Basics on split charger for 1985 Westy

[steffanstringer]

Hi,

after an eventful week that was supposed to be spent in Wales in the van I have some questions on split chargers.

For the record I may as well give the Wales story....

Got to Anglesey and having a marvellous time on the Monday when we pulled up in a supermarket car park only to realise that I was p1ssing petrol everywhere after filling the tank up in the morning. Advised the young lass that pulled up next to me that she might like to stub her fag out and cordoned off the van with 'cleaning' cones from the supermarket. Called the very nice man from the AA who sent out a local garage within 10 minutes. The garage said they couldn't figure out what the problem was and wouldn't be able to get to it until Friday and even then they couldn't guarantee that they'd have the parts.

I called up CJ at Syncrospares in Devon and he felt it was probably something to do with the filler pipe and where it enters the tank and he could do it in under an hour and sort me out on Wednesday!

The AA wouldn't move me unless the fuel was drained out so the local garage did this and charged me for the privilege. The fella was cheerfully smoking his rollups as he operated the siphon. So I got recovered down to Devon (three different flatbeds each taking me one leg of the journey and with an overnight stop in between). I am glad I have my AA coverage, but it's a real palaver to get recovered long distance now. Especially at the hand-offs. The next vehicle was never there waiting.

True to his word CJ fixed the problem whilst we had lunch at the pub and a day early to boot. Bravo CJ! The culprit was a an aged o-ring into the fuel tank.

Through the trip I had been concerned by an apparent reduction in power when starting and cruising on the motorways. On Friday it came to a head when I could not get the van going after trying my trusty booster kit and failing with a jump start. Voltage on both starter and leisure batteries was around 12V - so not good.

Called the AA again and he diagnosed no fuel with the finger pointing to a defunct pump. We pootled out to the local GSF and got a replacement pump which he fitted - job done. I let him know that I was not sure that my battery was getting charged properly and he agreed when he tested the output from the alternator that it seemed fine but it was getting to the battery.

Decided to stay only one last night before heading home but this plan changed as after stopping for fuel I needed another jump start (battery showing less than 12V).

So now to my question ........

The van has got the original Westy split charger and I am looking for confirmation that the alternator is supposed to charge both the leisure and starter batteries whilst driving and that the split charger is supposed to do the same when I am hooked up?

Is it fair to say that all the current to the batteries (from alternator or AC) go through
the split charger?

Any known issues with Westy split chargers and if I need a replacement what should I be going for?

Thanks in advance

Steffan

[kevtherev]

The van has got the original Westy split charger and I am looking for confirmation that the alternator is supposed to charge both the leisure and starter batteries whilst driving

yes it is

and that the split charger is supposed to do the same when I am hooked up?

no.
the "zig" does that

Is it fair to say that all the current to the batteries (from alternator or AC) go through
the split charger?

just DC

I suspect a recifier fault, or a foo barred battery

[Grantourer]

Hi, our split charge charges both batterie, engine not running I get 12.5v ish on both and with the engine running, about 13.5v, if you have a meter check the battery with the engine off and then running, if it gets above 13.2 volts,engine running, you are chraging the batteries. Hope this helps.

Regards, Graham

[Westy.Club.Joker]

Westfalia original set-up.

The alty charges both batteries when the engine is running. The "split-charger" you describe isn`t a split charger. The black buzzin box under the seat is a normal 3-stage battery charger, which charges BOTH batteries when you are hooked up.

The "split-charge" you hear talked about in various posts is the charging system from the alternator which is "split" via a relay so it charges both batteries.

If your original charger is knacked, then one option is to replace it with a modern 3 stage charger. Irish Dave did an extensive post with pics on this last year in the Camper section, pretty simple to do, will cost you around £100. I did mine.

[stives_daz]

would this split charge setup be the same in a holdsworth villa3? I'm having a problem with the leisure battery charging.

[Westy.Club.Joker]

Split charge set-up should be the same for all `vans, it`s just a way of "splitting" the amps out of the alty to two seperate battery systems, without the batteries being connected at any other time, so there`s no chance of your leisure battery side of things flattening the main starter battery. The split-charge relay only comes in when the engine is running, so the 2 batterys charge together. Soon as the engine is stopped, the relay trips out again and the systems are independant of each other.

[leftfield27]

This guy has some great stuff on electrics.

http://www.kampenwagen.co.uk/Split%20Charge.htm

Have you got a multimeter and checked all the voltages? When I was investigating mine, I checked the voltage accros the altenator, main battery and leisure battery with the engine off and then on.

The main battery and alternator voltages should be identical at all times (they are directly connected to each other), and the leisure battery might be lower when the engine is off if it has been used a bit, and then should be the same voltage as the main batt and alternator when the engine is running (MINUS a small amount of voltage drop due to the length of cable involved)


One little tip, the split charger kicks in when the red no charge light on the dashboard turns OFF (this is what flicks the switch to essentially connect the leisure battery and alternator together in parallel when the van is running.) BUT that light does not switch off until the engine is revved just a lteeny bit. This confused me as I was thinking that my split charger was not working, when in fact I just hadnt revved the engine to switch off the no charge light!)

Once you get the idea its pretty simple, and you can get a new split charge relay for less than 20 quid if you need one.

[steffanstringer]

Am going to follow this route https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=charger for replacing the battery charger ('BBB'). Fuse is intact so unit must be dead.

Having read all the useful info on split chargers I am beginning to 'get it'. So a split charger is actually just a relay? Does anyone know where this relay would be in my 1985 Westy Joker?

If the relay is also dead could it be replaced by something like this from Maplins http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... 7&doy=30m3?

I am getting a 'profesh-ne-al' to do the work as I don't want to wake up one night with the van on fire around me

Cheers

Steffan

[Westy.Club.Joker]

OE relay position is under the drivers seat, silver box looking thing with wiring attached, may have to slide the seat out to get at it, just swivel it and slide it off it`s runners.

That Maplins contraption isn`t what you need, get the old relay out and change it like-for-like. I think they`re a 5 terminal one but not sure, it`s easier to just swap it for the one you`ve got. A proper sparky will sort you one out no probs, they`re nothing special.

If you are buying the charger in the pics that Irish Dave (and I) used from Rainbow Conversions, mention Club 80-90, they may sort you out some discount if you mention that a few people may want one of those chargers. Don`t ask, don`t get

[steffanstringer]

OE relay position is under the drivers seat, silver box looking thing with wiring attached, may have to slide the seat out to get at it, just swivel it and slide it off it`s runners.

That Maplins contraption isn`t what you need, get the old relay out and change it like-for-like. I think they`re a 5 terminal one but not sure, it`s easier to just swap it for the one you`ve got. A proper sparky will sort you one out no probs, they`re nothing special.

If you are buying the charger in the pics that Irish Dave (and I) used from Rainbow Conversions, mention Club 80-90, they may sort you out some discount if you mention that a few people may want one of those chargers. Don`t ask, don`t get

B*gger! Yes that's the one. Already ordered it.

I'll hunt for the relay tonight. I really hope I don't have to take the seat off again as it drives me nuts. It's a pilot's seat on a swivel base and is a real sod to get on and off. Would be easier if the steering wheel would get out of the way.

Thanks,

Steffan

[steffanstringer]

I've been looking for the relay under the driver's seat (left hand side in my case). It's not in the battery compartment. Could it be forward of the battery compartment? Would I have to slide off the seat and remove the swivel base and look underneath?

It's not this stuff is it.....

Behind the seat.

[img:424:640]http://homepage.mac.com/sstringer/.Pict ... s_seat.jpg[/img]

and beside the drivers seat...

[img:424:640]http://homepage.mac.com/sstringer/.Pict ... s_seat.jpg[/img]

The picture up top looks like prehistoric fuses hand-carved from bronze rather than relays

Steffan