Continuous Duty Solenoid ?

[xhifer]

My van has a dual house battery setup that gets charged by a continous duty solenoid.  

My house batteries are at about 50% life. 

When I run my interior lights with van off, it draws from my main battery and both house batteries. I assume this is normal for continuous duty solenoid?

I'm afraid if I run my lights for a few hours, I won't be able to start my van at all.

What do I need to separate the batteries so the main battery never gets drained by the lights, etc.

 

[SternWake]

My van has a dual house battery setup that gets charged by a continous duty solenoid.  

My house batteries are at about 50% life. 

When I run my interior lights with van off, it draws from my main battery and both house batteries. I assume this is normal for continuous duty solenoid?

I'm afraid if I run my lights for a few hours, I won't be able to start my van at all.

What do I need to separate the batteries so the main battery never gets drained by the lights, etc.

It sounds like the contacts in your CD solenoid have fused together, which is how they generally fail.  It will likely make the click still. 

 
Put a digital multimeter to OHMS 20K  touch the two bigger studs on solenoid with engine off.  There should be no connectivity.   Touch  DMM leads together, it should  go from 1 not touching, and then get close to 0.00 touching.

If it has failed, Replace with a solenoid of 90 amps continuous or better.  More is better.

 

[DannyB1954]

On a lot of van conversions the interior lights are wired to the vehicle battery. Mine is like that, but I am converting to LED bulbs, so the drain should be minimal. I may change the power source eventually. Just have to find where the customizer tapped into the vehicle battery and run that to the house.

 

[SternWake]

LED bulbs make the same light for 1.7th to 1/10 the amperage consumption.

Good point about the stock lighting possibly still being connected to engine battery. Fine the conversion van fuse block, move (+) wire to house battery bank.

Do test the solenoid too

I left my Dome/ door lights on the engine battery circuit, but All the other lighting in back is on house battery circuit. With the LEDS, I do not really worry about their amperage consumption.

 

[highdesertranger]

yep, could be either one of the above problems. test your solenoid. highdesertranger

 

[xhifer]

Hmm now that I think of it. I've never heard any distinct clicks from the solenoid.

 

[steamjam1]

Yep. when you turn the ignition to the "on" position you should hear a "click" out of your constant duty solenoid. If not there is something amiss with the solenoid, or how it's wired. I went warm-light LED in my van and I can leave them an ALL NIGHT on my 100AH battery with very little drain.

 

[Ballenxj]

Wouldn't having a battery isolator installed help?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Wouldn't having a battery isolator installed help?

Technically, a correctly working continuous duty solenoid **IS** a battery isolator.

If you mean the diode type isolator, the .6 or so volt voltage drop they cause means it takes a lot longer to charge your house batteries than it would with a solenoid, which causes no voltage drop.

 

[xhifer]

Do you happen to have a diagram of how it should be installed.

One thing I don't like about buying a used home built van is having to figure everything out especially the wiring.

 

[highdesertranger]

simple down and dirty diagram,



highdesertranger

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If you look closely at the solenoid in HDR's picture, you'll see it has only one small terminal to turn it on.  Such a solenoid MUST be mounted on a grounded surface in order to complete the circuit.  You can get solenoids with insulated bases and two terminals - activation power in, and the other wire goes to a ground or back to the negative on the battery.

 

[Ballenxj]

Technically, a correctly working continuous duty solenoid **IS** a battery isolator.

If you mean the diode type isolator, the .6 or so volt voltage drop they cause means it takes a lot longer to charge your house batteries than it would with a solenoid, which causes no voltage drop.

I see. That's one thing I will have to learn more about.