Fitting a battery charger with a Sargent EC155

[Sim73]

Hi,

I have a fully converted van with a Sargent EC155 unit. I am wanting to leave that in place, but fit a new battery charger to cope with a new lithium battery.

Has anyone done this? If so, any advice would be appreciated.

Secondly, it looks like I will also have to replace my Sterling Power Pro Batt Ultra B2B as it does not have a lithium option. This is currently under the drivers seat, but I will need the room for the Roamer under seat battery. I assume this does not need to be next to the battery.

Thanks in advance.

 

[evans1089]

Following..

 

[Dellmassive]

Yes you can add a seperate mains charger.

The Victron IP65 or IP22 blue smart chargers are popular....

The Sargent is just a basic power supply..and won't charge a lithium properly.

https://amzn.to/3cjxh8J

.

 

[keith baker]

The sterling bb1230 has a lithium option. I charge my van battery with a ctek charger and let the sterling b2b charge the lithium leisure battery

 

[Dellmassive]

Yes the Roamer fits in a single seat base (I have a sb230 fitted)

And yes you can move the DC-DC charger....

The charger should be as close to the LB as possible.... (Compared to being closer to the starter battery)

You need to do increase the cable size to compensate for the extra length.

You could move the charger to the other seat base or one of the rear cabinets....


Yes you will need to replace the DC-DC charger for one with a lithium profile.


More info here:

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

DC-DC Charger (for Leisure battery) -- How I Done It -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

And here:

Seat Base Electric + EHU + Solar Install + Charger + DC-DC -- How We Done it --

Seat Base Electric + EHU + Solar Install + Charger + DC-DC -- How We Done it -- id like to build a thread showing what's possible as regards to seat base builds. lets post a collection of our electrical installs, be it in the seat base or rear conversion. just EHU or SCR/VSR, charger, DC-DC...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Sim73]

The sterling bb1230 has a lithium option. I charge my van battery with a ctek charger and let the sterling b2b charge the lithium leisure battery

Sadly mine does not have a lithium option.

 

[Sim73]

Yes you can add a seperate mains charger.

The Victron IP65 or IP22 blue smart chargers are popular....

The Sargent is just a basic power supply..and won't charge a lithium properly.

https://amzn.to/3cjxh8J

View attachment 170279

.

Great ordered on Amazon.

Thanks for all the help as always. Do you know what I need to do connection wise with the Sargent?

(Inverter now fitted and working so thanks for the advice with that too).

 

[Dellmassive]

Great ordered on Amazon.

Thanks for all the help as always. Do you know what I need to do connection wise with the Sargent?

(Inverter now fitted and working so thanks for the advice with that too).

Connect the charger to battery pos and neg( or chassis ground point)

It will work allongside the Sargent.

Same as a solar charger.

 

[Sim73]

Connect the charger to battery pos and neg( or chassis ground point)

It will work allongside the Sargent.

Same as a solar charger.

My understanding is that the Sargent provides a constant charge to the battery (which is not good for the battery). Do I need to disconnect this and pick up this feed for the Victron.

Sorry I am new to all of this, but learning fast.

 

[cgtmiles]

I’m not sure you can separate the charger function in the unit. You could maybe remove all mains from the Sargent and direct to the separate charger instead but then you need a consumer unit etc too and the Sargent becomes glorified a 12v fuse box.

I have the Sargent unit and I’d like to upgrade my battery when it fails but having investigated briefly when Lee had a battery for sale I decided it was not easily doable and so would wait until required. I’d be interested to hear if you find a viable solution in the meantime without losing the functionality of the unit.

Have you tried contacting Sargent?

 

[Dellmassive]

The Sargent has a internal power supply.

13.8v at 12A




..

EC155 Power Supply Unit | Shop | Sargent Electrical

....

So that voltage might drop to 12.2v by the time it gets to the battery.

So not much chance of overcharging a battery.

Most batteries use a 13.8v float voltage to
keep charged......and that's the idea behind the Sargent charge. (But it's not very effective on modern setups with large loads)

....


So adding a seperate solar and EHU charger direct to the battery is not an issue.

 

[cgtmiles]

The Sargent has a internal power supply.

13.8v at 12A

View attachment 170403


..

EC155 Power Supply Unit | Shop | Sargent Electrical

....

So that voltage might drop to 12.2v by the time it gets to the battery.

So not much chance of overcharging a battery.

Most batteries use a 13.8v float voltage to
keep charged......and that's the idea behind the Sargent charge. (But it's not very effective on modern setups with large loads)

....


So adding a seperate solar and EHU charger direct to the battery is not an issue.

Are you sure? You did say in another thread that this sort of charger wasn’t good for standard leisure batteries so is it really ok to have this constant trickle charge to a lithium battery?

 

[Dellmassive]

Yes it's ok.... To run a seperate charger alongside the Sargent.

Most lithium batterys need 14.2v for bulk charge.(at the battery)

And 13.8v for float charge.(at the battery)

So the Sargent wouldn't be able to charge a lithium battery.... As the voltage is too low.

And from what I've seen the volt drop from the Sargent to the battery over the cable run takes that voltage down to 12.x V.

So again there is no chance of a trickle charge cooking a lithium.

Plus.... All modern lifepo4 battery have a BMS that blocks any charge voltage when it's full anyway....regardles of any charger.


....


Having a seperate EHU charger is no different than having a solar charger.....they will all run indipendantly.

 

[Sim73]

Well I have ordered my Roamer battery so I will have to figure something out. Ha ha.

 

[Widdzuk]

I have the same setup (Sargent ec155) and and bought the Roamer seat base battery. I ordered the Victron charger and have wired it to the 240v output on the Sargent and then directly to the new battery. Reading online, I was advised just to leave the ec155 switch off (as that’s just the charger) and for extra peace of mind remove the fuse in the Sargent for the charger. So basically the Sargent works as is, without the charger function, and when I’m on EHU it powers the Victron to do its thing separately

 

[Dellmassive]

That sounds like a plan.

I haven't got a Sargent to do any testing....

I'll get one to do bench testing at some point.

 

[Sim73]

I have the same setup (Sargent ec155) and and bought the Roamer seat base battery. I ordered the Victron charger and have wired it to the 240v output on the Sargent and then directly to the new battery. Reading online, I was advised just to leave the ec155 switch off (as that’s just the charger) and for extra peace of mind remove the fuse in the Sargent for the charger. So basically the Sargent works as is, without the charger function, and when I’m on EHU it powers the Victron to do its thing separately

Brilliant thank you. Any photos of exactly where you have connected it would be brilliant.

I will have a look at the Sargent manual now. Is your system in the rear wardrobe? If so, what cable size did you use to the battery? Thanks in advance.

 

[Widdzuk]

Brilliant thank you. Any photos of exactly where you have connected it would be brilliant.

I will have a look at the Sargent manual now. Is your system in the rear wardrobe? If so, what cable size did you use to the battery? Thanks in advance.

I piggybacked one of the 240v plug sockets (just mindful of not overloading it). The cable size was just standard 240v cable (unfortunately cannot remember the exact size) but similar to a 3 core extension cable. Make sure you use all correct fuses on the relevant cables if not using plugs - victron advise which fuses to use.

 

[Widdzuk]

I piggybacked one of the 240v plug sockets (just mindful of not overloading it). The cable size was just standard 240v cable (unfortunately cannot remember the exact size) but similar to a 3 core extension cable. Make sure you use all correct fuses on the relevant cables if not using plugs - victron advise which fuses to use.

I also have the charger (Ip22) close to the battery, so the actual 12v cables are short and fused. Sorry, but I cannot remember the cables sizes for the output (12v) side I used. And the cable from the back to the front is the 240v one I mentioned above

 

[Sim73]

Great thanks for getting back to me.