Hillside birchover split charge relay
- Thread starter Grainfoot
- Start date
P
Phil_G
Guest
No it doesnt. Its the much-maligned standard VW offering. The relay is operated by ignition live, so as supplied theres no transfer from your LB to the starter battery.
However
read 2nd post onwards...
www.t6forum.com
You can easily make your own equivalent of the Votronic trickle charger.
Whilst the van is stood idle the starter battery will never be higher than your solar-charged leisure battery, so you can omit the diode,
that makes it even easier to make your own lead if you dont want to buy a ready-made (& hugely overpriced) one:
Buy two fused cig-lighter plugs. Buy/find/cadge a 10 or 20 watt half-ohm, one ohm or two ohm resistor, its not critical.
Connect a single wire from the centre of one plug to one end of the resistor.
Connect a single wire from the centre of the other plug to the other end of the resistor.
Dont connect anything to the ground or outer 'sleeve' connections, just a single wire using the fused 'tips'.
Put the resistor in a small case of some sort ensuring that it cant short.
Make sure the 'other' end isnt touching anything and plug one end into the dash socket.
Very carefully align the other plug into the rear fag socket and push it home, remember that its 'tip' is live
from the starter battery so dont let it touch anything it shouldnt.
This is only for a maintenance trickle, dont do it if your starter battery is completely flat, if you do the resistor will get very hot.
However
read 2nd post onwards...
Ctek250se Solar Input Charging Both Batteries Via Victron Mppt
Here's a question. I have a CTEK250SE installed and also use a Victron 75/15 MPPT controller with a 160w solar panel. During the current travel restrictions, I see my starter battery dropping sometimes down to 11.5v so leave it running for 15mins to get it back up into 12v territory every 3-4...
You can easily make your own equivalent of the Votronic trickle charger.
Whilst the van is stood idle the starter battery will never be higher than your solar-charged leisure battery, so you can omit the diode,
that makes it even easier to make your own lead if you dont want to buy a ready-made (& hugely overpriced) one:
Buy two fused cig-lighter plugs. Buy/find/cadge a 10 or 20 watt half-ohm, one ohm or two ohm resistor, its not critical.
Connect a single wire from the centre of one plug to one end of the resistor.
Connect a single wire from the centre of the other plug to the other end of the resistor.
Dont connect anything to the ground or outer 'sleeve' connections, just a single wire using the fused 'tips'.
Put the resistor in a small case of some sort ensuring that it cant short.
Make sure the 'other' end isnt touching anything and plug one end into the dash socket.
Very carefully align the other plug into the rear fag socket and push it home, remember that its 'tip' is live
from the starter battery so dont let it touch anything it shouldnt.
This is only for a maintenance trickle, dont do it if your starter battery is completely flat, if you do the resistor will get very hot.
Last edited by a moderator:
Nothing to damage then between socket and battery. What about a large full dash size solar panel plugged into 12v socket. It has a regulator between panel and socket.No it doesnt. Its the much-maligned standard VW offering. The relay is operated by ignition live, so as supplied theres no transfer from your LB to the starter battery.
However
Ctek250se Solar Input Charging Both Batteries Via Victron Mppt
Here's a question. I have a CTEK250SE installed and also use a Victron 75/15 MPPT controller with a 160w solar panel. During the current travel restrictions, I see my starter battery dropping sometimes down to 11.5v so leave it running for 15mins to get it back up into 12v territory every 3-4...
You can easily make your own equivalent of the Votronic trickle charger.
Whilst the van is stood idle the starter battery will never be higher than your solar-charged leisure battery, so you can omit the diode,
that makes it even easier to make your own lead if you dont want to buy a ready-made (& hugely overpriced) one:
Buy two fused cig-lighter plugs. Buy/find/cadge a 10 or 20 watt half-ohm, one ohm or two ohm resistor, its not critical.
Connect a single wire from the centre of one plug to one end of the resistor.
Connect a single wire from the centre of the other plug to the other end of the resistor.
Dont connect anything to the ground or outer 'sleeve' connections, just a single wire using the fused 'tips'.
Put the resistor in a small case of some sort ensuring that it cant short.
Make sure the 'other' end isnt touching anything and plug one end into the dash socket.
Very carefully align the other plug into the rear fag socket and push it home, remember that its 'tip' is live
from the starter battery so dont let it touch anything it shouldnt.
This is only for a maintenance trickle, dont do it if your starter battery is completely flat, if you do the resistor will get very hot.
View attachment 65917
P
Phil_G
Guest
Perfect. Which panel is that?
Think this is the same one.
I asked Hillside Leisure this question and answer is, no would need to keep vehicle battery charged with a seperate charger. Think this is a very disappointing arrangement and an obvious requirement.
P
Phil_G
Guest
Its the standard VW auxiliary battery option - Hillside dont change anything from that standard so under normal circumstances, no it doesnt charge the starter battery.
However if you're competent you can either operate the relay artificially, or bridge it. Dont if you're not!
A much safer way is to connect the rear and front cig lighter sockets as shown a few posts above https://www.t6forum.com/threads/hillside-birchover-split-charge-relay.18430/ . There are identical commercial cig-to-cig trickle chargers if you prefer to buy, but the commercial Votronic one is essentially the same as the home-made one. https://www.t6forum.com/threads/gui...isure-battery-how-i-done-it.15066/post-261103
Cheers
Phil
However if you're competent you can either operate the relay artificially, or bridge it. Dont if you're not!
A much safer way is to connect the rear and front cig lighter sockets as shown a few posts above https://www.t6forum.com/threads/hillside-birchover-split-charge-relay.18430/ . There are identical commercial cig-to-cig trickle chargers if you prefer to buy, but the commercial Votronic one is essentially the same as the home-made one. https://www.t6forum.com/threads/gui...isure-battery-how-i-done-it.15066/post-261103
Cheers
Phil
Last edited by a moderator:
