# Battery charging



## wp1234 (Sep 29, 2009)

Hi,
Just trying to work out how the charging works on my Autotrail Cheyenne 696 , would appreciate some guidance since the manual I have is not that clear, the charger is a Sargent EC325 unit.

The questions:

Am I right in leaving the EC325 power switch in the ON position at all times when connected to 240v supply ? My MH is plugged in all time time at home.

Can I over cook a battery with this charger.

Will this unit charge the engine battery or just the leisure ones? 
I suspect it will do both but to do so I to would need switch over the batteries I need charging at the control panel above entrance door to divert charge ?


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## chopper (May 22, 2005)

hi

see my thread that i started with a simple question some of the answers might help u


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## maxautotrail (Aug 21, 2007)

wp1234 said:


> Hi,
> Just trying to work out how the charging works on my Autotrail Cheyenne 696 , would appreciate some guidance since the manual I have is not that clear, the charger is a Sargent EC325 unit.
> 
> The questions:
> ...


When its on the drive my motorhome is plugged in to the mains all the time with no problems.

To charge the engine battery press the top right button above the door. This will charge the engine battery rather than the leisure.

Hope that helps

Keith


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi wp1234 the answers to the questions are as follows:

Yes, you can leave the charger switched on all of the time, the unit has a multi stage charger within it so will do the nessasary charging and then fall back to maintainance charge.

The unit is current limited and also as above multistage to prevent overcharging. If a battery has a faulty cell then the unit cannot tell this and so will charge continuously, but i would suspect you would have identified this as the battery would appear to have very little capacity when not on charge.

The unit will charge either battery but only one at a time, so you are correct in that you need to divert the energy from the charger to the respective battery. The 325 also contains a solar regulator which can charge both batteries at the same time (if a solar panel is fitted) sorry to state the obvious?

If you have any other questions then please do not hesitate to contact us directly on the support tel no 01482 678981

Best regards

Ian Sargent


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Sargent said:


> Hi wp1234 the answers to the questions are as follows:
> 
> Yes, you can leave the charger switched on all of the time, the unit has a multi stage charger within it so will do the nessasary charging and then fall back to maintainance charge.
> 
> ...


Hi Ian,

Do your older PSU's such as the 2005 and 2007 have the multi stage charger feature ?


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi wakk44 no unfortunately these units have a fixed voltage charger, with a set point 13.8v

Ian S


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

As an addition to the post by "Sargent", I would also at times, leave a few lights on in the MH, and allow the battery to be discharged, and then recharge the battery.

This then conditions the battery, I was told many years ago that you should allow the battery to be discharged, and then recharge at least every 6 months.


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Ian

Is it possible to retro fit the multi stage charger to earlier vehicles My 2003 Autotrail Dakota has a PSU 2007 unit??

I was thuinking about a Ctek charger conditioner to prolong the life of a couple of new 110 A/hr leisure batteries, but if I can retro fit one of your newer units for a sensible price that would seem to be the way to go !!


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi Mrplodd, it is possible to upgrade from 2007 to EC325, as the systems were designed to have an upgrade path, but there are some additional features that require a small amount of work to be undertaken, ie there is a battery temp sensor to run from the EC325 PSU to the battery compartment, this is to ensure the correct charging of the battery.
If you would like to call the support people they can advise what work is required and how this could be carried out.

The support number is 01482 678981

Best regards

Ian S


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Mrplodd said:


> Ian
> 
> Is it possible to retro fit the multi stage charger to earlier vehicles My 2003 Autotrail Dakota has a PSU 2007 unit??
> 
> I was thinking about a Ctek charger conditioner to prolong the life of a couple of new 110 A/hr leisure batteries, but if I can retro fit one of your newer units for a sensible price that would seem to be the way to go !!


I have also considered upgrading to the EC325 system,the intelligent battery charger,solar panel connection,and the feature which is very useful to us that don't use ehu much-the battery current being drawn or put in(solar panel).

However is it worth approx £400 for the charger unit and control panel,I think not as you can't take it with you if changing m/homes.

There are after market products from Victron which do a similar thing(intelligent charger and battery monitoring),also the Sterling Battery to Battery charger would keep the leisure batteries conditioned.

The advantage of these is that they are not a permanent fixture to the m/home and can be transferred to a new vehicle.


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