# Carthago prewired for solar and sat ?



## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

I have just taken delivery of a e-line, and its meant to be pre wired checked to roof and no gland so I presume the cables are under the roof skin somewhere help anybody got any info on this please


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

A friend of mine paid for his cartHago to be prewired for solar last year


All he got for his money was a cable from thetop of the cupboard above the fridge down to the centre of the floor inside an internal floor locker Near the battery relays ?

Not what he was expecting !

He was expecting a gland in the roof and a solar controller all cabled up And linked in with the main control panel. So that all he would need to do would be fit and connect the panels on the roof


Due to being unfamiliar with the electrical system carthago use he has not to date fitted a panel

If only in was a schaudt system that would have been easy to introduce the panels via schaudts solar regulator lrs1218 but alas carthago used CBE which we know nothing about and can find little on the web from memory i think He has a cbe320 display ?


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

I will have a look tomorrow, I have a small oven grill above the fridge so will take the cover off outside, I was expecting two glands on the roof one for the sat


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Found the cable above the fridge all good with the sat cable as well, I think it goes though a regular and direct to the battery cannot find the other end of the cable looked in all the cut outs in the floor anybody got any idea,s


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

friends cable went to the floor "cutout" that had some battery relay type devices screwed to the inside but their cable was not terminated just folded back 

& we could find no solar regulator anywhere 

or any means of connecting to the control panel to enable the panel to display any solar charge etc 



they are travelling at the moment off grid otherwise I would have got some photos for you




thinking about it the floor cutout that contained the cable may have had a panel that separated the storage area from the relays / control boxes & this dangling cable

panel may have been a strip of wood painted black maybe 2" high and the length of the cutout


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## Littlebt (May 19, 2012)

*Prewire*



harrison said:


> I have just taken delivery of a e-line, and its meant to be pre wired checked to roof and no gland so I presume the cables are under the roof skin somewhere help anybody got any info on this please


Just an observation, I went through the the process of ordering a Carthago through a UK appointed dealer and in order to try and make the price look competitive I discovered they were fitting the extras as a after market item!! especially high value items such as Air suspension,therefore, I should think the wire was run by the dealer and not at the Carthago works.

I cannot see them doing something so shabby.


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Littlebt said:


> Just an observation, I went through the the process of ordering a Carthago through a UK appointed dealer and in order to try and make the price look competitive I discovered they were fitting the extras as a after market item!! especially high value items such as Air suspension,therefore, I should think the wire was run by the dealer and not at the Carthago works.
> 
> I cannot see them doing something so shabby.


Carthago do fit the cables 6mm and the sat cable all part of option add on,s
I read a post where someone had solar panels fitted at the supplier and they never used the pre fitted cables they did the whole job in 1.5mm mains cable, hence thats one reason I want to fit them, I also want to go straight to the batteries though a regulater not into the CBS unit


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## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

The solar panels on our C-line were fitted by the dealer earlier this year when the van arrived into the UK from the factory. 
They used the cables that were factory installed and fitted a regulator below the fridge and beside the Aldi boiler. There is a 'pull off' panel below the fridge to allow access.
However, we were not getting a charge from the panels and on investigation the dealer thought there was a fault in the factory wiring that ran behind the fridge. That would mean removing the fridge to get at the wiring and resulted in a further appointment being made to allow time to sort it.
When we took the van back we expected a long wait and took Kindles etc to pass the time but were amazed when after 20mins or so they said the job was complete and everything was OK.
Apparently there was a connection that had either been cut or not made right up in the cab area of the van. This connector was under the cup holder at the forward edge of the small locker beside the passenger seat (our van is LHD) and against the rear edge of the dash.

Why wiring from the solar panels was located that far forward is a mystery to me but the engineers found it and the panels now do a grand job.

Hope that this rather convoluted post might help you find the rather convoluted wiring in your E-line.

Richard.


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Hi landyman 

Does your control panel indicate when the solar panels are supplying a charge to the batteries ?

And does it charge both leisure and engine batteries ?


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Trying to follow the cables and work it all out the CBE book says there should be sb150 separator somewhere, I been trying to find a photo of one on the net with no joy, I think thats where the panel wires into Trek, so hopefully when I find it the other end of the solar cable will be nearby


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## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

Hi Trek

The control panel shows that it is charging from solar but not how much is going in.
I have the standard two gel batteries so it shows charge going to both as per the picture of the panel.

As standard I was told that it only charges the leisure batteries but I had a Battery Master fitted which takes a charge to the vehicle battery. That was fitted by VanBitz when they fitted an alarm and cost about £70 from memory.

The second photo shows the voltage of batteries this afternoon. The van has been stood on the drive for over a week and hasn't been on hook up for over two weeks.

Richard.


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

you can get a picture of the SB150 from this web page

http://www.cbe.it/pro/prodotti/pannelli-di-comando/premium/pc320

click the "accessori" tab on the right hand side then click on the small picture to enlarge it

I have noticed that there is more info on the CBE italian web site than the english one

now my friend has one of these fitted down inside the same floor locker that the solar cable was left coiled up but I assumed this was already used by the engine / leisure battery set up


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

From memory ( not to be trusted ) there may also be one of these down in this floor locker

http://www.cbe.it/en/content/csb2

CSB2

Car battery recharging device
Device for the car battery recharging by solar panels or by a battery charge through the leisure battery.
It is located near the batteries so you can avoid to bring the car battery cable up to the solar charge regulator.
It recharges the car battery with a regulated current from 0.1 to 4A max, depending on the battery status, giving always priority to the leisure battery.
The green LED shows that the car battery is being recharged.
Dim: 80 x 50 x 50 mm


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

still looking now I know what to look for, I think you wire into there from the regulator


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

that CSB2 appears to allow a charge go to an alternative battery (CAR) depending on state of the main one (LEISURE) but priority goes to main one

you will also need to find or fit a solar charge regulator

http://www.cbe.it/en/scr

Harrison have you found a regulator in your carthago ?


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

some instructions in italian may help ?

http://www.cbe.it/sites/default/files/CSB2.pdf

http://www.cbe.it/sites/default/files/BDS-150.pdf

http://www.cbe.it/sites/default/files/prs240_GB.pdf

http://www.cbe.it/sites/default/files/prs110.pdf


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Found the SB 150 in the back garage above the batteries so think I will go from the reg straight in to the batteries just go to find the cable now


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

so your SB-150 is in the garage probably with the white fuse board and mains charger which suggests to me that its nowt to do with pre-wiring for solar panel but part of the standard 12v/240v system?


The garage is where my friends fuse board & mains charger is but his solar cable definitely goes to the floor locker 


at this rate by the time they are back from their jaunt you will have sussed out the cabling and he can copy what you did to get the panels connected via a regulator to the carthago electrics :laugh:


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

My solar cable don't go down the back of the fridge maybe cause its a TEC tower, it go,s across the top of the door and down the side of the TV then seems to vanish into the middle of the camper, I will have it sussed in a couple of days and its all good fun getting to know all the in,s and outs of the camper, then it will help others


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## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

harrison said:


> it go,s across the top of the door and down the side of the TV then seems to vanish into the middle of the camper,


Perhaps that is the same route as mine was (see my previous post).
Seems strange but I guess there must be a good reason although it would be interesting to find out why.

Richard.


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Hi Richard, mines a RHD so I had a good look round the drivers area taking covers off, took the cup holders out and nothing there found the engine battery strange place for one, I am now hoping the cables are tucked away somewhere behind the batteries in the garage going to take the lids off the trunking and have a good look in the morning


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Hi Harrison 

aah ! 

should have said that the cables go to the floor locker in the floor by the seating area and that is close to the batteries which are under one of the seats accessible through an external locker 

so yours should be close to the batteries (garage in your case)


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Found where the cable go,s the cupboard on the left side of the Hab door where the Aldi rad top up bottle is they have curled up 2 feet of cable, so the total length of cable about 3m Carthago option prewire solar panel £170 then theres a separate black and red cable vanish down the door pillar so think I will put 12v on that cable and see if it shows up on the gauges as battery charging maybe you get a little more than 3m cable


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

GasPode replied to a different thread about a cbe control panel problem with this snippet which could be just the sort of information we require to connect the solar regulator to the 12v domestic batteries 

See thread From Tissey :- "Control Panel"



"PS: Those CBE units can display very inaccurate and misleading readings, especially if they haven't been calibrated for a long time or if solar panels have been connected (via a regulator) directly to the battery instead of using the solar terminal on the control unit."


So the solar panel should be connected via a regulator to the solar terminal on the control unit. Which is just what i expected / wanted to hear So next problem is where to find this connection 


in my mind this area is where the pre wired cable that carthago installed should be ?


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

After many hours of tracking the cable it came out in the CBE unit in the garage there is one fuse missing a mini, I metered the cable to there connected it popped the same size fuse as the on in the reg and it now works perfect charged the batteries and testing it all at the Balloon festival Bristol it will not show on the panel unless you buy a CBE reg, I used a 100watt panel next job wiring the inverter for the coffee machine


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Hi Harrison

was this the 20Amp fuse position 7 with the +ve connection made to plug 15 pin 1 and the -ve to plug 19


so just to recap - your solar prewiring that cost you all that dosh was a cable from the space above the fridge to the garage ?

was it already terminated inside the CBE unit ? 

is this CBE unit a DS-300 ???

does it charge the engine battery as well ? 
do you have a CSB2 device to charge car battery if leisure battery voltage over 13.6v ?


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Hi Harrison and Landy


my friend has been looking again at his pre wiring and found that the cable goes from above the fridge to the front rhd drivers dash as advised by landy and another from there to the central floor locker none of these ends have been terminated 

so I can only assume that Carthago expected the regulator to be fitted in the front dash and the connections to the battery in the central floor locker where there I think there is a SB150 battery splitter


all seems a bit odd to me why not connect solar panels into the CBE distribution board ( via a regulator ) ?


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## camoyboy (May 9, 2005)

We have ordered the the pre-wired option for our C Tourer for solar and satellite. I looked on a new one at the factory when we visited in May, and the wiring is strapped up over the tech tower ready to feed through to a junction box already bonded to the roof. The other end of the solar cables were taped up in the battery box, and the satellite cables and rest of the wiring for the telly were under the seat next to the pull up TV bracket. There did not appear to be any method to connect to the CBE unit which is in the garage.
After years of hassle trying to get the CBE unit in the Rapido to read the charging from the solar panels, and never really succeeding, I am going to fit a stand alone regulator and a NASA monitor independent to the CBE system in the Carthago.
I will watch this thread to see how you guys get on with your installations.

Colin


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Ho Camoyboy

I suspect ( well certainly for year old Carthagos') you will find that the cables strapped up over the tech tower are NOT the same ones taped up in the battery box

as has been mentioned on older Carthago's both sets of cables go forwards to an area up by the dashboard which must be Carthago's preferred position for the regulator that they would fit

though Harrison on his new Carthago didnt find any up front in the dash this is what he found:- "After many hours of tracking the cable it came out in the CBE unit in the garage there is one fuse missing a mini, I metered the cable to there connected it popped the same size fuse as the on in the reg and it now works perfect charged the batteries"

Perhaps Carthago have changed their cabling for solar panels- it may be worth contacting their customer services or the owners club for cabling details and what equipment they would use (eg solar regulator make/model)

eg this is in German http://www.carthagomobil.de/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=418


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## harrison (Apr 20, 2010)

Just got home from Balloon Festive and the batteries all stayed up, so good job well done


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## Pefo54 (Mar 19, 2020)

In my Carthago Tourer from 2011 that should have preinstalled cables for Tv and solar. There are a small gray box on the roof. In this was a lot of cables and some sticky gray stuff. Where is the other side? After hours of search I found it . Remove the wooden cover over the door where you have the instruments and displays. Look into the side to right. There was the cables cut off like 15 cm from the roof inside. I had to solder the new cables in there. Tomorrow I will install a tv aerial on the buss and the coax cable is there but also like 15 cm under the roof. It will not be funny. What did they think when they did this?


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