Westy on-board battery charger.

[Taw Cottage]

Hi Guys

My Westy Atlantic has an on-board OE battery charger, it charges both batteries when hooked up ok.

It is fitted under the R n R seat......my only concern is that it gets very hot after a while......now I realise that any sort of charger gets warm when charging but this seems a bit excessive.

I would have thought that once the batteries are topped up it would switch off automatically until they run down to a set voltage.

Any one else had same problem......is this normal ??

Any advice/suggestions would be welcome.

Steve

[California Dreamin]

Yes mate, mine is the same.
In my opinion, too hot! but it seems to be normal for these units.
I was toying with the idea of retro-fitting a low speed 90 or 120mm fan something like:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arctic-Coolin ... 19de6a3b77" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To come on when connected to the mains.

Martin

[Taw Cottage]

Cheers for your reply Martin....................the cooling fan sounds a good idea..................I expect like me, you store lots of gear under the seat, which probably doesn't help. Also might have to put in a grill of some sort to allow better air circulation.

Steve

[California Dreamin]

Ayup mate....if you unscrew the top of the charger you will see that the cover is moulded with lots of perforations so is already ventilated. I reckon you just need a nice quiet fan either sucking out 'upwards' or blowing onto...

Martin

[AdrianC]

I would have thought that once the batteries are topped up it would switch off automatically until they run down to a set voltage.

It's not that intelligent a charger - it just puts out charging voltage whenever there's mains coming in. There's a thermal fuse in there which, if it all gets too hot, will blow. It's probably what happened with the Buzzing Black Box (BBB) in our Westy. Quick, cheap and simple fix, AIUI - but I don't regret binning the original charger and putting a modern clever charger in. We went for a CTek MXS 5.0, which is much smaller and doesn't put out anywhere near as much heat. Swapping the radio/lights to the leisure battery's another quick and easy change which means the one advantage of the original Westy charger - charging both batteries - isn't needed.

[Taw Cottage]

Cheers Guys

Many thanks for your input

Steve

[California Dreamin]

No it's not intelligent but I do believe that it is staged...mine does go considerably cooler (from hot to warm) as the battery becomes fully charged.

Martin

[Drakey100]

Hiya All.

I've got problems with my Buzzing Black Box on my Westy. It don't buzz anymore!!!

Anyone know where I can get it fixed?

Should I just replace with a new intelligent charger???

If I just replace for New type charger is the job of swapping lights & radio over to leisure an easy job?

[AdrianC]

I've got problems with my Buzzing Black Box on my Westy. It don't buzz anymore!!!

It may just be the thermal fuse.

Should I just replace with a new intelligent charger???

Your call. You might prefer originality over better charging, less heat and more space...

If I just replace for New type charger is the job of swapping lights & radio over to leisure an easy job?

Yes, very. Remove the fuse. Take a wire from the leisure +ve (with a fuse as near the terminal as possible), under the carpet, with a spade terminal on the end. Plug that into <double-check this...> the top terminal you just unplugged the fuse from.

Half an hour at most to do it, one minute to go back if you want to.

[California Dreamin]

As Adrian says, thermal fuse.....I'm inclineto call it a thermal cutout as it turns things off when they get too hot
Plus the mini fuse on the PCB...1.2 amp blow I think from memory.

Martin

[Oldiebut goodie]

I am surprised that the thermal cutout/fuses aren't auto-resetting ones.

[California Dreamin]

I am surprised that the thermal cutout/fuses aren't auto-resetting ones.

I always thought they were but my understanding from reading some users faults is that they can go 'open circuit' and fail to close, stopping the unit from working.

Martin

[Drakey100]

Cheer Gents for the info. I just need to make my mind up now.

Just a thought, if i connected a smart type charger up to both batteries and put a 3 way switch in (so I can divert the charge to both batteries one at a time) would this cause any problems ?

Drakey

[AdrianC]

Just a thought, if i connected a smart type charger up to both batteries and put a 3 way switch in (so I can divert the charge to both batteries one at a time) would this cause any problems ?

Better to go two-way. Although, if you check the wiring to the multiplug, the starter battery lead isn't quite that simple - there's no +ve "visible" on it (probably a diode to prevent the charger being used as a back-path between the two batteries), so an intelligent charger won't "see" the battery, so won't fire up.

Anyway, if you do the radio mod, there's no need to go near the starter battery at all.