[Smiffi]

Just a word of caution... The EC155 is (IMO) a nice unit in terms of integrated power distribution and control BUT - and it is a BIG but - the battery charging part leaves a lot to be desired. It is limited to a recommended 100Ah max battery size and it is very much a dumb charger.

I would strongly suggest you get a modern smart charger that will provide optimal charging to your batteries.

Thanks, when you say smart charger, do you mean something like a CTEK smart charger that connects to the car battery or ciggi lighter?

 

[Smiffi]

In general, the "lesser" Sargent controllers such as the EC155 (and EC325 and EC328) only allow you to charge one battery at a time - so the battery that's selected on the panel is the one that is charged, and the one that power is taken from by loads in the habitation area. The default on the EC325/328 when the panel is turned off is to charge the leisure battery, but I don't know if that is true of the EC155.

The "low battery" on the radio is entirely a function of the radio - some OEM radios are set up very conservatively and will auto switch off when the battery is still only partially depleted. On the other hand, your vehicle battery may be knackered!

Thanks for the info Triffic. I just left the panel off and it seems the leisure battery was charged. I will have a little play to see if I can get it to charge the van battery. I don't seem to be able to get either battery to display full on the panel.

 

[Smiffi]

?

A CTEK MSX Charger or a Victron unit.

The LED light array on the Sargent is meaningless. you would be better to get a Voltmeter to monitor the Batteries.

Ref charging the van battery . It is as triffic said ... On the front panel select V for vehicle battery and the system is then using the starter battery for power draw AND charging.
I used the charger on the EC115 in this way to add charge to either Lesiure OR starter battery and it was fine - BUT I didn't use the EC155 Charger as the main charger - I had an Amperor Associates Power Integrator installed that maintained both batteries using a smart charging algorithm from either Solar or Alternator to keep the right routine (this is not something that either the dumb charger in the Sargent OR a basic split-charge relay can do)

Thanks Hoovie. Stupid question again....but as the CTEK I have charges the car battery from the ciggi lighter socket, would the same apply to the leisure battery if I plugged into the 12v socket in the van? I think this is only active with the panel powered on so not sure if this would work? Or would I have to disconnect the battery under the seat and attach to straight onto that?

 

[Smiffi]

The Sargent EC155 switches all the various sockets and devices connected to it to either the Lesiure Battery if set to "L"; and if set to "V" they are all connected to the Starter Battery (just a recap there).
If the front Panel is off, then you are right, almost all the supplied devices are off - except for any which have been connected to the "Always On" Sargent output - which ones they are is down to how it was installed - typically a radio supply and lighting (I use it for lighting as you usually want those to work with the panel on or off!).

So ... plug your CTEK into one of the added 12V Accessory socket and it will charge whichever battery is 'live' as per the EC50/51 Control Panel selection. It is actually a very tidy way to use a lower power non-dedicated mains charger (no more than 10A) on a camper.
If you want to be able to charge with the panel off, then you will need a dedicated connection to the battery (ring terminals on the battery with the CTEK plug on the end is a neat setup as well). No need to disconnect the battery.

Excellent info, thanks Hoovie. I will dig out the CTEK and give it a go. I was worried that if I had the CTEK in the 12v socket with the power on the panel something would blow. So that will give the L battery a much better charge/conditioning than just leaving the van hooked up overnight? Do people put the CTEK units in line between the EC155 and the battery so as soon as you 'hook-up' you are smart charging the battery rather than letting the Sargent unit do the work?

 

[Smiffi]

This is how I would do it if I borrowed your van ....

Leave the Van hooked up so the AC sockets are live.
Turn off the internal Sargent Mains Charger by just flicking the big red neon switch to Off
Control Panel Battery Selection to "L"
Plug CTEK Charger into a mains socket for input power
Plug CTEK 12V Accessory Plug into 12V Accessory Socket to charge the Leisure Battery.​

In the past when I have had to charge up a leisure Battery and the vehicle wasn't really setup yet, I've used a 12V plug from the dash socket to a 12V plug into a Leisure socket to effectively join the batteries together. As long as you respect the limitations of the cable gauges and don't overload, you can be very flexible and a bit creative when it comes to this kind of thing


Longer Term you probably want to wire in a dedicated mains charger to the battery terminals - and maybe a more powerful one depending on how you use your camper (do you need to get your batteries charged up quicker or is an overnight charge ok? There is no "one size fits all" answer - depends on the use you have for the vehicle. Doesn't tend to hurt to go bigger on a charger except in the wallet area )

Many thanks Hoovie. I'll give that a go next time I'm hooked up. My understanding is that the 240v sockets are disconnected until the red switch is set to on however I could be wrong. I'll find out shortly!

 

[Smiffi]

OK .... back

The RED SWITCH is certainly labelled "CHARGER" - and so is as I recalled, a switch for the Charger ON or OFF.

FUSE #12 is for the Charger - actually 15A not 20A as I recalled in last post - remove that will stop it outputing (but Red Switch is better way).

THIRD-MOST MCD (Nearest to RHS) is the Mains in for the Charger plus Fridge and Boiler. Now it depends on how the unit is installed, but on a vehicle the size of a T5, that output may not be used for anything other than the Charger.

So actually potentially 3 different ways to stop the built-in charger doing anything - flicking the switch is by far the easiest

Thank you Hoovie, fantastic help!

 

[Smiffi]

No - you should be Ok there. You should be able to turn off the 12V supply and not affect the mains sockets at all.

Thanks Triffic, much appreciated