Sterling battery maintainer - Lithium

[moodsterT6]

Hi,

Fitted a Sterling battery maintainer to keep the starter topped up:

Sterling Battery-Battery Maintainer 12V-12V, 3A

The Sterling B2B Maintainer diverts a small current from a charging source to a second battery, preventing self-discharge & extending battery service life.

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

My leisure battery is Lithium which has a higher resting voltage than AGM so the maintainer pulls 1-2 amps off the battery all the time, not just when it sees a charge rate. I guess it may not be an issue once I have the Solar Panel fitted but not all year round.

Anyone with any creative ideas? Was thinking about using a Victron Smart Battery Protect just so I can turn it off via the Bluetooth instead of allowing it to constantly pull 1-2 amps per hour.

Cheers.

 

[Dellmassive]

the van will keep the starter battery at 80% Soc all the time.

so your sterling will constantly be topping up the 20% till the starter is full. - every drive cycle.

so add a switch that disables the unit when you don't need it.


or look at a smart programmable unit . .


like the AMT12.


more info here:

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It -- Right so its that time of year again . . . . . . . . Winter & (Lockdown 2020) The van might be layed up not being used, which will lead to a flat battery in around 3 weeks. The cold weather doesn't help the battery's...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[moodsterT6]

the van will keep the starter battery at 80% Soc all the time.

so your sterling will constantly be topping up the 20% till the starter is full. - every drive cycle.

so add a switch that disables the unit when you don't need it.


or look at a smart programmable unit . .


like the AMT12.


more info here:

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It -- Right so its that time of year again . . . . . . . . Winter & (Lockdown 2020) The van might be layed up not being used, which will lead to a flat battery in around 3 weeks. The cold weather doesn't help the battery's...

www.t6forum.com

View attachment 149291


.

Interesting, so with my setup I would need setting 2? I take it that would mean the unit will not pull amps from the leisure battery unless it sees more than 14.2 volts?

cheers.

 

[Dellmassive]

see programming sheet here: https://www.ablemail.co.uk/sites/default/files/specs/ABLEMAIL AMT12-2 DATA SHEET.pdf

and install sheet here : https://www.ablemail.co.uk/sites/default/files/DOC No SWI049 - ABLEMAIL - GENERAL Trickle Charge Installation Instructions Rev.A.pdf


....

AMT12-2 12V 2AMP Trickle Charger - Battery Maintainer - Battery Saver | eBay

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[Sim60]

Hi,

Fitted a Sterling battery maintainer to keep the starter topped up:

Sterling Battery-Battery Maintainer 12V-12V, 3A

The Sterling B2B Maintainer diverts a small current from a charging source to a second battery, preventing self-discharge & extending battery service life.

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

My leisure battery is Lithium which has a higher resting voltage than AGM so the maintainer pulls 1-2 amps off the battery all the time, not just when it sees a charge rate. I guess it may not be an issue once I have the Solar Panel fitted but not all year round.

Anyone with any creative ideas? Was thinking about using a Victron Smart Battery Protect just so I can turn it off via the Bluetooth instead of allowing it to constantly pull 1-2 amps per hour.

Cheers.

The smart battery connect is unidirectional and is not designed for reverse currents from charging devices according to Victron. - when the alternator is charging the starter battery, this could be at a higher voltage than your lithium leisure battery

Simon

 

[moodsterT6]

The smart battery connect is unidirectional and is not designed for reverse currents from charging devices according to Victron. - when the alternator is charging the starter battery, this could be at a higher voltage than your lithium leisure battery

Simon

I would connect the feed from my leisure battery to the input on the Smart Battery Protect and then the load would go to the Sterling B2B so the current would be in the correct direction.

Victron states the SBP can be used for charging sources as long as it’s connected to the load:

The Smart BatteryProtect is a uni-directional device. It can only deal with current in one direction, so either current to a load, or current from a charger, but not both currents at the same time. In addition to this, current only can only flow from the IN terminal to the OUT terminal. In case of use with a load, the battery connects to the IN terminal, and in case of use with a charger, the charger connects to the IN terminal.

 

[Sim60]

I would connect the feed from my leisure battery to the input on the Smart Battery Protect and then the load would go to the Sterling B2B so the current would be in the correct direction.

Victron states the SBP can be used for charging sources as long as it’s connected to the load:

The Smart BatteryProtect is a uni-directional device. It can only deal with current in one direction, so either current to a load, or current from a charger, but not both currents at the same time. In addition to this, current only can only flow from the IN terminal to the OUT terminal. In case of use with a load, the battery connects to the IN terminal, and in case of use with a charger, the charger connects to the IN terminal.

Ah - I should have read more carefully - I thought you wanted to replace the sterling with the victron SBP

Simon

 

[moodsterT6]

Ah - I should have read more carefully - I thought you wanted to replace the sterling with the victron SBP

Simon

Thanks for pointing it out though Simon, this Forum is invaluable information that is harder to get from the vendors sometimes!

Cheers.

 

[moodsterT6]

** Update **

I’m in love with the Sterling Battery Maintainer! It works really well. It is active all the time due to the higher voltage of the Lithium battery, but it does reduce the current to only what it needs to maintain the starter battery.

I’ll keep it as is and not bother adding a switch to turn it off.

 

[moodsterT6]

@Dellmassive ok, I see what you meant about the ECU wanting to keep the starter battery at 80%. With the Sterling B2B I have a nice full starter battery, but then the Alternator won’t put out any amps so when the Victron Orion starts pulling 20amps of the starter battery, it drops below the voltage lock out on the Victron Orion so it disables charging.

Seems I can’t have my cake and eat it. Think I’ll add a Victron SBP in line with the Sterling B2B so I can enable / disable the via Bluetooth only when needed.

 

[Dellmassive]

@Dellmassive ok, I see what you meant about the ECU wanting to keep the starter battery at 80%. With the Sterling B2B I have a nice full starter battery, but then the Alternator won’t put out any amps so when the Victron Orion starts pulling 20amps of the starter battery, it drops below the voltage lock out on the Victron Orion so it disables charging.

Seems I can’t have my cake and eat it. Think I’ll add a Victron SBP in line with the Sterling B2B so I can enable / disable the via Bluetooth only when needed.

the other option is to wire the Vic Orion to the IGN feed to switch it ON/OFF. ( instead of the auto feature)

you can use a fuse tap to pic up a 12v IGN feed.

or

much better is to wire it to the BCM engine run feed. . .


mine 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

.


BCM run feed 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

 

[Dellmassive]

post a few pics of your install . .

are you using big enough cables to overcome any volt drop?

where is the Orion located?

 

[moodsterT6]

@Dellmassive I’ve already wired an ignition live to override the engine detection software. The issue is with the voltage lockout on the Orion which is active regardless of the engine detection status. What happens is, the Orion starts pulling 20ish amps off the starter battery but without the alternator putting out amps, the starter voltage drops to 11.5 volts (as it’s under load). What’s happening is expected behaviour as the alternator is idle, it wants the starter battery to drop to 80% SOC.

The cable is correct specification as per the Victron manual for the Orion (16mm)

I think if I alter the voltage lock out settings on the Orion to keep going even when the starter battery voltage drops to 11.5 volts the alternator will eventually kick in, I don’t want to do that, I’ll just add a method to remotely enable the Sterling battery maintainer.

Cheers.

 

[Dellmassive]

gotcha . .

though 11.5v for the starter sounds low. . . . and 20A draw from the battery is not that much.

id expect the alternator would kick in at a much higher voltage if the system voltage had dropped that low.

there is another way to force the alternator into a high output. . . . just turn on some beefy electrical loads. . .


i found that by turning on either the heated seats or heated windscreen caused a large draw on the 12v system which in turn caused the alternator to increase system voltage , , , , normally around the high 14`s volts.

.

as you say you could like at fitting a inline switch to disable the sterling.


do you have any monitoring fitted . . . ie a BM2 to see some voltage plots?

Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --

Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It -- Part #1 Battery monitoring is a very important part of your 12v system . . . . whether its just the vans starter battery or your leisure setup keeping an eye on the power in your battery bank will keep you from breaking down and make sure your weekends...

www.t6forum.com

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[moodsterT6]

I have the Cerbo GX in the Caravelle:

This was when the starter was fully charged:


This was a couple of days later after disabling the Sterling:

 

[Dellmassive]

Gotcha...

12.5v showing.. that's very good.

I normally rest at 12.2v.

 

[Dellmassive]

For reference...

Here is my BM2 plots for the last few days .












.

 

[Simon_T]

** Update **

I’m in love with the Sterling Battery Maintainer! It works really well. It is active all the time due to the higher voltage of the Lithium battery, but it does reduce the current to only what it needs to maintain the starter battery.

I’ll keep it as is and not bother adding a switch to turn it off.

Hi Moodster, can I ask you do you use the sterling battery maintainer along side a sterling b2b charger please ?

 

[moodsterT6]

Hi Moodster, can I ask you do you use the sterling battery maintainer along side a sterling b2b charger please ?

Hi,

I do not, I have the Victron Orion DC to DC charger that I use as the B2B to charge my leisure battery from the alternator. The Sterling battery maintainer is used as a B2B from the Leisure battery to the Starter battery.

The new Sterling B2B look good, because all my other kit is Victron I went with them for the B2B to charge the leisure battery but they don’t do a battery maintainer, unless you have one of their Multiplus inverters, some of them have a 1 amp output for trickle charging the starter battery. No room in my Caravelle for a Multiplus though :-(

Cheers.

 

[Dellmassive]

@Dellmassive ok, I see what you meant about the ECU wanting to keep the starter battery at 80%. With the Sterling B2B I have a nice full starter battery, but then the Alternator won’t put out any amps so when the Victron Orion starts pulling 20amps of the starter battery, it drops below the voltage lock out on the Victron Orion so it disables charging.

Seems I can’t have my cake and eat it. Think I’ll add a Victron SBP in line with the Sterling B2B so I can enable / disable the via Bluetooth only when needed.

Just to update the new victron Orion XS works the same way .... So the B2B Abelmail amt12-2 in my case fully charged the starter battery to 100%.

Which means next drive cycle the alternator won't put any power untill the starter battery drops back down to 80,%. Which effectively stops the victron B2B from working.......the fix Is to tweak the victron auto start engine detect settings down until it starts working again....

Previously to these settings the b2b would only kick in und braking Regen, until the starter dropped to 80% so, and. Then start working normally..... Now they work from engine start after the auto delay.

I'll screenshot my current Vic XS settings,...


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