POOR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION
It ’ s incredible how many times I read of owners who are running high-power appliances off an inverter and their system shuts down , indicating flat batteries , yet their battery monitor shows them to be at 100 per cent SOC . It ’ s perplexing , especially for owners who have limited knowledge of their systems . No wonder when you see that this issue is often the result of a poor electrical installation by the manufacturer .
The vast majority of high-end electrical installations will have a device called a shunt . This tricky device measures the amount of amps going in and out of the batteries . Connecting the shunt to a battery is very simple . One end connects to the negative terminal on the battery string and the other side connects to all the negative wires of all the caravan ’ s devices and chargers . This seemingly simple installation is often botched .
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For some reason , manufacturers connect the inverter , as well as other devices , to the battery ’ s negative terminal , not the shunt . The result is the battery management system can ’ t ‘ see ’ the power drawn from the inverter , which can be extremely high . This will drain the batteries very quickly and the owner will be none the wiser .
Fixing this can be very easy if you have some knowledge of 12V electrical wiring . You just identify the shunt and ensure any negative connections are connected to it and not the battery ’ s negative terminal . This is assuming the shunt can handle the additional current draw of the inverter . If you ’ re not sure , have your electrical system checked out by a qualified caravan electrical technician .
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