leisure battery and wiring questions

[sharkjazz]

Evening all. Van is a 1988 t25 westfalia, LHD

Questions first.

Question 1.
If the lights work with the leisure battery disconnected, does that mean they are purely on the main battery. Or can they be on the lesiure battery if it is wired in, but if it is not, they will go to the main battery?

Question 2.
Is it normal for a cigarette lighter to work solely via the leisure battery.

Now the History
Part 1.
I had a problem with my cigarette lighter not working about a week before am meant to be setting out for Australia. Checked the fuse, seemed ok. Took it to a garage, turns out there was another fuse behind this little black plastic covering which I had always wondered what it was for doh. One new fuse later and it is all ok.

Part 2.
Eber heater has never worked properly since got the van (not really tested it much as only had for the summer), guy before had said this and said to get it serviced, of course left it to the last minute. Took it to an eber dealer, turned it on, it worked first time. Was told it probably the lesiure battery not having enough juice to fire it up.

Part 3.
After the cigarette lighter was known to be working (after part1), disconnected the leisure battery to put it on a battery charger (due to part2). Whilst it was disconnected, I tested the side lights and was surprised to see they worked (see question1). Tested the cigarette lighter, it did not work. Assumed this meant it was purely working via the leisure battery (see question2)


Now.
The cigarette lighter has stopped working, two days before meant to leave for Oz. The fuse is fine. Am thinking I could have ballsed something when trying to charge the leisure battery (see part3).
But the eber heater kind of now works. Turn it on, it clicks clicks clicks, after about 15 secs it kicks up a gear, still clicking (if I turn the heat setting down to 1, the clicks are about 1 second apart, if turn it up to 7, it clicks about 4 times a second, if then switch it from the heater to fan, the heat keeps coming). I am assuming this means the leisure battery is ok.

[horns]

Interior lights, cigarette lighter, radio etc are powered by the starter battery as standard. There's a fairly simple modification you can do to make them work from the leisure battery - a search on here should fill you in with the details.

[sharkjazz]

Interior lights, cigarette lighter, radio etc are powered by the starter battery as standard. There's a fairly simple modification you can do to make them work from the leisure battery - a search on here should fill you in with the details.

Thanks for the extremely quick reply

So it would appear from what you are saying, that from the cigarette lighter working, to when I tested it with the leisure battery disconnected, something else must have gone wrong.

But, if this was the case, why had the cigarette lighter stopped working due to a fuse coming from the leisure battery? Wires go direct from leisure battery to this secondary mini box (with two fuses) that is situated just outside the leisure battery hole/box behind the drivers seat. Would this then imply that the van has already had this conversion done to it?

[horns]

The mod involves a single wire from the leisure battery to the main fusebox. Are the other two fuses you mention attached to the door pillar on the drivers side just behind the seat? If so, I think those are something to do with the kitchen equipment - I forget what now, maybe fridge and water pump?

[sharkjazz]

Yes, the two fuses are exactly where you say. Some wires come from there and go behind the units. There is a secondary cigarette lighter casing that is attached to two wires that connect to the leisure battery and the fuse box that just dangles there.

But the fuse on the right in that box, was definitely blown, and when replaced, the main cig lighter in the dash did work. I am assuming this implies that some non-standard wiring has happened in the past.

Am going to have get the van into a garage tomorrow I guess, am just panicking as have a ferry for france booked for midday Tuesday and the cigarette lighter tis supposed to charged the laptop to keep the daughter pacified with Fireman Sam dvds.

[horns]

But the fuse on the right in that box, was definitely blown, and when replaced, the main cig lighter in the dash did work. I am assuming this implies that some non-standard wiring has happened in the past.

I think that may just be a coincidence - those fuses should have nothing to do with anything in the dash. Maybe it just works intermittently in the first place?