onboard charger

[scottbott]

I bought one of the chargers from aldi last year,would it be man enough to fit permantley in the van so when on a hookup it would keep the batteries topped up and if so how would I go about wiring/fitting it??,cannot see anything on wiki

[California Dreamin]

You could wire it up permanently but at 3.4 amps? you run the risk of discharge being heavier than re-charge. This over a prolonged camp, would result in the leisure battery going flat to a point where this charger acts as a power source and so just turns off to protect itself.

Generally, the leisure charger needs to be higher output than this...min 6amps, 8amp plus recommended.
The 10 amp Numax would be a good choice.

Martin

[Mocki]

rather depends on what you are using leisure wise i would have thought?
if you are only using a water pump for the tap, and a couple of lights for a couple of days at a time before driving for more than a hour then, yes it will keep up pretty much.

however if you are trying to run a tv, games console ,400 fairy lights , a heater, hair dryer and disco sound system, then, no, you will be needing a bigger charger.

[California Dreamin]

Of course we can only generalise given that we don't know your likely useage, amount of batteries, length of camping stays before driving etc etc.

For instance...if your missus is going to sit in the van for 5 hours of an evening whatching X factor and strickly on a 15inch LCD telly then thats 5 - 8amp draw on it's own...she will of course have her phone on charge and have at least 2X 8watt lamps turned on, thats another couple of amps, then there is the Propex/Ebberspacher heater cus she's cold, another 1 - 2 amps...it all mounts up.

Martin

[scottbott]

we do not have a telly in the van and are usually on a hookup when camping,I have the stereo(nothing too fancy) wired up to the leisure battery and just the normal lights in the autosleeper,I am just paranoid about running the leisure battery flat and stuffing it up(80mp),there again we have a few batteries from electric wheelchairs lying round at work if I need a replacement,thnks for the replies