Victron XS

[karenbev]

This answer may be obvious but I must ask to be safe
I fitted a Vitron XS to the our already converted van which is a 2020 T 6.1 T32 this worked ok for a while but then started blowing the 60a fuse from the starter battery. I checked the 16mm cable originally fitted and noted it was split and earthing to the bodywork near the suspension strut (no conduit fitted).
I have replaced the cable with new making sure sufficient conduit to protect the cable. Before I connected everything back up I checked the live cable from the vans engine battery whilst it wasn't connected and its showing as an earth. My thoughts are whilst not receiving power it shows as an earth as the XS is earthed and when I connect it to the starter battery the XS switches to a live cable.

 

[CAB]

So, the cable was attached to the Victron, but not the battery?

Until the Victron is connected to the positive, it's only connection is to neutral /chassis.

I think that's what you are asking?

 

[karenbev]

Yes thats correct , it freaked me out when the original cable was shorting and it wasn't a pleasant experience when the 60a fuses were blowing .
I thought this was the case and appreciate you coming back to me. I'm no expert on all this as you've probably guessed, many thanks

 

[t0mb0]

By ‘showing as an earth’ do you mean having close to zero resistance to the vehicle earth? If so, I really don’t think that’s right for any positive lead/terminal as when power is applied to it, it will create an instant short circuit.

 

[karenbev]

I haven't connected the lead from the vehicle battery to the 60a fuse yet so the DC to DC victron is not getting any power and is acting as a neutral chassis as CAB says its can only be neutral/chassis until it's connected to the battery and it becomes a positive. I put the multimeter on the positive vehicle battery and onto the lead to the victron which gave me the battery reading had it been connected it wouldn't show a reading?

 

[t0mb0]

I haven't connected the lead from the vehicle battery to the 60a fuse yet so the DC to DC victron is not getting any power and is acting as a neutral chassis as CAB says its can only be neutral/chassis until it's connected to the battery and it becomes a positive. I put the multimeter on the positive vehicle battery and onto the lead to the victron which gave me the battery reading had it been connected it wouldn't show a reading?

It really comes down to what you actually mean by "acting as a neutral". If you mean it's not registering a positive voltage when not connected to the battery, that's fine. However, if you mean it's literally showing a direct (i.e. low resistance) connection to earth, that's a problem because it will short circuit as soon as you connect it.

If you want to be sure, can you describe exactly what terminals you're putting the multimeter across, what you're actually measuring (voltage/continuity/resistance?) and what the actual value is on the meter?

 

[karenbev]

All connected up and working fine thanks for the replies everyone