Club 80-90 Forums

I have just bought a new battery for my westy its not a leisure one they were to big its a varta semi traction it fits very well bought it from Manbat.

Stuck it on and flicked the panel a green light telling me yeah its fully operational lights in the back work and sink pump etc.

As soon as I started the van the panel went on to orange and then red like its flattening it turned the engine off and its gone to orange, tstarted van again and same thing. I am p off ive just paid 60 notes for new battery whats happening any ideas??? Is split charging knackered??

just found something out if the engine is off and you press the battery button for Fridge it stays on orange, if the engine is running and you press the battery button on fridge the panel drops right down to red??

Are there any auto electritions on here near me (I could drive to you if not far) because electrics are not my bag. And to be honest with you I am getting fed up with my van at the mo everything seems to be going wrong Ive only had it a month

I've only just put a leisure battery on my Westy. Well, a normal car battery anyway 'cos my leisure one is way too big. Anyway, when I got the van the original leisure battery was wasted, but more importantly, so was the relay inside the leisure battery compartment. I got one from Halfords for about £5. Just a standard relay, with 4 terminals, labelled 85,86,87 and 30. It could be that. It's just a standard foglight/accessory relay if you have one hanging around to try it with. I'm over in Stretford if you want to have a look at my Westy. I've not noticed the lights doing that on mine though, but I do have the panel switched off, so I wouldn't notice.

I might drive over 2 morrow if your about. I had to unbolt seat to get battery in/out! I hope its the relay

The Westy battery indicator panel on mine doesn`t do what yours does. Sounds like you have a split charging fault. Worth swapping the relay as Dubstar says, cheap fix if it is that.

Auto electrician in your area? check out yellow pages? May be worth trying to locate wiring diagram for the original Westy conversion. The one in my Bentley manual isn`t specific to the Westy.

Which model of Westy have you got, can`t remember what you said it was. Joker? California?

Its a Joker is it the relay up inside the battery box under the seat? mine looks like its metal looking??

Not sure where it is, although this sounds likely. Not been into that battery box on mine as yet. Electrics are not my strong point either, an experienced auto-spark should know his way around a split charge system though. Try and find someone who specialises in campers/caravans if you are still struggling. I`ll try and find some wiring diagrams or such-like as it may benifit me as well

I wouldn`t let it get you down, I know the feeling, having only had my Club Joker for 6 weeks, and have had major expense and graft already myself. Seems like there is always something to sort out / gone wrong / broken. Same with all older vehicles, once you`ve whipped it into shape it`s great, just seems like an uphill battle to get it there.

Cheers for the stiff upper lip It was to expected a vehicle this old, a wiring diagram would be great i'll have a look myself on the net.

I'll keep the fridge button on hook up all the time it seems ok on that

Check this out, just reading through it myself, may give you a better understanding of what`s what.

www.kampenwagen.co.uk/whats%20a%20realy.htm

Must say the kampenwagen is an awsome site, VERY helpful stuff for the people with campers. Good info on your Electrolux fridge as well. Quite a bit of stuff replicated on Wiki, but some other useful extra stuff as well.

On my van the relay is screwed into the side of the leisure battery compartment, just next to the battery. So close to the battery in fact, that when I put my battery in, it caught the wires and pulled them all out of the relay so I had to look on the Wiki and ask for help to put the wires back to the correct connectors. If it's not there then I haven't got a clue where it would be, but really it should be there as that's where all the wires concerned seem to come together. If you get a new relay, then just wire it up one cennector at a time, putting the same number on the old one on the new one-ie, 87 to 87, 85 to 85 etc. Just don't drop the battery on the wires like I did. Doh!! But like I said earlier, if you want to look at mine, then you're more than welcome.

a westy joker relay is in the battery box under the seat, change the relay(5 pole) £2.50 from your local motor factors(£10 in halfwits), £25 from just kampers, the choice is yours. i think you said you didnt buy a leisure battery? buy one and put the one youve bought in the engine bay where it is meant to be.

"WEAZLECHIN" wrote:a westy joker relay is in the battery box under the seat, change the relay(5 pole) £2.50 from your local motor factors(£10 in halfwits), £25 from just kampers, the choice is yours. i think you said you didnt buy a leisure battery? buy one and put the one youve bought in the engine bay where it is meant to be.

I can't get a leisure to fit plus would it make a difference if it was car/leisure???

Read the long informative post on Wiki about split charging and relays etc. I am using a standard battery, not a leisure battery, and it works OK. There are some pretty well-informed opinions on Wiki about it.

Ok, here's what you do.

All you'll need is a multimeter set to measure a DC voltage. Before starting this make sure that all the electrical load is removed from the leisure (2nd) battery. This means nothing running in the camper part of the van and the fridge in the mains position.

First you need to disconnect the earth strap on the leisure battery and start the engine.
Then touch the positive multimeter probe on the postive connection on the leisure battery and negative probe on the disconnected earth strap. You should get a voltage that's between 13 and 14 volts.

If you get no voltage then the split charge relay is faulty or a low voltage suggests there is a possible wiring problem. With the engine still running check the voltage on the main battery. If the voltage is under 12.5v then stop the engine and get the charging circuit checked out. There is a connection on the terminal of the starter motor that can come loose over time (it happened to me). If this happens you can have a loose unfused live wire at the front of your engine bay which is pretty dangerous. If it's over 12.5v then check the wiring from the main battery to the leisure battery.

If you do get a voltage on the leisure battery positive connection and disconnected earth strap that's between 13 and 14v then go and switch the fridge to 12v supply and measure the voltage again. If the voltage drops under 13v then you need to think about replacing some of the wiring as described in the wiki archive mentioned in the posts above. It's a pain in the ar*e but you will notice the difference.....

Best of luck

Dave

Cheers Dave like I said not being of the electrical minded it will be a mission