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Old 03-30-2018, 02:18 PM   #1
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Replacing Battery Separator

I am planning on replacing the Battery Separator on a 2009 Interstate. Which Blue Sea Unit have other used?
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Old 03-30-2018, 04:02 PM   #2
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This is what I'm going to use:

Blue Sea ML-ACR 7620

https://www.bluesea.com/products/762..._-_12V_DC_500A



I believe a few others have already installed one and it's working as intended. Hopefully they'll chime in.....
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Old 03-30-2018, 04:43 PM   #3
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https://www.bluesea.com/products/761...12_24V_DC_120A

I ordered this one but I see it has a max input of 120 amps, which I think is too low.
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Old 03-30-2018, 05:33 PM   #4
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that's the unit I installed. I'm very happy with the results.
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Old 03-30-2018, 06:55 PM   #5
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Same unit installed in mine as well.
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Old 03-30-2018, 09:06 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DougWV View Post
https://www.bluesea.com/products/761...12_24V_DC_120A

I ordered this one but I see it has a max input of 120 amps, which I think is too low.
It is too low. The alternator on the modern Sprinter AI's cranks out over 200A....
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Old 03-30-2018, 09:16 PM   #7
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Thanks for the help, just ordered the correct one.
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Old 04-01-2018, 08:26 AM   #8
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This is a good time to bring up how to wire up one of these Blue Sea ML-ACR switches. Attached is a pic of the wiring diagram, as well as a pic of the BIM in my AI. What to do with the wires.... ?

From the BIM, you will see a red wire that becomes an orange wire then passes through a 3Amp fuse. This is connected to one of the big battery terminals on the BIM... ok, no problem... let's ignore that in the picture. And Ground is a no brainer. So what's left on the BIM are three wires labeled Ignition, Dash, and Gen-Set.

On the Blue Sea wiring diagram, we are to ignore the Orange and Green wires, those are for a different type of setup... and Ground is obvious. That leaves three wires to deal with, Red for Remote, Brown for Engine Isolation and Yellow for LED.

Can someone explain what to do here?

************
And then there's the Blue Sea-provided three position dash switch...which I suppose could be installed near the existing house battery manual rotary switch, if that makes more sense than trying to replace the OEM battery boost dash switch. But how to wire... given the set of wires we have to deal with? See diagram where I wrote Blue Sea 3-position Switch. No, I have not accessed the Battery Boost switch back side wiring to see what's going on there...
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Old 04-01-2018, 09:23 AM   #9
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I wanted to have the switch in the front... I reuse the cable that goes to the exiting switch. Red (Terminal 2) wire from ACR connected to Gray/Black wire that goes to switch. And then I had to run 2 additional wires from the back to the front, to complete the install of the switch as per the install diagram (Terminal 7 for the yellow wire, and Terminal 8 from House battery).



Let me try to consolidate the updates from my thread in one post...

Response from Blue Sea (which is what Pahaska and FlyFishinRVr said )


Quote:
Ah, OK.

Yes, it is possible for the ML-ACR to do that. You would use 2 of the SI lines. If two of the SI lines see battery voltage, it will hold the unit off and in stand-by for as long as both lines are energized, so it won’t combine the batteries.

The best way would be to wire one SI line to the Engine Ignition system, so it see 12V when the engine is running. Run a second SI line to the generator, so it sees 12V when the generator is running. What will happen is this: Assuming both batteries are fully charged at 12.9V and the ACR is closed (batteries paralleled) both engine and generator are off.

1. You turn on one of the engine

2. The ACR will sense the starting and turn off, isolating the batteries for starting. While the engine is running, ONE (1) SI line is energized. This will hold the ACR in stand-by for 3-5 minutes.

3. After 3-5 minutes the ACR will check the remote position and return to normal function, so in automatic mode, it would then combine both batteries to be charged from the alternator.

4. If you then started the Generator

5. The ACR will sense the start and turn off, isolating the batteries for starting. At this point TWO (2) Si lines are energized. This will hold the ACR in stand-by, until one of the sources turns off.

6. Say you turn off the engine, and leave the generator running.

7. Now ONE (1) SI line is energized, the unit will wait 3-5 minutes then resume normal operations. In automatic mode, the batteries will be combine to both be charged from the generator.


Best regards, Avery Stiles


My Blue Sea ACR was installed in the following way (remember to install the 2amp inline fuses!! ):

Terminal 1 - I ran a cable from chassis battery negative/ground post to here...
Terminal 2 - I reuse the cable that goes to the exiting switch. Red wire from ACR connected to Gray/Black wire that goes to switch.
Terminal 7 - Yellow one that goes to the switch in the front... ran additional wire for this.
Terminal 8 - Ran an additional wire from switch to house battery. Also with a 2amp inline fuse. I connected this to the terminal A in the ACR since the house battery connects there as well.
Jump Terminal 8 and Terminal 3
Used the Isolation #2 (Green) for the Gen-Stat wire - remember to place a 2 amp inline fuse.
Isolation #3 (Orange wire) - left without any connection.

I might be repeating my self. But for clarity. Here is matching to old Battery Isolator:

Dash Switch - Goes to Terminal 2 on ACR switch - I reuse the cable that goes to the exiting switch. Red wire from ACR connected to Gray/Black wire that goes to switch.
Ground - to ground block in that area
Gen-Set- Connect to the Isolation #2 (Green wire) - remember to place a 2 amp inline fuse.
Coach Bat - Terminal A on ACR
Chassis Bat - Terminal B on ACR
Ignition - Connected to Isolation 31 (Brown wire)





So connection ends up being as if you had two engines (one is the Sprinter engine and one is the Generator):



I was going to order a new trim to get rid of the trim with the hole where the stock switch was... Rather than ordering a new lower dash trim , I took out the switch, remove the label it had and installed that on the inside (to not lose it)... installed switch back and trim back in place. And now it looks factory and there are not labels to confuse that with anything else... it is just there disconnected.





I hope that is more clear...
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Old 04-01-2018, 09:57 AM   #10
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ARgghhh...

"Ignition - Connected to Isolation 31 (Brown wire)"

Should have read:

Ignition - Connected to Isolation #1 (Brown wire)

And remember the 2 amp inline fuse on the Isolation connections!!
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:39 AM   #11
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Wachuko: Thank you !
My hat goes off to people like you and FlyFishinRVR that are brave enough and knowledgeable to tackle these things... running new wires to the front dash area is beyond my scope of capability (I think) so I'll install the Blue Sea switch in the back of the coach near the electrics.

When you say:
Terminal 8 - Ran an additional wire from switch to house battery. Also with a 2amp inline fuse. I connected this to the terminal A in the ACR since the house battery connects there as well.
Jump Terminal 8 and Terminal 3

Do you suppose that my "Red/Orange wire with 3Amp fuse" connected to one my hot terminals (can't remember which one right now), should be what I run to Terminal 8?
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:58 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tronadora View Post
Wachuko: Thank you ![


In case the photo makes no sense as a reference (big Disney fans)



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tronadora View Post
[/I]Do you suppose that my "Red/Orange wire with 3Amp fuse" connected to one my hot terminals (can't remember which one right now), should be what I run to Terminal 8?
Yes. Thank you for reminding me that. There is already one inline fuse in there... reason I needed two additional inline fuses instead of three.

I should remove the seat and cover and take detailed photos... maybe in a few days...

But yes. There is a fuse in there already. I just changed all of them to 2 amps as per diagram. I used 3 amp initially as those were the lowest ones that I could find locally... but once the 2 amps arrived, I swapped them all...
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Old 06-19-2018, 10:43 AM   #13
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Can someone here explain why the OEMbattery isolator should be replaced with the Blue Sea ML-ACR? I'm planning on an lithium upgrade, but don't understand the need for this BIM verses the stock one that came on my AI.
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Old 06-19-2018, 10:58 AM   #14
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Quick summary:

Stock BIM - Crap - dead/damage batteries
Blue Sea ACR 7622 - Good

FlyFishinRVr documented a longer version of the above...
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Old 06-19-2018, 11:28 AM   #15
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I went back and reviewed the posts. Maybe Airstream changed manufacturer's after i bought mine. Originally just after I purchased my AI, I had a similar issue with the chassis batteries not being charged by the alternator, but it turned out to be a very loose battery connection near the chassis battery that ran to the BIM. After that was fixed, I have not had any issues. Both the chassis batteries and house batteries are always fully charged, both on shore power, genset, or alternator. I can't see why it would be necessary to go to the trouble and expense to swap the BIM out if I'm not having any issue.

But one concern I do have with a lithium upgrade is combining the two battery banks. Could that be a problem? Another is how the genset starter is wired through the house batteries as well, and lithiums are not designed to start engines. I may change that to the chassis battery, which is specifically designed to start engines.
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Old 06-19-2018, 12:14 PM   #16
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The difference is that stock BIM cut-off voltage is too low and lets the battery reach critical low voltage before isolating... if the house batteries are over 13.3v, the chassis battery needs to be below 12.6v before the BIM will close.

ACR is better at isolating before letting the battery reach that critical level.

Blue Sea ML-ACR also has the option of the remote switch so that you can control (or leave it in Auto) isolation or combination of the batteries.

Stock unit does have a switch in the dash to combine them...

The Blue Sea ACR will close (combine battery banks) when the voltage at either bank goes above 13v for 90 secs or 13.5v for 30 secs, and will open if either bank goes below 12.75v for 30 secs, or 12.35v for 10 secs. It uses a magnetic latch for really low "on" current draw, and even comes with a remote switch that will allow you to manually connect or disconnect the two banks. As a bonus, the switch contains a LED that lets you know if the banks are connected when it's in Auto mode.

If yours is working fine then great! I did not even wanted to take a chance. This was one of the first modifications that I made
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Old 06-19-2018, 12:27 PM   #17
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I have a one of these hooked up, so that the chassis battery gets a trickle charge at all times, so they always are fully charged regardless of how the BIM is working, so I don't really have a problem with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto, although the other unit definitely is a better quality unit.

However, with that being said, now I'm wondering since lithium charge at a different voltage recommended from AGM's, if this will even work with lithiums at all.

There's always something...
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