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TRansit - diff noise.


JohnD

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Like the TRansit not sure about the UK badge!
Its so very Boris, we are not a United Kingdom anymore..... :(
Can we still use the GB badge?

Mike

BTW glad the van is behaving! We have a van based Campervan and I love driving it, feel like a white van man ;)

 

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  • 2 months later...

Having more experience of the TRansit for long journeys (1600 miles for Le Mans), I'd like advice please on a further mod.     I don't need to run anything very power-eating at night, but to be confident that the in-van lights, and charging my phone or running my tablet won't run-down the starter battery.   The cool-box would be good to have on all- night too. The van has a 'hook-up' socket, but none of my beloved French aires have a power supply, so I'd like to fit a second battery, that the engine would recharge while travelling during the day.   Some battery cable and a simple cut-off switch would be a cheap way of doing this.

But what do you think about my proposed second battery?     Earlier this year, I left the rear view camera on, and flattened the battery.     Twenty four hours on my 'smart' battery charger in 'restoration' mode and the battery was holding charge again, started and ran the van,  but it failed a second time.    In the face of the Le Mans trip, I splashed out on a new battery, so I have a battery, well used and abused, that might suffice for the above tasks.

What does the Electrical Engineering Dept. of Sideways U. think?   I know that a 'deep-cycle' leisure battery is the proper job, but I don't want to spend more.   Is this a foolish plan?

Also, I've installed in the rear 'workshop' a 200W diode light bar, to illuminate late night repair work.    Would that run of the second battery for more than a few minutes?

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5 hours ago, JohnD said:

Also, I've installed in the rear 'workshop' a 200W diode light bar, to illuminate late night repair work.    Would that run of the second battery for more than a few minutes?

Is it actually drawing 200W, or 200W equivelent? 

If the former, it will be drawing 17amps. But if the latter (and I expect it is equivelent, a 200w LED would blind you in a small area) it is probably just 2amps or so. Even a std little Herald battery would run that for at least 16hrs. 

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As above. Rogers guide is very clear. Should be able to buy the parts online.

Also its worth paying the extra for a proper leisure battery as they are designed to allow a  deep discharge without damaging the battery. 

re lights 200W (assuming its 12V) is 16A, if the battery is a 100Ah battery it should last for about ~6 hours,
Thats a lot of power for a light!

mike

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Very True, Roger, as I proved by ruining the first battery!  And Hamish, I guess you mean  DO use a more standard camper van set up, for the same reasons!  And Mike and Zetec too - it's a diode light bar, so I presume much less current than an incandescent, but had no idea what.

May I also ask the EE Dept. to look at this.     On top of the battery is a small accessory circuit, a wooden board with a fuse box and a relay.  At first, I thought it might be a circuit for a second battery:

2140708447_accessorycircuitonbattery.thumb.jpg.ef093ec11819a5b3c1ea56b1b4698ddc.jpg

It's wired as follows

1400409717_Accessorycircuitonbattery.thumb.png.77102bb02d27a5befc4adc4bd719e6e1.png

 

The three-core flex, top right, looks like domestic flex, as does the 2-core included in the one sleeved in that split elephant tubing. 

That relay, I found was U/S.  Water had got in (How? the van is water-tight!) The DPO or whoever converted it has fitted two switches on the dash, supplied by the three-core flex from the accessory circuit.  One switch turns on the roof lights in the back (Fluorescent  tubes), but that has a yellow wire on it, so doesn't go to this accessory circuit.   The other switches the relay (I had a spare)!     But I still don't know what device it switches on!  And I don't know what devices are supplied  by the two 10A fuses, via the blue and purple wires!    

I don 't think it has anything to do with the 'hook-up' circuit.  That has a box in the back of the van with three circuit breakers, wired with standard three-core cable, not flex or vehicle wiring.  It supplies a pair of domestic three-pin sockets inside the van, used by the DPO  to power a domestic microwave, and two in the 'workshop' that if 'hooked-up' could be used for a power tool?   !    I use them to power a CTEK to keep the battery charged.

As well as roof lights, there are courtesy lights inside the van, and in the rear 'workshop, all switched by opening the doors (I wired the diode light bar to those!  Nothing blew up!).  So this is nothing to do with them.   

 

The TRansit  is more a "day van" than the full 'camper van' Apart from the above it has no electrical devices.  No water heaters, cabin heaters, televisions  or jukeboxes. Can anyone with a camper think what those two unswitched feeds and the relay-switched one are going to?

John

 

 

Edited by JohnD
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are they any 12V sockets in the van?  They could be feed from the battery and relay and only switched on as needed (and probably when the engine is running), I can imagine them being used for a fridge for example so you would only power it when the engine was on and charging the battery.


Presumably the 13A socket are feed from a EHU and as long as the cable is rated could be used for any thing at 240V (<13A). Most EHU in the UK are 16A, some are occasionally 10A or 8A so might need to think about the total load you are taking from the EHU.
In Europe its more variable. In Spain we went to one site where protective connection failed when it rained and the van chassis floated so you got a tingle if you touched the van when standing on the ground!


I think if you want to go to a separate leisure battery you are better starting again and following docs above. At least you will know the  cct!

Mike

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Thanks, Mike!    There is the usual "cigarette lighter" socket on the dash, no more 12V sockets.     The van came with a portable cool box that runs off that, and has a three pin 240V plug as well, but I have not dared run that except when the engine running.     It got difficult on last trip, as I wanted to recharge phone, and run the cool box, and I have an after market tyre pressure monitor, AND my satnav, all wanting to run off that socket!   I've bought a multiway extension with three sockets for next time!

Yes, this accessory circuit can't be anything to do with a leisure battery, but the relay switched circuit must have been something substantial, the relay is 30A and the  fuse 15A.   The other two supplied (Blue and purple, as if that meant anything, but see above) are 10A fused, but all three still mysterious!     

John

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John. This really isn't my area of expertise however this bloke ...

Has built one and may give you some hints along the line of the comments above. He is no expert so the explanations are quite good. he also has a canal boat channel which talks about the stuff too.

6 minutes ago, JohnD said:

he van came with a portable cool box that runs off that, and has a three pin 240V plug as well, but I have not dared run that except when the engine running. 

If you can run direct 12V all the better unless you have an external power source as the inverter consumes quite a bit of power itself. It does this whether or not there is a load too so should be isolated unless you are using it.

There, that's my knowledge of the subject exhausted. :biggrin:

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3 hours ago, JohnD said:

 The van came with a portable cool box that runs off that, and has a three pin 240V plug as well, but I have not dared run that except when the engine running.     

Hello John

                   If it is 230/240volt there must be an inverter somewhere?

You need to look at it and find out what it is rated at and how much power it can pull!

Roger

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