13 pin Euro plugs use 2.5 mm cable for the auxiliary charging circuits which is totally adequate and well capable of 25amps continuous.
What about the peak amps? When the battery is run flat after a few days of use its going to ask for much more 'juice' as soon as you start trying to charge it resulting in rather high amps.
As regards the charging of the auxiliary batteries, how much juice do you think is being used to keep the batteries topped up? If massive ampage was being needed then we would have huge cables in the vehicles charging circuits
After having done some extensive testing of the charging circuits of my van i have replaced all of my charging cables with 150A cabling as the existing equipment was certainly not up to the job from the readings given from a clamp style meter measuring amperage.
The charging cable to the 2nd battery in my Syncro are a VW fit 2mm!
Why would VW have focused on having a charging setup that is as fail safe and efficient as they could possibly make it, that's not their priority. Cost is their priority.
Most vehicles have 12N and 12S plugs, newer ones have 13 pin plugs
Most vehicles in the UK will probably not have a 13 pin euro plug fitted. They will most likely have a 12N..possibly a 12S aswell. As Syncros are not new vehicles i think we can assume that a 12N is the most likely. So this would require the syncro owner that wants a trailer to add a plug of somekind to their vehicle anyway, so why not add an Anderson connector. All it would cost is the price of a meter or so of cable and a connector - £15 tops.
Bespoke systems like yours are great in bespoke vehicles but if this guy wants to manufacture and sell these trailers he has to go with the standard stuff or he wont sell very many.
All depends how many people are going to want to drive an 'Expedition trailer' on an 'Expedition' with a standard unmodified vehicle towing it.
I have a leisure battery under my seat, its in great nick and I run my main beams and spot lamps off it to keep it alive, God only knows how old it is and its only gone flat once - on the way to Syncro 25. I left the fridge on by mistake whilst on the Ferry from Roslare to Cherbourg!
So...your'e saying that leaving your fridge on for a few hours ran your leisure battery flat?......I rarely ever turn my van fridge off, whats the point of a fridge if it isnt keeping things cool all the time? Do you turn off your fridge in your kitchen when you go to bed?
No idea what my Alternator size is
It should a be a 70A alternator, which is capable of delivering quite a bit more than its rated Amperage depending on the charge level of the battery its charging.... (i know this because i tested it)
What are you basing your comments on battery usage/charging on? How much time have you spent camping in your van away from civilisation and power supplies? How much wild camping/expedition equipment do you have/use that runs from the 12v system in your van? What Amps do the bits of equipment you have draw on your system? What is your daily Amp hr requirement? How long will it take to replace that usage with your current set up? Are you getting a true full charge to your secondary battery, if so, how do you know it is getting a
full charge?
I think really the point here is that Sandwedge asked about ideas for "Expedition trailers" not standard trailers...there's plenty of those around already. Anyone who is intending on going for a bit of a jaunt offroad into the unknown with a trailer full of kit isnt going to sniff at spending a little extra on having equipment that can be completely relied upon. Why skimp on it? Id rather pay a bit extra and have the peace of mind.....
