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01-22-2018, 10:41 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Cypress River Manitoba
Posts: 304
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Amp-L-Start issues
I'm not sure if I have a problem with my Amp-L-Start or not, so here's the deal. Last spring I ended up with a totally dead chassis battery and my Amp-L-Start also stopped working, so I replaced the chassis battery and got a new Amp-L-Start. My Battery Boost solenoid also failed and got replaced. Now I put a fuse inline from the Amp-L-Start to the chassis battery because I felt the house battery was connected to the chassis battery even without shore power and sure enough the fuse would burn out when the chassis battery was supplying a goodly load such as the hydraulic pump for the slides and jacks. I upped the fuse to 20amp and it still would blow when the chassis battery was under load.
Do I have a problem? Not sure because when we are parked the Amp-L-Start does exactly as advertised and keeps the chassis battery at around 13.5 volts or so.
Any ideas?
Stan
__________________
2004 Itasca Sunrise W22 chassis GM 8.1 Allison 1000 Towing a 2007 Chevy Cobalt four wheels down.
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01-22-2018, 11:19 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
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I've never been a fan of these solid-state modules like the Trik-L-Start, Amp=L-Start, Toad-Charge, and the like. They are 'mystery boxes' with pretty colored LEDs (power stealing) and are usually installed in a location the LEDs are never seen.
The Amp-L-Start is supposed to handle "up to 15 amps" so if you're blowing a 20 amp fuse, something's not right. (If you did install it less than a year ago, the warranty is one year, so act now!) The Amp-L-Start is claimed to be a 'charger' but makes no charging energy. " AMP-L-START™ "steals" some of the charging current from your house battery charger (or solar panels) to also keep your engine starting batteries charged"(from the linked page) It then disconnects when no charging current is sensed. Notice it only works in one direction, House battery excess charge is used to maintain the chassis battery, nothing said that the engine alternator will also charge house batteries when on the road.
Why not just install a B.I.R.D.? A Bidirectional Isolation Relay Delay works in both directions, isn't limited to 15 amps, and is cheaper than an Amp-L-Start.
__________________
Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
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01-23-2018, 08:16 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 2,523
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Is it a fast blow fuse? The Amp-L-Start is most likely a simple PWM charger, which means its switching on and off really fast to give an average of 15 amps but the pulses can be much higher since its just connecting both batteries for a short period through transistors and a fast blow fuse can blow. Normally need a slower fuse for PWM and Amp-L-Start shows no fusing in their install, it has its own internal protection I assume. I have one with no fuses and it works fine.
Should probably contact LSL to be sure and ask about the fusing.
There are some advantages to a device like an Amp-L-start vs a bird, as mentioned it is current limited and one direction, where a bird will simply combine battery banks at full blast in either direction when a voltage threshold is reached.
My coach has a solenoid that is engaged when the ignition is on but when parked it does nothing, so I added the Amp-L-Start to maintain the start battery from my shore charger.
There are more sophisticated battery to battery chargers that can do a real charge profile such as a Sterling but they are much more expensive. In a perfect world you would probably do two of these for bi-directional quality charging.
I am still debating whether to replace my setup with a really nice bird like a Blue Sea ML-ACR. I have used them in my boat and they are much better quality solenoids and voltage sensing than any RV based product. Plus I want to have the manual override of preventing it from engaging under certain circumstances.
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2022 Thor Palazzo 33.5
2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Toad - Readybrute Elite Towbar
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01-23-2018, 10:03 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Cypress River Manitoba
Posts: 304
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Thanks for your responses.
I've sent a copy of my post to the Amp-L-Start people, so when they reply, I hope I'll have some more info 'from the horse's mouth'. I'll share it with you.
Stan
__________________
2004 Itasca Sunrise W22 chassis GM 8.1 Allison 1000 Towing a 2007 Chevy Cobalt four wheels down.
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01-23-2018, 10:11 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Buxton, North Dakota
Posts: 3,940
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O doubt if the Amp-L-Start is much more than a Diode and some LED indicators. When the source battery reaches a certain voltage, current is allowed to flow to the lower voltage chassis battery.
__________________
2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38G F53/ V10 605 watts of Solar
1999 Winnebago Brave 35C F53V10 Handicap Equipped
1999 Jeep Cherokee, 1991 Jeep Wrangler Renegade and 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel
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01-23-2018, 10:30 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Out there, somewhere
Posts: 9,940
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Well Gang,
I had my Amp-L-Start in place now for almost 4 years and, it's working flawlessly. I mounted mine where I could see those LEDs. And, contrary to what some think, neither the Amp-L-Start or the Trik-L-Start is a battery charger. As it is described in the literature on them, what they do is monitor both sets of batteries, house and chassis.
When either of those two units sees a .5V difference in the two sets, it then steps in to action and, ALLOWS a given amount of amperage to the chassis batteries. For the Trik-L-Start, that amount of allowed amperage is 5. For the Amp-L-Start, that allowed amperage is 15. And, both of them "Steal" the voltage and amperage from what's being sent to the house batteries by whatever style charging system, inverter/charger or converter/charger.
As for what the guts are, inside either of those units, don't have a clue.
Scott
__________________
2004 ITASCA HORIZON 36GD, 2011 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 Toad '20 Honda NC750X DCT
2018 Goldwing Tour DCT Airbag
Retired-29.5 yrs, SDFD, Ham - KI6OND
Me, Karla and the Heidi character, (mini Schnauzer)!
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01-23-2018, 01:32 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Altoona, Iowa
Posts: 1,668
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FIRE UP
Well Gang,
I had my Amp-L-Start in place now for almost 4 years and, it's working flawlessly. I mounted mine where I could see those LEDs. And, contrary to what some think, neither the Amp-L-Start or the Trik-L-Start is a battery charger. As it is described in the literature on them, what they do is monitor both sets of batteries, house and chassis.
When either of those two units sees a .5V difference in the two sets, it then steps in to action and, ALLOWS a given amount of amperage to the chassis batteries. For the Trik-L-Start, that amount of allowed amperage is 5. For the Amp-L-Start, that allowed amperage is 15. And, both of them "Steal" the voltage and amperage from what's being sent to the house batteries by whatever style charging system, inverter/charger or converter/charger.
As for what the guts are, inside either of those units, don't have a clue.
Scott
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I agree, FIRE UP. I've had both the Amp-L-Start and the Toad Charge installed for over two years and both work perfectly.
__________________
2010 Itasca Sunova 33C, (lots of upgrades and modifications)
2011 Honda CRV, 2004 Rubicon (many modifications)
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