Disconecting charger supply from power management system

[Pummer67]

Any ideas on how to disconect the charge supply from a PMS 3V other than leaving switch off. I'm about to wire a victron smart charger in utilising one of the socket circuits which I dont use so need to disconect the charge supply from the unit itself.
Any ideas?





Front of unit. I could just leave the red switch off but thought it should be disconnected in case of accidental operation

 

[PKK1973]

Did you find out how to do this in the end? I'm in the same situation, adding a Victron smart charger to the system and wanting to disable the PMS charger functionality. I'm assuming leaving the Battery Selector in the OFF position performs this task, but I'd rather take the charger element out of the loop altogether.

If I leave the red Charger Supply switch off as you suggest doing, that means no hook up power which isn't what I want.

 

[Deaky]

I guess, as the charger is internal you'd have to disconnect it inside the unit and patch your new one in.

 

[bladerunner1968]

Mine has a fuse on the back of the unit. I'm hoping that is the charge fuse as I'm about to do the same. My van is in bits currently but I'll know more tomorrow

 

[PKK1973]

Mine has a fuse on the back of the unit. I'm hoping that is the charge fuse as I'm about to do the same. My van is in bits currently but I'll know more tomorrow

There's a blade fuse underneath my PMS that Camperversions (who did the conversion) tell me is "for the PMS". I think that's the fuse between the Van positive and the battery as shown in the wiring diagram. If I remove it, it disconnects the battery from the system as expected. If removed when the hook up is connected, power remains on to the lights / pump etc. Also, on mine only MCB 3 seems wired up and tripping that stops shore power to the whole system.

 

[bladerunner1968]

I'm referring to this fuse in yellow on the left

 

[PKK1973]

I can't see any mention of that yellow fuse in the PMS manual (is it a 20amp fuse?). Any mention of the charger is vague to be fair.

 

[bladerunner1968]

I'll be able to test this tomorrow when I finish phase 1 of my electrical upgrade project. I can tell you now that the manufacturer (bonus) is useless and totally unwilling to offer even basic support for this unit. I will be totally removing this pms during phase2

 

[PKK1973]

I've just pulled that yellow fuse out. Now when hooked up to power, the red Charger Supply switch lights up but power doesn't go any further - to the "charger" or anything else.

So, on mine... MCB's 1 and 2 don't seem to be connected / in use. MCB 3 cuts power to the entire PMS (the red switch doesn't light up). The yellow 20amp fuse round the back allows power into the PMS, but stops is going anywhere when removed or tripped.

 

[Jollyvan]

If you select Car and use the charger does this not just charge the starter battery and not the leisure battery? If so would that be useful ?

 

[PKK1973]

That's the theory. I know mine isn't wired like that though, Camperversions said it caused confusion so they stopped connecting that bit. Apparently people were charging their car batteries instead of their leisure ones by mistake. I'm not sure how disconnecting it stops that confusion though - people can still be confused by the switch only now they'll be charging neither battery...

 

[bladerunner1968]

The quick fix is to remove the brown cables from the rocker charger on or off switch. That is what I will do.

 

[PKK1973]

I'd have no shore power then though. On mine, that red switch turns on both shore power and the "charger".

I think in my case, where I want to replace the PMS charger with my new Victron Smart Charger I'll leave the battery switch "OFF" when I'm hooked up. That way the PMS doesn't pass power to the battery. Until I understand more about both what I'm doing and the PMS itself, I'll be using the Victron plugged into one of my vans 240v sockets - so I'll need the PMS to be powering those sockets. It doesn't do that if the red "Charger Supply" switch is off.

 

[bladerunner1968]

I think you definitely have a different wiring layout then. As far as I know that red switch should only turn on the charger only when on 240v hookup.

 

[PKK1973]

That's interesting. So when normally wired up, as soon as you plug your hook up in, it's live?

It would make sense, it is called "Charger Supply".