Crank battery charging

Blue blaze, what’s your procedure for the trickle charger on the smartcar?  My MB branded start battery is dead and will not hold a charge.  It was a whole new language involved trying to get that battery out of the hole it rides in.  No built in handle on my battery.  Had to take a/c cover off to tilt enough to get out.  Do you just keep the battery compartment exposed till you want to drive off. (For those that don’t know, the smart battery is buried under the passenger side foot well, remove floor mat, peel back carpet, remove foam board that holds your tire pump to get to the battery.  A smart doesn’t have a spare tire, so they give you a can of fix a flat and a 12volt air pump that is molded in the foam board).

  What size fuse goes on the factory trickle charger? When I pull the coolant reserve tank to get at the fuse holder in our rather cold weather  I want to have lots of fuses 'cause I expect to blow at least a couple making the charger work. I agree an aftermarket Trick-l-Start is the best solution but not there yet. I did disconnect  the negative battery cable the other day. Thanks

Hank

  What size fuse goes on the factory trickle charger? When I pull the coolant reserve tank to get at the fuse holder in our rather cold weather  I want to have lots of fuses 'cause I expect to blow at least a couple making the charger work. I agree an aftermarket Trick-l-Start is the best solution but not there yet. I did disconnect  the negative battery cable the other day. Thanks

Hank

5 amp on my 2015 model

Just purchased a 2013 PC2350 on the diesel Sprinter chassis. After parking for a few weeks the cranking battery died. After charging a couple of times, it was completely dead. While replacing it I noticed a nifty battery cutoff connection that's easy to get to and I wonder if I should disconnect that to avoid any parasitic drain on the battery during"storage"?

Just purchased a 2013 PC2350 on the diesel Sprinter chassis. After parking for a few weeks the cranking battery died. After charging a couple of times, it was completely dead. While replacing it I noticed a nifty battery cutoff connection that's easy to get to and I wonder if I should disconnect that to avoid any parasitic drain on the battery during"storage"?

Welcome to the forum!

Sure does sound like the cutoff was installed for the problem you have.     Try it, see if it works! 

Don,

  Thanks for the 5 amp fuse answer for trickle charge.

   Hopefully this is my last post for a while. The factory trickle fuse on our 2019 was blown. I just  replaced it and get a good clicking noise when I try the white button. Negative terminal is still disconnected. I like the suggestion of simply keeping  the negative terminal disconnectedwhile in storage at home. But, since I have full hookups here, would like to have option of trickling thru white button. The "new" Sigma on/off switch I installed does not have "On and Off" symbols. Anyone know which position is "On" (top?). And, if I put a good digital charger on the battery, will I know if the trickle is really on? Maybe just hope the charge slowly increases. The battery is currently charged.

   If someone wants to call and just tell me where to go...my cel is 443-799-0045.

Thanks,

Hank

I tried to call you Hank, but your Google call filter hung up after I said who I was and why I called.

Anyway.... If you have a simple ohm meter, put it across the leads on the Sigma switch.  If you get very low ohms... The switch is in the ON position, now switch the Sigma to the other position and you will get very high ohms... That'd be OFF.   (or vice versa if switch started on OFF position.

Correct, with the starting battery negative cable disconnected you will get zero charge no matter what position the switch is in.

Don

Don,

  My apologies on the phone call. I was having auto serviced when you called; I listened after the google screen but nothing came through. Maybr Google Screen is not as efficient as I thought.

  Thanks for your response here. I will get out my meter when we get another semi-warm day (not too many of those here) and figure out the switch. Probably save some fuses that way..... For now all good with negative terminal disconnected.

Hank
Enjoying an unusually balmy day in Custer SD (40 degrees).

About the same as here!  Had a few things to do on the PC myself.  Got the voice mail.

Don

Blue blaze, what’s your procedure for the trickle charger on the smartcar?  My MB branded start battery is dead and will not hold a charge.  It was a whole new language involved trying to get that battery out of the hole it rides in.  No built in handle on my battery.  Had to take a/c cover off to tilt enough to get out.  Do you just keep the battery compartment exposed till you want to drive off. (For those that don’t know, the smart battery is buried under the passenger side foot well, remove floor mat, peel back carpet, remove foam board that holds your tire pump to get to the battery.  A smart doesn’t have a spare tire, so they give you a can of fix a flat and a 12volt air pump that is molded in the foam board).

When I installed the battery cutoff for towing, I also installed an unswitched 12V plug that I use to supply power for my RVI brake.  I use the unswitched plug for my trickle charger.

Ok, I’m running the ready brute tow bar(surge brake) so no extra battery connections there.  Going battery shopping this afternoon so might just look at adding some heavy gauge wires and Anderson connectors and leave exposed up under the dash somewhere.  Then attach trickle charger on those.

Ok, I’m running the ready brute tow bar(surge brake) so no extra battery connections there.  Going battery shopping this afternoon so might just look at adding some heavy gauge wires and Anderson connectors and leave exposed up under the dash somewhere.  Then attach trickle charger on those.

Well, that's the beauty of a trickle charger.  You don't need heavy gauge wires.  The 18 gauge wires that come with an after-market cigarette lighter receptacle are plenty for a 2 amp trickle charger, and you get another 12v outlet in the deal. Just be sure it also comes with an inline fuse. My trickle charger even came with a cigarette lighter plug.The biggest problem is figuring out a place to mount it the receptacle.  I put it in the side of the center post, and wrapped the back with rubber from an old bicycle inner tube and electrical tape, to prevent it from shorting on the metal.

Wish I'd gone with a surge brake.  Last time out, the plug on the RVi vibrated out, and the RVi's response to loss of power was to apply the brakes.  Fortunately, my TPMS detected the overheated brakes, but I was in Houston traffic at the time and it was a couple of miles before I could find a place to pull over.  The Smart's in the shop this week for new rotors and pads -- a $600 repair to a $3000 vehicle.  I won't be using the RVi in the future.

Quote from: Tarnold on February 03, 2021, 10:30:04 am

Ok, I’m running the ready brute tow bar(surge brake) so no extra battery connections there.  Going battery shopping this afternoon so might just look at adding some heavy gauge wires and Anderson connectors and leave exposed up under the dash somewhere.  Then attach trickle charger on those.

Well, that's the beauty of a trickle charger.  You don't need heavy gauge wires.  The 18 gauge wires that come with an after-market cigarette lighter receptacle are plenty for a 2 amp trickle charger, and you get another 12v outlet in the deal. Just be sure it also comes with an inline fuse. My trickle charger even came with a cigarette lighter plug.The biggest problem is figuring out a place to mount it the receptacle.  I put it in the side of the center post, and wrapped the back with rubber from an old bicycle inner tube and electrical tape, to prevent it from shorting on the metal.

Wish I'd gone with a surge brake.  Last time out, the plug on the RVi vibrated out, and the RVi's response to loss of power was to apply the brakes.  Fortunately, my TPMS detected the overheated brakes, but I was in Houston traffic at the time and it was a couple of miles before I could find a place to pull over.  The Smart's in the shop this week for new rotors and pads -- a $600 repair to a $3000 vehicle.  I won't be using the RVi in the future.

   
BlueBlaze

I have the RVi brake system and I love it, and the RVi 10 tire TPMS system. I think your RVi must have malfunctioned, because when you unplug the device it releases altogether, something you must do every time you run the toad's engine. It should not have applied braking. Have you contacted RVi?  I've found them to have exceptional customer service.

Quote from: BlueBlaze on February 03, 2021, 09:04:39 pm

Quote from: Tarnold on February 03, 2021, 10:30:04 am

Ok, I’m running the ready brute tow bar(surge brake) so no extra battery connections there.  Going battery shopping this afternoon so might just look at adding some heavy gauge wires and Anderson connectors and leave exposed up under the dash somewhere.  Then attach trickle charger on those.

Well, that's the beauty of a trickle charger.  You don't need heavy gauge wires.  The 18 gauge wires that come with an after-market cigarette lighter receptacle are plenty for a 2 amp trickle charger, and you get another 12v outlet in the deal. Just be sure it also comes with an inline fuse. My trickle charger even came with a cigarette lighter plug.The biggest problem is figuring out a place to mount it the receptacle.  I put it in the side of the center post, and wrapped the back with rubber from an old bicycle inner tube and electrical tape, to prevent it from shorting on the metal.

Wish I'd gone with a surge brake.  Last time out, the plug on the RVi vibrated out, and the RVi's response to loss of power was to apply the brakes.  Fortunately, my TPMS detected the overheated brakes, but I was in Houston traffic at the time and it was a couple of miles before I could find a place to pull over.  The Smart's in the shop this week for new rotors and pads -- a $600 repair to a $3000 vehicle.  I won't be using the RVi in the future.

   
BlueBlaze

I have the RVi brake system and I love it, and the RVi 10 tire TPMS system. I think your RVi must have malfunctioned, because when you unplug the device it releases altogether, something you must do every time you run the toad's engine. It should not have applied braking. Have you contacted RVi?  I've found them to have exceptional customer service.

Mine's a 2nd hand RVi2, and the Smart's so light it really doesn't need it, anyway.  No reason to bother the factory with it.  But the way, the repair bill came to over $750.  Smart's are cheap to buy, but really expensive to fix.  But, hey!  On the bright side, new brakes were only $250 more than a spare ignition key!  What a bargain, right?

To keep it going a bit of caution.  Last time I hooked the toad up, I failed to fully extend and lock the tow bar arms.  When hooking up the cable that activates the brakes, notice it had a lot of slack(don’t get ahead of me here).  So tightened up cable and got slack out.  My driveway is gravel and over 500 feet, all downhill.  When I got down to the gate, got out to recheck everything.  Looking back up the driveway there were 2 nice furrows where the locked brakes drug all the way down.  At least now I know that the brake system works, when properly adjusted.