I have noticed that the AGM batteries in my Winnebago never get a full charge from the OEM 2017 220A alternator so I have decided to switch to a CTEK charger instead of the OEM Winnebago contactor/relay design. I purchased the new D250SA that has the smart alternator feature and the option to enable a higher AGM charging voltage.
My question comes into how to ground the charger to the aux battery bank. Bear with me....
If you look at the bottom of my sloppy drawing (attached) you will see how Winnebago wired up the battery bank. When charging off of 120VAC from the Progressive Dynamics charger they charge across the complete bank in an appropriate manner. Now when charging off of the alternator they utilize the chassis steel as the negative current carrying conductor to charge the battery bank. The positive is a 1 AWG paralleling the batteries to the charge relay.
So my question is do I run a new dedicated 1 AWG wire from the Smartpass all the way to the "CD" battery or do I just ground the Smartpass to the chassis and continue to use it as the current carrying conductor like Winnebago did? If the ladder, would it be beneficial to add another ground between the alternator case and chassis?
Lastly, what does the little molded cable ground on the Smartpass 120 do? Is it just a circuit reference to ground? The wire is far too small to be a current carrying conductor....
The whole installation will be under the passenger seat. Thanks in advance for sharing your electrical wisdom.
Cheers,
Keith
(Updated 12/30 with new revision of drawing)
My question comes into how to ground the charger to the aux battery bank. Bear with me....
If you look at the bottom of my sloppy drawing (attached) you will see how Winnebago wired up the battery bank. When charging off of 120VAC from the Progressive Dynamics charger they charge across the complete bank in an appropriate manner. Now when charging off of the alternator they utilize the chassis steel as the negative current carrying conductor to charge the battery bank. The positive is a 1 AWG paralleling the batteries to the charge relay.
So my question is do I run a new dedicated 1 AWG wire from the Smartpass all the way to the "CD" battery or do I just ground the Smartpass to the chassis and continue to use it as the current carrying conductor like Winnebago did? If the ladder, would it be beneficial to add another ground between the alternator case and chassis?
Lastly, what does the little molded cable ground on the Smartpass 120 do? Is it just a circuit reference to ground? The wire is far too small to be a current carrying conductor....
The whole installation will be under the passenger seat. Thanks in advance for sharing your electrical wisdom.
Cheers,
Keith
(Updated 12/30 with new revision of drawing)
Attachments
-
3.8 MB Views: 185
Last edited: