Club 80-90 Forums

Can anyone give me advice? I have a 1982 LHD westfalia joker diesel. The leisure battery needs replacing and rewiring and a new split charge relay or alternative is required.

I have heard that its possible to locate the leisure battery in the space behind the starter battery. Has anyone done this and do you know if you are able to fit a bigger battery in that space?

Also what advice would you give re split charge relays without spending hundreds on a sterling type system?

Thanks!

Ross

There are plenty of split charge relays on Ebay, from £6.99. ( Like this one ) You can get automatic ones that need no trigger wire from the alternator (blue wire) = easier to fit though I prefer your more standard relay. 70 Amp size is about right. You can use a smaller standard relay tapped into the trigger wire to allow the fridge to get 12 volts ONLY when the engine is running.

Cannot comment re putting a leisure battery there, it would be neat if there is enough room, but I suspect you won't be able to find a large enough capacity battery that will fit in there. imho, if you are going to fit a leisure battery, you want a big one that will not run out half way through a rainy evening whilst watching the TV !

I just thought, doesn't a Westy Joker already have all this stuff built in, or is it gone or faulty ?

I also just noticed that was your first post, a "Hi all" post would have been nice but not to worry Welcome to club 80-90 You will find everything you need to know off the very nice folk on this forum

Our "wiki" (knowledge base) link, at the top of every page, is a gold mine of info click here for an example

Hi, It is physically possible to mount both engine and leisure batteries in the diesel engine bay. I have an 85Amp hour battery in the space behind the rear light and have just made a new battery tray to accomodate a 115 amp hour low profile battery in the normal diesel battery location.

If you make/modify the battery tray make sure that you can still secure the batteries properly, I didnt at first and its a potential MOT failure.

Phil