deleted

[scooters]

deleted

[ashmicro]

I use this

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... HARGER.htm

 

for topping up the battery on Kate's car, as she isn't able to drive at the minute, and the car is SORN. The charger is a bit slow, but does the job. Has a blade fuse in the arse of it in case you short it etc.

[Richard]

Leisure batteries need a different kind of charger, unfortunately they need to be a bit smarter so they cost more.

[revolting peasant]

[ashmicro]

Leisure batteries need a different kind of charger, unfortunately they need to be a bit smarter so they cost more.

 

 

Every day's a school day! Noted.

[scooters]

Leisure batteries need a different kind of charger, unfortunately they need to be a bit smarter so they cost more.

 

 

bugger

 

Leisure batteries are very expensive as well - decent ones seem to start at £80 - because of this even 2nd hand ones are expensive.

 

On one of the VW forums they say that if you are only using your van for the odd night or 2 you are better off dropping in a normal car battery as whilst they lose their charge more quickly they also charge much more quickly. The problem with leisure batteries is that they take an eon to charge so if you have run it down you need a good 4 hour journey to recharge it. So I might go down that route and maybe even fit an additional big car battery - like a 110amp one - I have space on the offiside wheel arch for another battery tray and relays are a tenner on the bay

[shite_meister]

Yeah you can't use a normal charger on a leisure battery me ole cock-stroker, but if you were talking normal batteries then I bought a decent boxed as new semi-pro sort of qwatitee Sealey charger from ebay for about half the price of the same model in the shop.

[M'coli]

Does the van not charge the leisure battery when on mains hook-up?

[shite_meister]

Does the van not charge the leisure battery when on mains hook-up?

 

Only if its been adapted to and unless we're talking fairly new campers I''d say no and it'd have a ZIG control panel on it with buttons and shit which are only normally found on newer stuff. Usually its just a split charge relay system so that the battery gets charge only when the engine is running, The electrical hook-up is run as a seperate circuit.

[garethj]

Knowing modern caravans not being sophisticated, can you rob the charger system from a scrap caravan? It should be a box screwed to some chipboard

 

Otherwise I agree with pog, buy a good battery charger and it'll see you out. Mine was about £75 and it's seen 15 years use so far.

[Richard]

I think the easiest thing here is to install a second car battery and have some kind of relay system that allows it to be charged from the alternator but doesn't use the main battery for the camping side- so you can run the second battery flat and still get started in the morning. I believe the current Transit van has a system like that.

[scooters]

Yeah there's already a relay system. The leisure battery is charging fine just takes a very long time! And no plans for a long drive. I think the best solution will be to buy a new 75 amp car battery and when I drive to argyll and back in may ill leave the leisure battery I'm situ whilst driving but drop in the car battery when camping. Only away for a night so not concerned about a long charge. This should give the leisure battery time to rechargeable.

 

The mains hook up is a seperate circuit and aftermarket fitted

[shite_meister]

I think the easiest thing here is to install a second car battery and have some kind of relay system that allows it to be charged from the alternator but doesn't use the main battery for the camping side- so you can run the second battery flat and still get started in the morning. I believe the current Transit van has a system like that.

 

Known as a split charge relay system which as you say once the ignition is off you'll only flatten the second battery not the starting battery if it all goes tits-up, quite a simple affair to sort out if you need to fit one. I ended up fitting another car battery into my T25 because they go under the seat and no leisure batteries are low enough to fit properly and the brucey bone-arse is that I can jump-start my own car when the fuck-shit Numax batteries can't do their sodding job properly (you can't do jump starts from leisure batteries as it 'fucks them up or something', all I can say is for fuck's sake do not EVER buy a NUMAX battery, they are fuck-shit. hateful things and I used to work in an automotive electrical garage that was a dealer for Numax

 

By the way if anybody needs these relays we have a 'fuck-load' of them at work that I can supply at much cheapness Autoshite discount Jersey VAT-free prices but if you'd rather get one locally Durite seem to do really good specific relays for the job in hand.