Hi, I am not sure my split charge relay is working. How do I test it? It is a Ring relay (not intelligent type) in the engine bay with soldered wiring all heat shrinked up so I need to test in situ if poss. I dont want to swap it out if the issue is elsewhere. I have tried it and all wiring appears intact. I charged the starter battery and before starting the engine it was showing 12.6 volts, and across the leisure battery terminals (without the battery attached) I had 1.6 volts. On starting the starter battery soon went up to 13.8 volts (on a new alternator) while across the LB terminals it was still 1.6 v. I understand the relay should switch to charge the LB when the starter battery is over 13v. If so, am I right to think it IS the relay? Any suggeztions on a good quality replacement with option for fridge wiring?
Your leisure battery was much too flat. When the relay closed, the starter battery tried to charge the leisure battery. Like short circuiting it for a moment. The current that flowed was enough to blow the fuse if you had one fitted and burn out wiring or the relay if you were remiss enough to not have a fuse. (potential firestarter ..) Try to start from the initial state of having a better charged ie more that 1.6 volts preferably more like 11 volts leisure battery, then the current flow will be less drastic. It should show the same voltage both sides of the relay within a volt or so when the alternator is generating volts. Or if you un hook one end of the split charge link wire and measure ohms across the relay switching contacts it should go to less than 1 ohm when the alternator is running.
The relay should operate as soon as the alt starts working. It's not voltage-dependent. Put your hand over it: you should feel it click. Any fuses in the supply lines that have blown? Your leisure battery's dead, BTW
^Mike beat me to it. If the LB's that dead, it will either have blown the fuse (if fitted) or welded the relay contacts when the alt tried to charge it.
The way I read this he's testing it without the lb connected! @Fronkjunior what does the lb read on its own?
if its the ring split charger kit that JK use to sell then as above you have blown it as its only rated at 15amp when you need a 30amp one The easy way to test is put the volt meter on the battery then start the engine and the volts should go up so both battery's are the same at about 14v A relay is just a switch when it gets a signal normally from the alt warning light circuit it joins the battery's together
I would just use 1 normal 30amp relays one for the split charge and one for the fridge You could use 1 bigger relay but the terminals are normally bigger Don't forget you may need to upgrade the cables as well
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10pcs-Aut...ay-/191711307898?_trksid=p2349526.m2548.l4275 So cheap for a double pole single throw relay, you have to buy 10 of them to make it worth it..
Yep. Testing without the LB connected. It seems something is up along the line so a new simple relay is in order I reckon.
Disconnect the leisure battery , make sure the terminals are safely isolated from each other and the van, start the engine, wait a minute and check the voltage at the ends of the leisure battery leads, if you get 13.- 14 volts there the relay is working ok, switch the engine off and this voltage should disappear. If once the leisure battery is reconnected and you test again and no volts appear then the leisure battery has had it, has a short and is dragging the charge voltage down. You could re charge the leisure battery with a good charger and try again (.this has worked for me) or replace the battery and don't let it run flat.
