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does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery?
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jocoman
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 3:40 pm    Post subject: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

If the ACR is simply wired I.E one Plus side to house battery and the other plus side to starter battery plus a ground does it contribute to parasitic drain on the starter battery? I measure 60K from either ACR post to ground. So if my math is correct it would have a constant drain of .2ma . If this is true then it would be only a very slight or negligible drain.
Does this make sense? Otherwise do I need a switch in there someplace?
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:01 pm    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Why is 0.2ma an issue?
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:05 pm    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Not at all. I'm just wanting to understand this device . .2ma is peanuts if the way i am calculating is legit and would never cause a no start from the start battery.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 5:25 pm    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

I have a related question…maybe needs a thread but I'll see if anyone can answer it. I have a BlueSeas ACR and while it doesn't draw enough to worry about, it combines when I don't want it to. When I have my solar panel out and charging, the ACR will combine and lower the voltage going to the aux battery which I don't want. When it separates, the aux is lower (maybe .5V?) and then has to reclaim that. I want all the solar charge to go to the aux.

What I would perhaps like to do is prevent the ACR from combining unless the charge is coming from the alternator, ie, the motor is running. So I think I envision a relay and some way of sensing that current (the blue wire that turns off the ALT light?). Am I on on the right track? Talk to me like I am 5…
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 5:44 pm    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

You can add a relay for the ground wire of the ACR. I would tie it in to the run only, at the fridge relay.

Option two, a manual switch on the ground.

Option three, and don't know the long term of this, but add solar (+) fused to the ignition part of th ACR, shis should separate them when the ignition connector has power. Someone else should verify this.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:35 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Paulbeard wrote:
I have a related question…maybe needs a thread but I'll see if anyone can answer it. I have a BlueSeas ACR and while it doesn't draw enough to worry about, it combines when I don't want it to. When I have my solar panel out and charging, the ACR will combine and lower the voltage going to the aux battery which I don't want. When it separates, the aux is lower (maybe .5V?) and then has to reclaim that. I want all the solar charge to go to the aux.

What I would perhaps like to do is prevent the ACR from combining unless the charge is coming from the alternator, ie, the motor is running. So I think I envision a relay and some way of sensing that current (the blue wire that turns off the ALT light?). Am I on on the right track? Talk to me like I am 5…


I added a switch to my ACR.

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:19 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Tim you could have installed a small switch on the small ground wire on the SI_ACR. On mine I have a relay but a switch would work too.

Also, Paul - the below is a solution to your SI_ACR. Basically the batteries will only combine when the engine is on.

That being said - I believe I just took the "automatic" part OUT of the automatic charging relay. I think a simple relay would do the job.

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:05 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

shagginwagon83 wrote:
Basically the batteries will only combine when the engine is on.

That being said - I believe I just took the "automatic" part OUT of the automatic charging relay. I think a simple relay would do the job.



That's pretty close to what I want. It still charges automatically, it just adds a way to ignore the solar charger. In high summer I wouldn't mind seeing both batteries topped up to 13.5V but it's early yet.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Paulbeard wrote:


That's pretty close to what I want. It still charges automatically, it just adds a way to ignore the solar charger. In high summer I wouldn't mind seeing both batteries topped up to 13.5V but it's early yet.


The "Automatic" part of the SI_ACR can 'detect' when to bridge the batteries.

I think you could get away with telling a non-auto relay when to bridge (after the engine is on and the alternator 'excited'. I don't know what the cost is. One benefit of my setup is that after the SI_ACR is turned on, then it takes like 30 seconds to bridge - well after the engine is running.

But yes - I don't want my solar controller charging both batteries - only my aux. The only reason my starting battery would be dead is if the battery is bad/weak. I could jump myself with my aux.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:29 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

shagginwagon83 wrote:

I think you could get away with telling a non-auto relay when to bridge (after the engine is on and the alternator 'excited'. I don't know what the cost is. One benefit of my setup is that after the SI_ACR is turned on, then it takes like 30 seconds to bridge - well after the engine is running.



Yeah, the 30 seconds is how the ACR works…combines after seeing a steady source of 13.5V current for 30 seconds. So it's encouraging that the solar panel output can force it to combine this early in the year.

I need to better understand the signal the blue wire carries and how/if it can trigger a relay to do this.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:32 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Paulbeard wrote:

I need to better understand the signal the blue wire carries and how/if it can trigger a relay to do this.


That's what I'm using - the blue wire found in the driver side battery box. That combined with a normal relay to control the ground. My wiring diagram above does what you need - ignore the 'key/ignition' part.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:36 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

shagginwagon83 wrote:


That's what I'm using - the blue wire found in the driver side battery box. That combined with a normal relay to control the ground. My wiring diagram above does what you need - ignore the 'key/ignition' part.


Gotcha. Thanks. I was misreading that…
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:54 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Yes. The stand by current draw (parasitic draw) is in the blue sea data sheets. The reason I like this one is the much lower current draw:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Victron-Cyrix-ct-12-24V-120A-Intelligent-Battery-Combiner/171934028788
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:02 am    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

Yeah I would go with Victron if I had to do it again.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:59 pm    Post subject: Re: does a Blue Sea SI-ACR Charging Relay drain starter battery? Reply with quote

shagginwagon83 wrote:
Yeah I would go with Victron if I had to do it again.


+1 on that. The one I chose was recommended by SolarBob but I would rather have the data over time that victron makes available.
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