Solarflex 400i and the giggy box

[wired1236]

I recently purchased a 31BHKWE and had the dealer upgrade to the 400i solar with inverter system. I noticed that the smart shunt was not noticing the amperage of the 12v circuits like lights, fans, or other appliances that it should be. So I looked at the wiring of the shunt and they simply installed it between the main battery cable and the inverter. There’s no connection to the giggly box ground. The way I understand it is that ALL loads are to come from the shunt. Also, the giggly box has a ground to the frame, now I’m not an electrical engineer but I do know that all electrical circuits will follow the least path of resistance so even if they ran a ground to the shunt and removed the ground going to the battery from the giggly box, they would also have to remove the frame ground too. Sound right.,

[Javi]

The shunt has to be between the battery and any ground. Once past the shunt the frame is the ground of choice.

[wired1236]

Exactly. So they didn’t do that. Either I’ll have to take it in (to keep any sort of warranty) or run a 4awg ground to the shunt from the giggly box and remove the other battery ground in the giggly box once I figure out which wire that is. Then I may just also remove the frame ground inside the giggly box as the battery has a dedicated ground already connected directly to the frame.

Or is what you are saying to do is remove the dedicated frame ground off the battery, and run a new ground from the shunt to the giggly box?

[Javi]

Originally Posted by wired1236

Exactly. So they didn’t do that. Either I’ll have to take it in (to keep any sort of warranty) or run a 4awg ground to the shunt from the giggly box and remove the other battery ground in the giggly box once I figure out which wire that is. Then I may just also remove the frame ground inside the giggly box as the battery has a dedicated ground already connected directly to the frame.

Or is what you are saying to do is remove the dedicated frame ground off the battery, and run a new ground from the shunt to the giggly box?

Look at the ground cable from the negative post of the battery.. imagine that you cut that cable in half and install the shunt so that the cable runs directly from the negative post of the battery to the shunt and then from the shunt to the frame of the RV. There should be NO other negative cable attached directly to the battery... all negative connections MUST be downstream of the shunt.

All ground cable should run to the frame... the frame is THE GROUND...

[wrvond]

As an aside, it's a "Giggy box", not a "giggly box". Named for Brad Giggy - Director of Engineering at Keystone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo7_8vwVMxU

[German Shepherd Guy]

I like the term "Giggly"'
It just makes RVing more fun.

[wired1236]

Originally Posted by wrvond

As an aside, it's a "Giggy box", not a "giggly box". Named for Brad Giggy - Director of Engineering at Keystone.

Sorry, I meant no disrespect. It was a auto correct mistake and I didn’t catch it.

I did check my grounds yesterday and confirmed that the Giggy box uses the frame as a ground so when I disconnect the ground wire that grouns the frame right off the battery, the circuits in the box have to use the secondary ground running elsewhere which is too small for more than a few loads. Not good, so I or the dealer will have to run a properly sized ground wire from the Giggy box to the load side of the shunt as in the diagrams.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by wired1236

Sorry, I meant no disrespect. It was a auto correct mistake and I didn’t catch it.

I did check my grounds yesterday and confirmed that the Giggy box uses the frame as a ground so when I disconnect the ground wire that grouns the frame right off the battery, the circuits in the box have to use the secondary ground running elsewhere which is too small for more than a few loads. Not good, so I or the dealer will have to run a properly sized ground wire from the Giggy box to the load side of the shunt as in the diagrams.

Don't apologize for the spell checker. If it bothers anyone they have a problem. Doesn't the shunt mount directly to the battery negative terminal then the ground cable mount to the other side of the shunt?

[JRTJH]

Take a look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAbdmHo51uM

I think it might better explain where and how you need to install the shunt. It's not a "remove the old and replace with the Giggy Box circuitry", but rather it's an "add the shunt AT THE BATTERY" type of installation. Your trailer wiring and the Giggy Box wiring should not be touched with the shunt installation. It's all done AT THE BATTERY negative terminal.

If your dealership didn't include the 12" heavy gauge negative cable, then you'll never get it "wired correctly" without buying more cable.

Take a look at the video, I think it'll explain all you answers...

[Paul2]

We had the same problem. There was an extra ground from Giggy box to battery. I simply disconnected it from battery and added to common frame ground bolt. That fixed the bad readings. Now only the heavy ground from battery goes to 1 side of shunt. Other side goes to the frame ground post and to the inverter.

[wired1236]

An update. I took it to the dealer and they fixed the issue by running a new ground directly to the shunt like it should have been. All good except they used a hand crimper when crimping the 2/0 wire and two came loose so I recrimoed all of them with my hydraulic crimped.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by wired1236

An update. I took it to the dealer and they fixed the issue by running a new ground directly to the shunt like it should have been. All good except they used a hand crimper when crimping the 2/0 wire and two came loose so I recrimoed all of them with my hydraulic crimped.

Lots of shops/techs don’t have hydraulic crimps. Since 99% of crimps are 12,14 gauge butt connectors lots of techs I work with use the cheapest crimper they can find. I have a hydraulic crimp for the large wires but I will admit it’s a bit of a pain to use.

[wired1236]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Lots of shops/techs don’t have hydraulic crimps. Since 99% of crimps are 12,14 gauge butt connectors lots of techs I work with use the cheapest crimper they can find. I have a hydraulic crimp for the large wires but I will admit it’s a bit of a pain to use.

They can be a pain but we’ll worth the price to not have 2/0 battery cable come loose and short out your whole system, fry you batteries no who knows what else. It’s a $50 tool.