My adventures into Camper electrics (part 1)

[stuff802]

Hi there folks.

Saturday I was all set to install a split charge relay in Elvis (the camper van, not the singer) our 1986 water cooled 1.9 t25. It all looked straight forward; i followed the wiki diagram. I located the thin blue "no charge" wire and scotch blocked it at the back of the steering column. But when i looked, the alternator has 2 B+ wires coming out of it. From what I can gather, one leads straight to the starter battery, and it looks as if the other goes to the leisure battery with an OLD OLD OLD manual switch. The switch has the wire from the alternator coming in, and then another wire going to the leisure battery. But it also has a white wire coming out of it - where it goes i cannot tell as it all goes into the bodywork under the van.

After much head-scratching (I'm a novice with electrics) i plowed ahead. But I'm not sure if what I've done is correct. I've basically ran the 2nd B+ from the alternator into the relay, attached the "no charge" wire, linked the other pin of the relay onto the leisure battery, and earthed the other pin (forgive me, i forget the numbers of the pins off the top of my head). And I've basically "ignored" the white wire and left it plugged into the old manual switch. Can i just check if this is working with a voltmeter with and without the engine running.

Do i need to fuse the B+ wire going into the relay? (it already has a 15A fuse in the relay).

I'm rambling now, but also, there is a black wire coming off the + terminal of leisure battery which i presume is to power the internal lighting. The internal lights have stopped working (before i started my relay install) and i can't figure out how to get to the wiring as it seems to go into the bodywork/behind panels. However, the only "fuse" i can see is a kind of old "push + twist" connector close to the battery, of which the fuse seems ok. The wire then goes to who knows where. I'm wanting to install an auxiliary fuse box/rail but like I said, can't figure out how to trace the wire and find out if one already exists.

I guess I've gone a LONG way about it but I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice to a complete beginner.

Many thanks in advance!

[billybigspud]

look inside your b pillars. that seems to be the normal way up to the roof. open the door and look inside the hole that vents into the cab doors.

jamie

[stuff802]

Firstly: thanks for your reply.

I think i 've installed the relay correctly, but I don't think i've linked it to the starter battery, i think i've just used the 2nd B+ wire from the alternator and fed that into the relay instead. How would i test this? If there some sort of "testing lamp" i could wire up to show a current is passing from the relay to the leisure battery? Or just a bog standard multi-meter?

I've looked behind the "B pillar" and can't see anything in there but a hollow cavity

The interior "living space" lights + fridge 12v are currently powered off the starter battery, but i just cannot for the life of me find the wires that link up (i shall post some piccies this evening). Also, the 12v cigarette socket also seems hooked to the starter battery. I'm wanting to hook this and the radio upto the LB.

Again, i'll post some piccies later as i'm sure without these my ramblings are inane.

[Mocki]

depending on the age of your van, there is a very simple mod you can
do to swap the wireless and lighting over to the leisure battery.....
what age is your van?

[stuff802]

Hi Steve, its a 1986 1.9L petrol/lpg Kameo(?) Hi-top.

I've installed the split charge relay, and have attached a fuse box from the LB via an inline 30amp blade fuse (see pic below), but everytime i connect the LB, sparks fly and the fuse blows Its earthed via the top of the fusebox. I took this from GoatBoy's VW site: http://www.freewebs.com/vwgoatboy/leisu ... nstall.htm



Other problem is the VB (see pic below). Obviously I disconnected the battery before mucking about with this (i took the picture as an afterthought). The thick red wire I presume come from the alternator. Whoever wired it before had a single brown wire (i'm holding it in the pic) that went into an old inline 15amp fuse, which then split to a green, read and a black earthed wire. I have a 3-way fridge so i'm guessing the red is for the fridge. The green goes under the rubber flooring to the front of the cab. For what I do not know as the radio/cig-lighter work without this connected (but the ignition key turned). The living space lights have stopped working, but they stopped before I disconnected the green/red/black wires.

[stuff802]

Sorry, forgot to add. In the first pic there is a black wire with an inline fuse in it. Originally there was just a manual switch, with the red cable (that i presumed was the live so that went into the relay), the black one (which i presumed to be the lights as it was fused) and a thin white cable. All of them came from the cab floor through a rubber gromit. The white cable is still linked to the switch (at the top of pic above the LB) and the black isn't connected to anything now. Even more confusing: the lights have (briefly) worked after this was disconnected.

E D I T: I think i'm being a dingo. I've earthed a wire straight through the fuse box. Would this be what's causing the inline fuse to the fusebox to blow? If so, what a tool

[CovKid]

If I remember rightly, any earths in that area I put straight to chassis. There shouldn't be any earth on the fuse array, only positives. That'll be why the fuse keeps blowing. Whether starter or leisure, they both use same earth (chassis).

[Mocki]

yep, like CC says above, you have earthed the fusebox! Doh!

your fridge should be wired via a (split change)relay to the main battery, never to the leisure battery.
the fridge is is like a big sbulb, it matter not which wire goes to pos or neg, infact most fridges have two black wires coming from the elements for the 12v cooling.( but the ignition or lighting will be polarised and matter which is pos and neg)

[stuff802]

Thanks for that

Steve: the simple mod to connect lights/cig lighter/radio to leisure battery. is it the mod i've seen on these forums/wiki about wiring the back of the 3rd fuse in the main fusebox to the (now not sparking) 2nd fusebox (connected to the LB) ?

[stuff802]

Ok, i'm on a roll now

Radio running off LB (thanks to the quick "male spade connector in 3rd fuse" mod), and internal lights too. Just gotta install a relay that tells the fridge to switch off 12v when engine not running.

However, I noticed that the cig lighter only appears to work when the ignition is turned on. But thats ok, i'll just wire up another socket to 2nd fusebox and have it at back of passenger seat.

My current conundrum (sp?) is this lovely green wire that was connected to the VB +ve and runs to the back of the main fusebox on the right:



Anyone any ideas what this could be?

Thanks!