Cbe ds300 leisure battery charge rate…

[Spanners70]

Morning all. I’ve got a 2020 T6.1 with the 150bp engine so I’ve no idea whether standard alternator or smart alternator or any other sort of alternator… it’s also got a cbe ds300 electrical box. Anyone know what sort of charge rate the ds300 is allowing to the leisure battery ? I’m trying to gauge how long it will take to charge the leisure battery from the engine leisure battery is varta 12v 75ah 420a din 80pa en/sae/gs.
Equally anyone know of any alternate battery that would have a bigger capacity maybe lithium ? Thanks.

 

[Skyliner33]

You have a smart alternator.
I didn't think the cbe ds300 was a battery charger, so not sure on that.
I will have a Victron dc-dc charger for sale very soon that will do Lithium or the AGM Varta you have.

 

[Pete C]

The CBE DS300 is just a distribution box from what I can see. It doesn’t control the charge rate of the leisure battery.

What other devices do you have fitted ?

Pete

 

[Spanners70]

I have no idea that’s the only box I can see… battery under passenger seat that box is in the back. I guess I need to see if I can find another gadget box then…

 

[Pete C]

Yes, will almost certainly be under the passenger seat with the battery.

Pete

 

[Spanners70]

Yes, will almost certainly be under the passenger seat with the battery.

Pete

Found the charger buried in the back. It’s a cbe CB516. So from an internet search, this shows max charge of 16 amps, so with my 75ah battery assuming it’s totally flat it would take just under 5 hrs engine running to fully charge it ? 75 / 16? Assuming my sums etc are correct, and it wouldn’t get totally flat I’d need a good 3 hrs of the engine to get a decent charge back onto the battery ?

 

[Skyliner33]

Found the charger buried in the back. It’s a cbe CB516. So from an internet search, this shows max charge of 16 amps, so with my 75ah battery assuming it’s totally flat it would take just under 5 hrs engine running to fully charge it ? 75 / 16? Assuming my sums etc are correct, and it wouldn’t get totally flat I’d need a good 3 hrs of the engine to get a decent charge back onto the battery ?

You should never run an AGM battery below 50% capacity.
also the time to charge will depend on the charging profile of the charger. It won’t charge at 16A all the time.

 

[Spanners70]

You should never run an AGM battery below 50% capacity.
also the time to charge will depend on the charging profile of the charger. It won’t charge at 16A all the time.

Yes I’m aware. Problem I’ve had is leaving the van (off grid) with the fridge going for couple of days and then finding it’s cut out. I’m assuming the distribution box or the fridge will cut the battery out when the voltage is too low to run the fridge. Hence looking to see how long to recharge etc. or maybe I need a bigger capacity battery of course longer charge times. Other than the voltmeter not sure how I can guess what capacity it’s at? Charging shows about 13.7 bolts from memory and I think the fridge cuts out at 12v?

 

[campkingnewbie]

Actually the CBE DS300 is designed to charge the leisure battery from the alternator BUT it is totally inappropriate to use on any smart alternator equipped vehicle. It contains a simple voltage sensing relay (so a basic split charge relay). The relay on the PCB is tiny so I suspect there may be some form of basic current limiting as well. The CB516 is a 230v mains only (16A max) battery charger, designed for charging the leisure battery when on mains hook up. (As an aside, the combination of CB516 and CBE DS300 will also trickle charge the starter battery when on mains hook up).

Is your conversion a Camper King conversion/converted vehicle by any chance? (Camper King logo will be on the main DS300 control panel easily visible inside the main van area - not the fuse and wiring center buried in the cupboards in the rear).

The DS300 does not cut power to the fridge (low voltage cut out) when the battery is low, so I suspect it will be the fridge (Dometic CRX50 by any chance?) doing the low voltage cut out. From memory, the voltage it cuts at is way too low though. That fridge (or similar) in real world use, once cooled, uses approximately 45 watts and in this warm weather it will probably be operating at a high duty cycle (>75% of the time on I guess). Therefore it will draw approximately 3.5 amps *0.75 = 2.6 A per hour. Your 75Ah leisure battery if only discharged to 50% DoD would therefore support the fridge for around 14 hours. (You will have seen it run for longer if you rely on the fridge low voltage cut out as it would allow the battery to discharge way past the 50% point with the cut out being too low. So maybe 20 hours run time?).


You should really fit a proper DC-DC charger and follow instructions from CBE on how to disable the onboard voltage sensing split charge relay when the new DC-DC charger is fitted - (need to remove one resistor from the main CBE DS300 PCB).

The reason I ask if it is a Camper King conversion is because they do actually fit a Sterling BB1230 DC-DC charger as well as the split charge relay in the DS300, but it is buried between cupboards and can't be seen or accessed at all (including three onboard fuses) without dismantling the rear cupboards completely. (on mine it was also inappropriately and incorrectly wired (and the split charge relay was not disabled)). (you may find a leisure battery buried in the depths of the inaccessible cupboards as well - are you sure the front seat battery is powering the fridge? Seems strange to have all the chargers at the very rear of the vehicle if the (small) battery is at the front - not ideal cable runs. Or maybe the conversion relies on the factory fitted 2nd battery only under the seat and the DS300 is not charging it at all? Post a few pics of the set up if you can.

 

[Spanners70]

Thanks for the reply. Yes domestic fridge, I got the van second hand so not sure on the converter but no sign of any stickers or badging from camper king. Maybe my first tweak is swap out the 75ah battery for a bigger one and go from there

 

[Spanners70]

Just carrying on with my issues. Turns out my van has a factory fitted leisure battery system hence why I couldn’t find any chargers it’s all as it came out the vw factory with the leisure battery under the seat at build.
Anyone any suggestions on a suitable solar panel I could fit onto my Reimo roof and if I can just connect this direct into the cbe ds300 box to charge the battery ? Or a company in north west that could do this ?