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leisure battery

Posted: 03 Jul 2014, 18:51
by VWKat
Ello,
I have fit a leisure battery in my van, its under the back seat at the moment wired directly to the starter battery and when I stop, I disconnect the starter battery manually. I have a switch that will disconnect the starter battery when the ignition is switched off but obviously before I wire that in, I need to wire the fuse board directly to the leisure battery. I hope this makes sense! :shock:

What I don't currently know is, where is the main electrical feed to the fuse box? Is there just one? and where is the best place to access it and re route it to the leisure battery?

Any advice would be great, :ok

Re: leisure battery

Posted: 03 Jul 2014, 19:40
by California Dreamin
Forgive me for saying....you are over complicating things and to be frank, you will end up with a setup far more difficult to use than is necessary.

If you want to keep things real simple and with the minimum of wiring then just fit a SMART relay between the two batteries. This will disconnect one from the other automatically when the engine is turned off.

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p ... tegory/149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martin

Re: leisure battery

Posted: 03 Jul 2014, 20:22
by marlinowner
I used one of these which seems to do the job

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAMPER-VAN-SE ... 5657a8a04a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If the wiring to your fuse board runs from the starter battery, fitting the relay next to the starter battery means the fuse board wiring can be moved to share the leisure battery output from the relay.

Re: leisure battery

Posted: 03 Jul 2014, 21:08
by VWKat
California Dreamin wrote:Forgive me for saying....you are over complicating things and to be frank, you will end up with a setup far more difficult to use than is necessary.

If you want to keep things real simple and with the minimum of wiring then just fit a SMART relay between the two batteries. This will disconnect one from the other automatically when the engine is turned off.

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p ... tegory/149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martin


OK, so I don't need to run another wire all the way back to the leisure battery, I could connect the live to the fuse box at the switch close to the starter battery,

I have purchased the switch already thanku.

But where is the main live wire to the fusebox? Obviously it comes from the starter battery at present. Maybe I just need to take a good look!

Re: leisure battery

Posted: 05 Jul 2014, 22:21
by CovKid
Sorry, have to agree with Martin and I'm amazed you skipped over his helpful post. Why fit a switch, even a simple relay would do the job, and automatically at that. You'll also get both batteries charged. :shock:

Image

Re: leisure battery

Posted: 26 Sep 2014, 14:22
by VWKat
Bit late I know but thanks for the help. I managed to fit it all and its great. Even fitted an led monitor above the cooker so I can keep an eye on the battery level. :ok :idea:

Next job..brakes overhaul! :roll: