Split charge with a Td5

Sep 22, 2004 4 Replies

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Reg 21 years ago

I fitted my first split charge system to an Austin 1800, back in about

1969, when I replaced the dynamo with a Lucas 11ac alternator. It used a Lucas 4BD twin diode unit.

I've now got a 2002MY Defender 130 and have bought an electronic low volt drop split charge unit, but when I came to fit it found a problem with the Td5 standard wiring.

I expected a medium thickness brown wire from the alternator direct to the battery, which I was going to cut and insert the split charge unit. But the brown wire does not go directly from alternator to battery. It goes to the battery via the ECU wiring mass under the rhs seat, so putting what is effectively a diode in the battery wire will isolate the ECU wiring!

Anyone any experience of the actual wiring details?

Web Rover says that all Td5 engines in are equipped with a combined

120 amp alternator and vacuum pump, but without removing much of the plastic cover trim it's difficult to see the wiring to the alternator.

I had also hoped to buy a special controller to increase the control voltage level to fully charge auxiliary batteries.

Any help would be welcome.

Reg.

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Tjalf Bloem 21 years ago

"Reg" schreef in bericht news:cistv5$2nj$ snipped-for-privacy@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...

Hello,

The wiring from the alternator, goes to the starter, and then with a big cable to the battery. If you want to isolate the alternator, yoe have to rewire it with a seperate wire to the battery. My solution for charging a second battery:

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greetings, Tjalf

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AN6530 21 years ago

I've now got a 2002MY Defender 130 and have bought an electronic low

There's currently (no pun ;-) ) a thread on the LROI Forum about this

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Steve. Suffolk. remove 'knujon' to e-mail

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Reg 21 years ago

direct to

Thanks to Tjalf and Steve. I'll look at the two URLs.

Reg.

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Peter 21 years ago

Reg, It's a probably too late for further advice but after years of travelling the outback and trying all the gismo's for dual battery systems the simple

180amp relay with the latching circuit tied to the ignition switch, and a manual switch in series as well, works the best. As a bonus there is no voltage drop from diodes or silly programming from computer chips. I once had a setup that equalized the batteries after you stopped the vehicle. Worked fine until one battery went partially short! Use battery or welding cable (better as it has more strands and is cheaper generally) to tie the batteries together through the relay. I run the main battery and two 110amphr deep cycles with this method in a td5 defender130. all the best ...........peter.

Reg wrote:

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