Hilux 4x4 Forum

I needed to replace my very old National Luna Intelligatvolle Dual Battery Solenoid switch after almost 10 years of contnuous use. It broke down sometime before the last Bull Run in October 2015 and left me with a flat Aux battery at Vosburg.

I read up about alternatives and came across this little gem at 4x4Direct.co.za. The HcdP Solid State switch for double battery system. I looked around on the internet but couldnt find people who reported on them. Matbe I just looked in the wrong places.

http://www.4x4direct.co.za/batteries-an ... p-1034.htm



Anyway, last week Thursday I went to the 4x4Direct shop down the road and got one. R961 later I walked out smiling like a boy with a new toy.

Why did I decide on this particular setup?
1) It is Solid State. Meaning no moving parts. Unlike the National Luna Solenoid system, which relies on moving parts to do the switching. No wear & tear.
2) It costs about half of what a new NL Solenoid system would have cost.
3) It is half the size of a NL Solenoid system
4) It is easy peasy to wire.
5) It is waterproof, and can be mounted in the engine bay, not finicky about heat.

Yesterday I fitted it. It took me longer to remove the old NL system than what it took to install the new one.

It works exactly as the documentation says. 12.8V is the golden number. That is when stuff happens. Now the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Time to try it out for real. We'll do that in June when we visit Mabuasehube for 10 days..

As soon as my solenoid dies I will also installing one of these units. Its a proper well designed product.

Nice!

With a big heatsink like that I'm guessing that it can get quite hot whilst operative - do the specs say anything about ambient temp parameters? It may also just be that it's intended to be able to be installed in the engine bay

Its says can be mounted under the bonnet, and lower down- mount in cool place.

DC solid state relays are fairly available...this one is just purpose built with some intelligence behind it.

I think it's pretty neat

Thys, if I can ask, why did you go this route and not DC-DC charger? The HCDP 20a is R500 more than what this product cost you.

I have a DC-DC charger for the deep cycle in the back of the Hilux. This is a "back-up" high cycle in the front, and doesnt need a step-up DC-DC charger. I use this battery purely to charge camera batteries, laptop, LED lighting etc etc.

The Deep cycle in the back runs the fridge only. This one charges off the DC-DC and Solar Panels.. In case of emergency I can switch to the "back-up" battery to run the fridge for a while ...

Aha. Ek verstaan.

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