more power questions

[rhltechie]

ok..i think i am pretty set on having just a charger in my power plan...having the battery run all of my devices and just having a few 110 outlets off of the initial shore power. I have a question...that i think I know the answers too but would feel a lot better if one of you geniuses could comment.

this is what I came to in another post after much help from the group

"so the shore power comes in...it has your normal 120 outlet..the charger plugs into the outlet and then runs to your battery? your battery in turn running back to your fuse block which in turn goes out to your lights and etc...is this correct?"

Where shall I keep the charger? I would prefer to keep it in the raceway under the cabin cabinets with most of the other wiring. If I do this, I will need to run the leads from the battery tender to the battery...is it safe to do this through the walls just like i will do the normal wiring? Are the wires that come from the charger just "normal" electrical wiring? Also, if i do this, I can just plug the charger into the first gfci i will install after the shore inlet correct?

thanks again...

mandy

[Larwyn]

Mandy,

Even though my battery is in the same compartment as my Battery Tender, I did not run the leads from the Battery Tender directly to the battery. If I remember correctly there was a fuse in the positive output lead of the battery tender from the factory. I simply cut the output leads to length, connected the Negative lead of the Battery Tender to the negative buss with all the other negatives and connected the Positive lead of the Battery Tender to spare position on the fuse block. I installed a fuse that matched the amp rating of the factory fuse which was removed when the leads were cut. If the need arises, disconnecting the Battery Tender is as simple as removing that fuse and unplugging the unit at the GFCI.

[rhltechie]

Hi Larwyn,

Thanks for your reply. hmm, I didnt know that the charger could work this way! this would obviously be way easier than what was in this little pea brain of mine.

Thanks!

[Mary K]

Mandy,

Even though my battery is in the same compartment as my Battery Tender, I did not run the leads from the Battery Tender directly to the battery. If I remember correctly there was a fuse in the positive output lead of the battery tender from the factory. I simply cut the output leads to length, connected the Negative lead of the Battery Tender to the negative buss with all the other negatives and connected the Positive lead of the Battery Tender to spare position on the fuse block. I installed a fuse that matched the amp rating of the factory fuse which was removed when the leads were cut. If the need arises, disconnecting the Battery Tender is as simple as removing that fuse and unplugging the unit at the GFCI.

Larwyn, If the Tenders positive wire is wired to the fuse block, where is it wired too on the other side of the fuse?

I have a 12vdc 6A power supply I'm using now, but it gets warm, and one day I want to get a Power Tender also. I am just trying to wrap my head around it.

Thanks ya,

Mk

[Larwyn]

Mandy,




Larwyn, If the Tenders positive wire is wired to the fuse block, where is it wired too on the other side of the fuse?

I have a 12vdc 6A power supply I'm using now, but it gets warm, and one day I want to get a Power Tender also. I am just trying to wrap my head around it.

Thanks ya,

Mk

I have one 6 gauge wire from my battery positive to my fuse block, all fuses are factory wired to that same point. So when I wired the charger to what is normally an "output" from the fuse block, I am in effect back feeding the fuse block to get back to the battery positive terminal with charging current. If your fuse block is different the other side of the fuse would simply go to whatever point you picked up positive for all the other fuses or you could run straight to the battery if you want.

Hope that makes sense, if not let me know. I'll try to explain more clearly when my mind is fresher than now.....

[Mary K]

Okay, I think I got it, but let me read it again in the morning... I'm just a little thick sometimes.

Thanks Dude.

Mk

[rhltechie]

hmm...ok...now i am confused..lol, thanks MK!!! hehe The first explanation made sense to me..that you would connect the battery tender just like you would any other "device" to the fuse block and the negative side (which i assume is ground?). i think the second explanation threw me a bit...so maybe I am the thick one!

[Larwyn]

Okay, I'll try to speak more clearly this morning...............

The Battery Tender comes with a fused positive lead which is inteded to be connected directly to the positive battery terminal. In order to keep my wires somewhat under control I needed to cut this long wire anyway and doing so would eliminate the factory fuse, which would need to be substituted or relocated.

If you are using a fuse block, it will have a "positive buss" to supply all the fuses with a connection to the battery positive. So if you connect the Battery Tender positive lead to one of the fuse positions (instal a fuse of the same rating as the factory fuse which was cut off the lead) your connedction will be electrically the same as if you had connected that fused lead to the battery. Actually in my case there is the thermal circuit breaker in the positive lead between the fuse block and the battery, but that will be fine.

The negative/ground, in my case was connected to the ground buss where all the other grounds land. Anywhere which is connected directly to the battery negative terminal is fine.

[rhltechie]

Thank you for your drawing larwyn. This was the way I understood it from the first post..but the drawing clears it all up very well.

Thanks!!

[Larwyn]

Thank you for your drawing larwyn. This was the way I understood it from the first post..but the drawing clears it all up very well.

Thanks!!

No problem. The drawing was easy, remembering how to export it as a BMP then convert to JPG was the tough part...............
Glad it helped.

[Mary K]

Me like drawings!!! Okay I get it.

So, if you have 110VAC shore power plugged in, and your Tender plugged into that, Then the Tender is a 12VDC power supply running the lights and Vent fan AND Charging the Battery. Your running off shore power and not battery power. Ya?

Isn't the Tender designed to stop charging a battery once the battery is charged?

I guess once you put a load on the system, the tender will see the drain and kick in??

Mk

[rhltechie]

oh Mk, you gotta stop confusing me..lol.

I thought the battery tender was purely to keep your battery topped off while the battery was supplying the power to all of your 12v devices (lights,tv,etc.) while it was plugged into your 110outlet off of the shore power.

[Mary K]

Here is my Wiring Diagram



I would hook the (+)Tender to the top side of the fuse block (opposite side of the jumpers) say fuse 7 and add the proper sized fuse. And the (-)Tender to the ground bar.



Mk

[Arne]

Yes, the battery tender will sense a voltage drop and kick in. It also has a diode in it (or something similar) so it will not drain the battery by back-feeding.. in other words, it will not discharge the battery by leaving it connected all the time.

I use the battery tender jr which only puts out .75 amps... as soon as I turn a light on, the b/t green light turns red, indicating it has gone from float to charging.

[Mary K]

oh Mk, you gotta stop confusing me..lol.

I thought the battery tender was purely to keep your battery topped off while the battery was supplying the power to all of your 12v devices (lights,tv,etc.) while it was plugged into your 110outlet off of the shore power.

Sorry Mandy. But If you hook it up like Larwyn has it, what would happen if you disconnected the battery positive wire? Your stuff would be powered by the Tender right?

Maybe we should wait for him to answer.

Mk