dis carnect not working

[scottbott]

have one of the quick disconects fitted to my starter battery and I noticed that it is not working,I can remove the screw part and it is still live.I have been doing a bit of work on the electrics,changed the fridge and internal flouro's from the starter battery over to the leisure battery,fitted an underseat sub powered off the leisure and earthed on the starter battery,the split charge has been removed and connections checked and refitted,the radio runs off the leisure battery,I had a quick check and cannot see anything wrong it is to dark and was only using my torch,any ideas anyone??

[Hacksawbob]

sub powered off the leisure and earthed on the starter battery

is this a permanent live? if so it may be messing things up as the two batteries are permanently linked together via the sub.

[scottbott]

never thought about that,maybe earth it to the bodywork?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Have you checked as to whether any dashlights etc still work after starter disconnected, if so there may be a live going to the fusebox from a p.o.'s wiring from the leisure. Or maybe split charge relay is welded shut due to too high current flow - was it still live when the relay was disconnected?

[scottbott]

I disconnected the leisure battery with the ignition on to see if the ignition lights stayed on they did,just in case for some bizarre reason the fridge positive wire was connected to the ignition

[jamesc76]

Is it one of the diconects with a fuse next to um???? if so Its ment to stay live it just wont let you start it !

[scottbott]

it did have a link wire with a fuse but I removed it ages ago,I removed each thing hooked up to the neg lead (the standard VW on) to see if any individual thing was causing the problem,and each thing on the battery post,it was still live,it was live with just the earth lead on its own,I removed the dis carconect and checked it out and it worked correctly,hooked it back up to the battery, conected the VW earth lead and it was still live with the screw part removed!,is it a problem with the earth lead itself?

[Hacksawbob]

Thinking about the sub again the earth between batteries shouldnt make a Difference but dont they have capacitors in them? might be providing power to the battery?

[MidLifeCrisis]

Just to be clear - is your leisure battery still installed and connected up?
If the leisure battery is still connected then disconnect the leisure battery (i.e. remove either the positive or negative wire from the battery terminal) and see if the problem remains? (I'd bet it won't)

[scottbott]

yes the leisure battery is still connected,I have the leisure battery on charge at the moment,if I disconnect it and it cures the problem what does that tell me?,I have an intelligent split charge relay and it clicks away if I disconnect it,still non the wiser.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Have you checked as to whether any dashlights etc still work after starter disconnected, if so there may be a live going to the fusebox from a p.o.'s wiring from the leisure. Or maybe split charge relay is welded shut due to too high current flow - was it still live when the relay was disconnected?

[scottbott]

no the lights do not work with the starter disconnected,it is bound to be something simple and is probably staring me in the face,forgot to check about disconnecting the split charge,as I say if I disconnect the relay at the earth point it clicks away so I reckon it is working ok and it looks like it is charging the leisure when the engine is running

[AdrianC]

it did have a link wire with a fuse but I removed it ages ago,I removed each thing hooked up to the neg lead (the standard VW on) to see if any individual thing was causing the problem,and each thing on the battery post,it was still live,it was live with just the earth lead on its own,I removed the dis carconect and checked it out and it worked correctly,hooked it back up to the battery, conected the VW earth lead and it was still live with the screw part removed!,is it a problem with the earth lead itself?

No, both starter and leisure earth leads are meant to be permanently connected, via the bodyshell. It's the lives that get switched.

Something is taking power from the leisure and feeding it back into the circuits that are meant to be starter-only. Either the split's stuck closed or something's got a live wired to both batteries.

[MidLifeCrisis]

yes the leisure battery is still connected,I have the leisure battery on charge at the moment,if I disconnect it and it cures the problem what does that tell me?,I have an intelligent split charge relay and it clicks away if I disconnect it,still non the wiser.

if you disconnect the leisure battery and it cures the problem then that tells you that it isn't the "starter battery disconnect" that is faulty but that the leisure battery is powering the circuits that should be powered by the starter battery.
You say that you have been doing some work on the electrics - somewhere in that work you have something that is connected to both the positive terminal of the leisure battery and the positive terminal of the starter battery?
Or your intelligent split charger is permanently connecting the lesiure to the starter battery?
Pictures of the electrics or a hand drawn diagram of the wiring in the van would be really useful.

[scottbott]

thanks for the replies,will have a look at the weekend