Posted by jdemaris on May 12, 2014 at 11:19:59 from (70.194.0.253):
Note that this is NOT about a tractor. It IS about electronics that I guess -might get used in one for certain uses.
Getting my 1988 Toyota Minicruiser ready for a trip (small Toyota motorhome). The OEM rectifier-based battery isolator was bad. It's purpose it to separate the engine cranking battery from the rear "camper" battery. I removed it and wired in low-draw, 150 amp relay along with some #2 copper cable that runs from the front to the back. My other RV has a relay for isolation but is wired to the ignition circuit. So when the IGN is "on" -the cranking battery and house (camper) battery are hooked together in parallel. When the key is "off" they are isolated. Works well enough but . . . I don't like all batteries charging at once when I first start.
So - I got a so-called "Smart" relay-controller from Powerstream. Several companies sell them. Main idea is - they sense the voltage of the cranking battery and keep it isolated from the "house" until it gets fully charged first. Once it gets to 13.5 volts - it closes the relay and starts charging the "house" battery. Sounds great in theory? I have the same setup on my Chinook and it works great BUT it's a different brand (Cole Hersee). I chose Powerstream this time mainly because they will sell you just the control module if wanted. Since I already had a relay - that was my choice.
Here's the problem. I installed it last week. I later discovered that once I start the engine -and it closes the relay - it won't turn the relay back off when I turn the engine off. I assumed I had a defective unit -but I was wrong. Just has bad engineering (in my opinion). I called the company to verify. Seems that unlike the other "Smart relays" on the market . . Powerstream set their's to shut off at 12.6 volts. That makes NO sense to me at all. The tech guy I spoke with seemed to agree with me. Note that a fully charged battery at rest is 12.7 volts. That means this "Smart relay" will not turn off the relay until the batteries get run down a bit. Mine was on for 4 days and still had not shut off. Keep in mind that once the relay is engaged - both batteries, front and back are tied together. So there are two fully charged batteries that must be run down a bit before they become isolated. Somewhere around a 95% charge before it shuts down. Like I said . . . mine was on for 4 days straight until I got disgusted and disconnected it.
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