, we did pay cash for the Defender because we intend to keep it forever. Horses for courses.
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Excellent, I like to be abnormal so that suits me just fine :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Blknight.aus
slightly back on topic, here's a thing
Alternator Output Compensator | Piranha Offroad 4WD Products
They don't say exactly how it works but given it's a replacement fuse I'm guessing it just tricks your alternator into thinking it needs to work a bit harder?
Its a Diode in a fuse casing - a Diode drops 0.6v fooling the alternator into running 0.6v higher.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart02
Will not work on our vehicles..
Spot on the money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tombie
The Land Rover voltage monitoring system is far more advanced and this diode will not force an increased voltage in a Land Rover.
Furthermore, the Alternator Voltage Booster Fuse was invented and developed by a guy in Melbourne, who sells them for around half the price Piranha are flogging theirs for.
If you have a Toyota 4x4 or friends with one, and want to improve the charging, this is the guy to contact.
HKB Electronics
Quote:
Originally Posted by LandyAndy
I agree Andrew, all is normal in my car. I have not had one low battery message and I think the Battery Monitoring System and Software is running as per standard.
I have done some more testing with the DC/DC charger connected and disconnected. No difference. I have also let the second battery run down (12.3 no load) and then charged it with the DC/DC charger. The car voltage seemed to stay higher while the DC/DC charger was running (25amp draw). I don't think I saw 12.2v while that was happening but I want to do some more testing.
In any case, I am happy with the state of things. I will post here if my main battery does cark it before 4 years. I replaced the battery in the last car (MY10 D4) after 4 years of DC/DC charging. Not because there was a problem, but because I was heading around Aus and didn't want the possibility of having a battery problem.
Hi again Peter and sorry mate, but you still don't understand how YOUR system works, let alone how D4 systems in general work.
If your D4's voltage drops to 12.2v, while driving, you will not get a low battery warning.
If your cranking battery is below 12.2v before you start your motor, and the battery is in a poor condition, then you will get a "LOW BATTERY, START MOTOR" message.
Or if there is a software problem ( which is what has been happening ), you can still get the "LOW BATTERY, START MOTOR" message, even when the battery has been independently fully charged.
As to testing your system by having the DC/DC charge the battery from 12.3v ( 70% SoC ). This is not a test because all you are doing is topping up a partially discharged battery and once the battery gets to about 75 to 80% charged, the DC/DC device will start reducing the charge current, so not long after you started your motor, the D4's voltage is pretty well irrelevant.
If you want to get a realistic idea of whether your setup is working or not, next time you know you are going to be driving for at least 4 hours, discharge your battery down to 11.58v ( 20% ) and then see how long your D4's voltage remains high.
Feeeyoo
that took a while
🙄
Just wanted to share my current predicament/experience putting a DCDC in my caravan.
Bought a 30A Victron, (in hindsight prob have just got a 20A, but wanted that bit extra and didnt think too much about the wiring consequences)
Glossed over the misleading "50A Rating" on narva "6MM" that id previously run on the car side for last caravan that had just been running a fridge, appx 10amps.
Was in a rush to leave so thought this was fine, having forgot about 'voltage drop with current'. Had tested the DCDC 'worked'(was connecting) but never tested it at high current as the van was charged from not being used.
Turns out that 6mm (4.58mm2) wire is grossly undersized. And I needed B&S 6 for this distance. The van side had B&S 8 so that was not so bad.
But after the first night of "off grid" started the car and it came up reduced performance / gearbox fault, iid errors P0191=23 (fuel pressure signal stays low) P0089-2F (fuel pressure signal erratic) U2023-86 (TCM bus signal is invalid)
The errors reminded me of when i had a loose battery terminal, so figured it was electrical related, and disconnected the DCDC breaker, (rated at 50A) there is also a VSR. And the errors stopped that morning.
But in the days and weeks/months following on a big caravan trip it still happens, even with the DCDC & Loom not connected (i upgraded the car to B&S 6 after the initial errors, and realising it wasnt working with the 6mm wire (too much voltage drop) used it a few times to charge but kept it disconnected when not needed)
These will always go away by restarting the car, but sometimes the come back several times within a minute, generally in the mornings, once warmed up and driving they generally dont happen.
Thought it might have been the battery (century stop/start agm), but had it tested ok, and even replaced it, which didnt help (luckily could returned the battery, sca)
So now thinking it could be the alternator, as have checked terminals and connectors, the alternator is putting out full rating according to IID, though im going to test with clamp meter on order to see if it really is putting up what it says, as commonly in the mornings its doing 100 to 160A+ amps for the first few minutes after starting in morning.
This errors have come up plenty of times, but once and only once i did get an alternator error (i didnt record the code), something about excitor field voltage or something.
Hi hydrant and first off, what type of batteries are you using in your caravan?
Next, because of the way your SMART alternator works, you would have been far better off running 6B&S ( 13.5mm2 ) instead of the 8B&S ( 7.9mm2 ) cable.
This is because of Voltage Drop caused by your SMART alternator. Current is not an issue.
Next, can you check and make sure there is no additional cabling connected to the NEGATIVE ( - ) terminal of your cranking battery as this can cause similar problems to the ones you are having.