Wiring the leisure battery - no, the answer is not in Wiki!!

[Jonni]

I'm really annoyed with myself for not understanding this. My main battery is hooked up to the Zig, propex heater and fridge. I have bought a second battery to which I want to connect the zig and the heater. Question 1) Should I connect the fridge to this also?

There is already a relay switch in my fuse box, it is 40Amp and has the correct numbers on it for a split charger.
Question 2) How do I know if the alternator and main battery are already connected to it?

I want to connect everything up. So was thinking of just taking all the wires for the Zig and heater and just putting them on the second battery.
Question 3) Should any of these be connected up to the relay directly?


The wiring for the zig/fridge seems to be 17amp anad has an inline 10 amp fuse. The propex heater has thinner wire and only a 5 amp fuse. There are no other fuses that I can see.

Question 4) What ampage wire should I use to connect the second battery to the relay switch?

Question 5) What else should I connect?

Question 6) Should I forget pretending that I can do this myself and pay an auto-electrician to fit it for me??

Thank you for reading this.

Jonni

[Ivorblueun]

What type of zig do you have? CF8 is the most common one. If you have a one of these then you do not need a split charge relay as the zig does it and your leisure bat should be connected to this also the fridge should be connected to the main van bat via a relay like split charge so its only on 12v when the engine is running as it draws a lot of power and will flatten an average bat very quickly have a look here http://www.club80-90.co.uk/docs/zig-cf8.pdf

[lone gunman]

Not sure what Zig unit you have but my answers assume a CF8 or similar.

Fridge := This should only be connected, via a relay, to the driving battery - on 12 volt they draw a lot of current.

Propex := connected to the leisure battery, also draws a fair amount of current so don't flatten the main battery.

Second battery := connect to the leisure battery terminal of the zig if available, if not concisder a seperate split charge system (see the wiki)

If your zig has a charger (CF8 etc) then it will charge the second battery but from experiance, not very well, it's best to have a seperate split charge system to take care of charging the second battery.

[Mocki]

I'm really annoyed with myself for not understanding this. My main battery is hooked up to the Zig, propex heater and fridge. I have bought a second battery to which I want to connect the zig and the heater. Question 1) Should I connect the fridge to this also?

There is already a relay switch in my fuse box, it is 40Amp and has the correct numbers on it for a split charger.
Question 2) How do I know if the alternator and main battery are already connected to it?Jonni

As stephen said above, the fridge should be connected to the main battery, and should only be able to run when the engine is running.......
to check if the alternator is charging the main battery , check the voltage at the main battery without the engine running and then start engine, rechceck voltage, that will tell you.......
It is more than likely the fridge is wired through the 40 amp relay you speak of, so it will already have a signal wire there for the split charge you will end up fitting for the leisure battery.......

I want to connect everything up. So was thinking of just taking all the wires for the Zig and heater and just putting them on the second battery.
Question 3) Should any of these be connected up to the relay directly?

i wouldnt be taking all the wires off anywhere, unless you have a good diagram, and understand what is doing what......

The wiring for the zig/fridge seems to be 17amp anad has an inline 10 amp fuse. The propex heater has thinner wire and only a 5 amp fuse. There are no other fuses that I can see.?

How have you decided the wiring is 17amp?

Question 4) What ampage wire should I use to connect the second battery to the relay switch??

At least 20 aMP

Question 5) What else should I connect??

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?
are your interior lights connected to the main battery? they didnt oughta be really......

Question 6) Should I forget pretending that I can do this myself and pay an auto-electrician to fit it for me???

only you can answer that....

[Mocki]

ok, two points here.......

firstly, check the signal you have is dead when cranking, it should be.
if it isnt, make it so ( either by connecting to the black/yellow wire at the ignition switch , single thick one not twin thinner one) or disguard it and run a signal from the alternator blue wire.

secondly, its a real easy job to re-route the interior light loop from the main battery, just disconnect the feed from fuseboard at the fuse and run a goodly sized wire from the leisure battery and connect at the point you disconnected the fuseboad feed, not forgettting to add a inline fuse holder at the leisure battery connection, right nect to the battery to protect the wiring you have just added up to the fusebox..........

[Mocki]

its not that the battery draws that much ( it does if its flat) but more to prevent voltage loss, and through drain when using big amp equipment......

ideally you should take the signal from the alternator, not ig switched, but many conversions use the latter...

if i were re-routing the power for the int lights i'd disconnect at the fuse, rather than the looom, male spades connect straight in where the fuse was on later vans ( Blade fuses) , and makes for an easy changeover if leisure battery goes flat and you need emergency lighting to see (:)) you through.....

[Jonni]

This is my Zig. OK it's not a Zig!! The van is an autoseeper. God, I'm a proper div aren't I?