Travelvolts - "multi Van Upgrade Kit" Plug And Play Dc-dc Charger Upgrade For All T6 With Factory Fi

[Dellmassive]

Travelvolts - "Multi Van upgrade kit"

"Electrics | Travelvolts"


So this just happened,. . . . . . weve ordered this kit from Travelvolts:

We asked them to upgrade the the kit to the 1240 Redarc . . . .

its a plug and play kit apparently, but the connections look a bit different to me . . . . . ?

so ill post some pics here as soon as i can get them off the phone.




Plug and play DC-DC charger upgrade for all T6 with factory fitted second battery (not Cali).

Based on Redarc BCDC1225-LV or Ablemail ABMC1230. Plug and play, no extra wiring involved.


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Plug and play DC-DC charger upgrade for all T6 with factory fitted second battery (not Cali).

Based on Redarc BCDC1225-LV or Ablemail ABMC1230. Plug and play, no extra wiring involved.

 

[Dellmassive]

Heres the kit i was sent >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

if its plug and play, what goes where? I've emailed Travelvolts for a connection diagram, in the meantime....anybody?







and here what we got under the bench seat for the Factory AUX battery/fuse/relay.



and a close up of the raly and fuse....

 

[Deleted Member]

Sorry, no help at all, but why does a factory fitted leisure battery need a charger? I assumed it got charged from the factory alternator?

 

[Dellmassive]

Sorry, no help at all, but why does a factory fitted leisure battery need a charger? I assumed it got charged from the factory alternator?

This T6 is bluemotion with stop/start/regen. the factory split charge relay doesn't charge the Aux battery up properly as the smart alternator only pulse charges it during regen phases...... so if the Aux battery is very low it wont charge up like the old constant alternator charging......unless your going on a mahoosive drive..................



another issue that has been highlighted on here is that if your Aux battery is well charged and your starter battery is low, then when the factory relay kicks in your Aux battery actually drains current backinto the starter battery!!!! (as seen by the Calli guys with the factory battery monitor showing 19amps draining out the leisure battery banks back into the starter battery.




So the VW factory setup is fine if you have next to no load connected to the Aux battery....... But in my case i have a 1000Watt mains inverter connected which kills the leisure battery quickly, every day..... the net result is that on a 1hour drive the leaisure battery is not recharged bu stop/start allon.


SO whats the answer? . . . . . well as many on here have found out and with the help Travelvolts amongst others is to replace a splitcharge relay with a DC-DC charger.

the benefits:
- charges aux battery all the time when engine running (bluemotion only pulse charges on breaking unless BCM detects low starter battery)
- works fine with wide voltage swings of stop/start 9-15v
- isolates battery's to stop current drain from Aux to starter battery
- uses correct charge setting to boost/charge/float Aux battery charging current.

The downside:
- costs more (£200 - £300)
- needs to be fitted.


So for me its great solution. =]

 

[Loz]

The 2 big red wires on the underside of the relay go to the 2 connection posts supplied on the ends of the redarc cables, you just need to work out which is the supply side and which is the secondary (output) side.
then you need to connect the control wire from the old relay to the control wire of the redarc.
have a read of my how to to get the general idea.
How To Fit Travelvolts Dc-dc Charger Kit

 

[Dellmassive]

The 2 big red wires on the underside of the relay go to the 2 connection posts supplied on the ends of the redarc cables, you just need to work out which is the supply side and which is the secondary (output) side.
then you need to connect the control wire from the old relay to the control wire of the redarc.
have a read of my how to to get the general idea.
How To Fit Travelvolts Dc-dc Charger Kit

Cool, thats what i thought . . . . . . . . But this kit cost £286.80 as it has the extras for plug and play "Plug and play DC-DC charger upgrade for all T6 with factory fitted second battery (not Cali)....Based on Redarc BCDC1225-LV or Ablemail ABMC1230. Plug and play, no extra wiring involved."

So looking at my pics below..... how is it plug and play? or have i got the wrong kit? (the Kit BMC
relay trigger feed even has a fancy OEM plug on it....... but the van just has a standard 4pin relay socket?

Bit confused, think I've been sent a Cali kit? and not a standard van (with factory leisure relay) kit?

The cali "how to" guide i see on here showed the 150amp realy that had "BOLT on " battery cables and a OEM plug for the BCM realy feed....

what the standard non-cali van has is shown below.......... (all located under the passenger bench seat BTW)

 

[Loz]

It looks like the kit you have is similar to the cali kit but with a different plug for the control wire (although it wasn’t easy to see in your photo)

You’ll need to ask Martin.

If it were mine I would want to cut the spades off the red cables and crimp and solder on large loops and use the posts supplied to bolt them up tight.

 

[Fish]

@travelvolts
Martyn, could you shed some light on this please.
Thanks.

 

[travelvolts]

Basically what Loz says, especially if you want to fit it this weekend. Ring me if you want and i'll talk you through it. Not seen this relay before.

 

[Dellmassive]

Right Ok, so VW may have changed the relay setup then? which is strange as our T5.1 (2011) has exactly the same relay setup (under bench seat). anyway moving forwards ill modify this kit to fit.

I've got a couple of MIDI fuse holders and 50A fuses coming and some crimp/solder battery terminals so i can redo the kit.

for future reference for Travelvolts ill post some pics below of the MY18 standard van relay split-charge setup, maybe he can look at a plug&play kit that just fits right onto the relay carrier?


Bench view:


close up od locations:


relay and fuse connection:


100A Hella factory Relay:





And lastly has anyone got a idea what this smaller gauge red cable is for/running to? The larger red is the charging feed from the fuse/relay but have no idea what/why the smaller red is feeding?

 

[Loz]

And lastly has anyone got a idea what this smaller gauge red cable is for/running to? The larger red is the charging feed from the fuse/relay but have no idea what/why the smaller red is feeding?

It could be a supply to the fuse box for a single fuse that supplies the dashboard 12v socket that can be powered from the second battery.