Trik-L-Start

[eric1514]

Adding a Trik-L-Start to my Travato.

Up under the rear behind the generator is this black box.



Removing the cover exposes this stuff. The large silver canister combines the house battery and chassis battery when you press the boost button. Otherwise it keeps them separate.



Some probing with a voltmeter will tell you that the terminal on the right is attached to the positive from the house battery and the terminal on the left is where the positive from the chassis battery is attached.

This is the Trik-L-Start with its leads cut and connectors attached. I had to make that small cut out for the wires. There's one on the other side but I didn't want to mount the unit upside down.



This is the thing mounted in place with connections made. You can see the charge (orange) light is glowing.



Some more probing at the batteries verified that the unit is working as advertised.

The instructions caution you to disconnect the negative leads from all the batteries but I didn't do that. You just need to be very careful and mindful of not letting any tool contact anything except for the nut you are tightening.

Also, you might notice that the yellow lead that should have been attached to the right side of that separator is actually attached a terminal on the disconnect switch. I did this because there weren't enough threads exposed on the separator's terminal to give me a trustworthy connection. It's all the same.

Eric

[BBQ]

.

Nice project.

THanks for sharing.

[Saldar]

Nice that you got it to fit in that box!

Is the long term "storage mode" (AGM/12.8V), which the Progressive dynamics Intelli-power 9200 eventually falls into, not so "intelligent"? Could you explain the advantages of using the trik-l-start?

[eric1514]

Although it fits in that box, I might move it into the cabin just so I can watch the pretty lights.

The PD converter's storage mode is 13.2 volts with 15 min. bump to 14.4 volts every 21 hours. Whether that is optimal for my batteries, I don't know. Perhaps Booster will chime in. I will say that in a previous coach I owned, I left the batteries connected all the time like I do now, and they were 7-8 years old when I sold the coach and were still performing fine.

The Trik-L-Start siphons off a small amount of the charge going to your coach battery and directs it to your chassis battery which would normally not see any charging while the van is being stored. I got snowed in this last winter and I had to periodically drag a charger out to the van to top off the chassis battery because parasitic loads would deplete it in a few weeks. The Trik-L-Start automatically prevents that battery from going dead.

[booster]

I think it is a good question about if the periodic voltage bump is better, worse, or doesn't matter when compared to constant float. I have never been able to find any real data or testing on any of that kind of thing.

We don't have a PD, so we don't even have that possibility, but quite a few chargers, our Magnum included, allow setting it up so the charger goes off until voltage drops to a setpoint and then recharges, or they can just be set to stay in float. Since they make specific designed batteries for continuous float setups like backup power, it seems logical that a battery designed for cyclic use like our RV batteries, if not left on float for long periods, but shallow cycled occasionally instead. Same would be true for PD boost, although I think they started to do that in the first place to prevent stratification in wet cells.

I think the fact that neither continuous float or the PD boost has seemed to have a bad effect on RV batteries would probably day it is not a big deal either way.

I do find it interesting that PD states that they intentionally want to stop the absorption voltage before the battery is totally full, and have it finish to full on float. This is also what many others do also, but imply they are taking the battery full in absorption, probably so they don't have to tell you it will take 1-2 days to finish in float. In all the cases, both PD and others, it is hit and miss if you get full, short of full, or overcharged, in absorption as it is primarily timer based so the battery bank size totally determines if the time are right.

[Saldar]

I see. The trik-l-start maintains BOTH the chassis and house batteries. When you are storing, do you plug in only the trik-l-start?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Saldar

I see. The trik-l-start maintains BOTH the chassis and house batteries. When you are storing, do you plug in only the trik-l-start?

No. the Trik-L-Start's only purpose is to maintain the chassis battery. It does so by borrowing power from whatever source may be available to maintain the house battery (shore power, solar, or whatever). You don't "plug it in"--it is permanently wired in place. It turns itself on whenever a charging source is available.

It is most useful for vehicles that have some solar and are stored outdoors. That way, the solar will maintain the chassis battery, and not just the house battery. It is also good if you store your rig plugged into shore power.

[avanti]

BTW: For those of you who are Sprinter owners:
Modern Sprinters have a "main disconnect" connector down by the accelerator pedal, which physically disconnects the negative terminal of the chassis battery from the vehicle. It is standard practice to disconnect it during service and long-term storage. A tech will assume that if this is disconnected, the vehicle is completely powered down. BUT, if you have a Trik-L-Start installed, this may not be the case. The Trik-L-Start itself will provide some power to the chassis, bypassing the disconnect. It is very important to understand this and to somehow deal with it before relying on the main disconnect feature.

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

BTW: For those of you who are Sprinter owners:
Modern Sprinters have a "main disconnect" connector down by the accelerator pedal, which physically disconnects the negative terminal of the chassis battery from the vehicle. It is standard practice to disconnect it during service and long-term storage. A tech will assume that if this is disconnected, the vehicle is completely powered down. BUT, if you have a Trik-L-Start installed, this may not be the case. The Trik-L-Start itself will provide some power to the chassis, bypassing the disconnect. It is very important to understand this and to somehow deal with it before relying on the main disconnect feature.

For those with that type of disconnect switch, wouldn't it be prudent just to connect the output of the Trik-L-Start to the battery side of the disconnect switch so the coach itself does go dead with the switch? You could still have the issue of the battery cable itself being hot if the battery is removed, though, so having the connection right at the battery, loose, might be in order.

This also brings up a point with for anyone with an engine generator setup, or even just a stock isolator or separator. You, and anyone who works on the engine, needs to be aware of the power available at one of the connections on the alternator, isolator, or separator that goes to the coach batteries. Many vans don't even have a disconnect on that line, so to kill it requires removing a cable from the coach batteries.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by booster

For those with that type of disconnect switch, wouldn't it be prudent just to connect the output of the Trik-L-Start to the battery side of the disconnect switch so the coach itself does go dead with the switch? You could still have the issue of the battery cable itself being hot if the battery is removed, though, so having the connection right at the battery, loose, might be in order.

The problem is that the Sprinter disconnect switches the GROUND, not the power. I have considered connecting the Trik-L-Start's ground connection on the battery side of this disconnect. But that would mean that when it was disconnected, the Trik-L-Start would still be connected to both electrical systems on the plus side, but would have no ground reference. It is not clear to me at all how this would behave.

[eric1514]

Moved it into the cabin so I could see the pretty lights