Our electronic PSU systems fall into 2 categories with
regards to vehicle battery charging:
With these systems the default battery is the leisure battery. If the control panel power button is OFF (so lights, pump etc., are not useable) the mains charger will charge the leisure battery as soon as it is switched on. If you turn the control panel ON (so you can use the lights, pump etc.,) the mains charger will still be connected to the leisure battery to keep it charged, and will also be powering the leisure loads along with the leisure battery.
If you wish to charge the vehicle battery from the mains charger, you need to turn the control panel ON and then select the vehicle battery. The charger will now be charging the vehicle battery and also any leisure loads switched on.
On EC100, EC200, EC325, & EC50/51 control panels you can’t select the vehicle battery if it’s below 10.9V.
On EC328 control panels (V2.21 software) if the vehicle battery is above 2V and the mains charger is switched on then it can be selected for charge.
If the mains supply disconnects for any reason whilst the vehicle battery is being charged, it will cause the leisure loads to draw current from the vehicle battery discharging it. If the voltage is already under the 10.9V cut-off it will switch back to leisure battery, if it is above then it will switch back to leisure battery when it gets down to the 10.9V mark. The leisure battery also has a cut-off which is set at 9V; when the leisure battery gets to this point the leisure loads are disconnected preventing any further discharge.
Our CAN-bus based systems all incorporate a smart charge feature. This is on by default setting, but can be disabled should you so choose.
In use, when the mains charger is switched on, it will still by default be connected to the leisure battery, but the vehicle battery is monitored, and if it drops below the 12.4V level the mains charger will be switched over to it. It will remain there for 4 hours and then drop back to the leisure battery for 4 hours, at which point it will switch back to vehicle battery if it is still below 12.4V.
The smart charge feature doesn’t require the control panel to be ON; as long as the system shutdown button is switched on the feature will operate if it hasn’t been disabled by the user; if it has the charger will behave exactly as for the EC328 as listed above.
If the control panel is ON then at any point in the charge cycle you can simply select the battery of choice on the control panel. This is not the same as disabling the smart charge feature.