Starter battery, leisure battery & hookup

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timscarth
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Posts: 13
Joined: 07 Jun 2021, 21:38
80-90 Mem No: 17388
Location: Birmingham

Starter battery, leisure battery & hookup

Post by timscarth »

Hi, my first post since joining the club.

We bought our T25 (Holdsworth Villa 1) last week and I've been doing some general bits & pieces& getting to know it a bit.

I'm confused about the electrical system and I'd appreciate some help or some pointers on what to check/look for/get to make it work.

The bus has a normal starter battery under the driver's seat but currently no leisure battery. There is wiring under the passenger seat for a leisure battery and a switch at the front under the passenger seat to isolate it. There's also an electrical hook-up socket on the outside pf the bus which connects to a modern looking RCD just behind the drivers seat. There are some wires to the starter battery and also a single 3 pin socket. There's also  a switch by the steering column for the fridge. I can't find any Zig or other electrical distribution box.

I have looked in to what works currently.
-All the vehicle standard interior lights only turn on when the ignition is on.
-Radio, cigarette lighter and camping interior lights work all the time regardless of ignition.
-Water pump doesn't work at all.
-I haven't tried the 3-way fridge on electric yet as I don't have a hook-up wire yet and I haven't tried when moving. Fridge works on gas.

Other than the water pump (which could just be broken), I can't find anything that's currently set to run from the leisure battery.

What I'd like is the following;
-Vehicle interior lights work all the time from starter battery (ie when door opens)
-Cigarette lighter only works with ignition turned on.
-Fridge to run on 12v when moving and 220v when hooked up and gas when not moving & not hooked up.
-Camper interior lights and all other auxiliary electrics inc radio to run off leisure battery.
-Charging of both batteries when driving.
-Charging of both batteries when using hook-up.
-I also plan to install some 12v/usb sockets in the back which will run off the leisure battery.
-I plan in the future to get a solar panel which I'd like to charge both batteries.

Hope this all makes sense, what are my next steps?

Thanks

Tim


 
1983 Holdsworth Villa 1 Pop-Top 1.9 DG

TONYT25T25
Registered user
Posts: 1825
Joined: 16 Sep 2013, 17:19
80-90 Mem No: 13596
Location: Hampshire

Re: Starter battery, leisure battery & hookup

Post by TONYT25T25 »

Just to get things rolling and welcome to the club, the WIKI and previous topics and threads give good guidance.  The interior camper lights ie non door ones should run off the leisure battery, the same applies to the water pump normally via a switch panel.  The exterior socket is for 240volt and in mine next to the RCD you mentioned is a socket which I use to connect the Fridge to when hooked up to mains etc.  Both the leisure battery and main battery can be charged whilst driving by use of a relay set up, again in the WIKI.  If you need to post images of your current setup it can be done as follows.  Fortunately most of mine was already in place apart from adding a leisure battery under the passenger seat and upgrading the existing wiring.  System not allowing me to upload an image of how to add a picture att.



 
1984 Campervan 1.9DG Petrol WBX

TONYT25T25
Registered user
Posts: 1825
Joined: 16 Sep 2013, 17:19
80-90 Mem No: 13596
Location: Hampshire

Re: Starter battery, leisure battery & hookup

Post by TONYT25T25 »

How to add images to aid assistance.

Image
1984 Campervan 1.9DG Petrol WBX

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