T1 Control Box

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Swisslulu
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T1 Control Box

Post by Swisslulu »

Hi Terry

The photo is of the control box belonging to the original 100aH Lithium Battery which originally lived in the rear of the LandCruiser to power the Engel and now does occasional service in the Suzuki for the same reason.

The control box activates a relay which no longer connects. If Erich bypasses the relay, the battery charges but that is obviously not ideal. Having disemboweled the battery to troubleshoot, he wonders about the significance of the yellow light. Any ideas what the problem could be?
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jon_d
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by jon_d »

Those relays are available at Jaycar for a few $

https://www.jaycar.com.au/12vdc-dpdt-re ... s/p/SY4008?

It just plugs into the black socket thing that is double sided taped to the box.
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Swisslulu
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by Swisslulu »

Thanks Jon. Erich wondered if the light was an indication of any other problem.
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homeless
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by homeless »

Might pay to wait till Terry survices as not aware of any relay with a light. Have you check the booklet Marg would have done for you. Bad luck that Marg has lost all the job data and photos between the two fires so Terry might need more photos for investigation. Where does the wire from the light come from. What is your voltage and Soc.
Most warning lights were controlled by the little junsi so check you individual cell voltage as one cell may be low triggering the low alarm and therefore giving you the warning light If so you may need to bring that cell up with you 3.7 voltage.charger. I kept away from that side but there are a lot of safety triggers to activate these lights
12 × 5 house boat moored at the present in Mannum Waters Marina.
Converting to LiFePo4 for float alone status
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T1 Terry
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by T1 Terry »

The green light says the system is on and should be charging. It could be the relay in the black cradle, but more likely, it's the timer behind the relay that has probably died.
This is a very early design, but I think Jaycar still sell those timers ..... I believe this is the item https://www.jaycar.com.au/12v-3a-time-s ... a/p/AA0364 but its marked as a clearance item, so that means they are clearing stock and plan to not carry them any more .... so best gab one while you can.

Just match where the wires are connected, the tricky part is adjusting the timer and the reason we stopped using them, it requires a small allen key .... but it might be a small flat blade screwdriver, they changed back and forth between the type of adjuster knob they used.
There is a very fine line between 3 mins, give or take 30 secs, and 45 secs, give or take 30 secs, so you are looking to adjust as close to 2 mins as you can get .....

The square cradle relay that Jon mentioned are also a Jaycar product, be sure to that the old one with you because there are a number of relays that all look the same to the untrained eye, but only one of the types will both fit in the cradle and do what they are designed to do .....

The green light will go off and the red light will come on when the timer is in an off cycle ..... I think, we are talking a long time back here and my memory isn't ..... I've forgotten what I was going to say ;) :lol:

T1 Terry
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Swisslulu
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by Swisslulu »

Thanks for your replies Brian and Terry.

Yes Terry, it is a long time ago - 13 years we reckon. Erich replaced the relay but no go. So it looks like you are correct about the timer being the culprit. We didn’t even know it was part of the setup so thanks for the link and detailed instructions. We are currently in Ballarat and will attempt to buy the timer at Jaycar tomorrow as we leave here on Monday for roads less travelled on our way home. As we are not currently using the Engel, Erich will leave the timer replacement until we are home in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again for your ongoing assistance.

Best wishes to Margaret for her recovery.
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by T1 Terry »

Wow, 13 yrs ago, I would have been 57 then, and clearly the marbles were rolling around a lot better than they are at the moment :lol:

I believe that will be the thing that is causing the problem, but remembering what I did 13 mins ago is a struggle quite often lately, I no longer have the schematics I drew up for each of these versions of the control box and I don't think a lot of the parts for the last version as still available ...... Covid shut down a lot of the smaller set ups that made the timer boards we were modifying for the last version ..... the timer board before that was a much more robust unit, but when it was replaced with this later timer board, they just disappeared from the market.

T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
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Swisslulu
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Re: T1 Control Box

Post by Swisslulu »

Actually, I think I exaggerated. It was 2013, so 12 years ago. So the battery doesn’t owe us anything after all that time but there is still life in it, enough to keep the Engel going as a fridge. It has a hissy fit after a couple of days running the Engel as a freezer. But we need to solve the charging problem. So a work in progress. Will keep you posted.
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