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Power management system requied

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 23:07
by IndigoSteve
I was fixing something the other day and had the front seat off to check the connections to the leisure battery. It's was like spaghetti junction under there!

I was thinking I could mount a control box / junction box behind the seat and run all accessory wires from that with just input lines going to the leisure battery.

Anyone know of anything suitable?

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 05:51
by CovKid
Fusebox and possibly one of these:

Image

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 13:34
by Superal
Ralph i was trying to look for your post about these before have you got the link for where to get these from? :ok

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 17:54
by bigherb
If you have a lot of feeds off the battery they should really be fused close to the battery, a one power supply in, 6, 8 or 10 out fuse box would be better. Plenty on ebay

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Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 19:05
by Bubble Meister
Try Polevolts website for distribution and fuseboxes

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 19:40
by CovKid
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... x&_sacat=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

battery junction boxes. I didn't pay that much so trawl around and you should get them around the £7 mark (or close) on ebay. They get described as all kinds of things including 'marine'. Indispensible near batteries as it really tidies things up.

Pays to use good lug connectors for thick cables though. Toolstation is by far the cheapest for those: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electri ... ugs/p50266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 20:48
by IndigoSteve
Thanks for the advice chaps.

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 21:52
by IndigoSteve
I've found an 8 block fuse box on eBay. It seems to have spade connectors ( for the positive) and spaces for blade fuses. As an electronics novice can I ask where do I attach the negatives to for any accessory?

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 21:52
by IndigoSteve
Hers a pic

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 01 Apr 2016, 21:53
by IndigoSteve
Image

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 02 Apr 2016, 07:21
by bigherb
Th negatives connect to the vehicle body and use the bodywork at the return path back to the battery.

So the leisure battery negative is connected to the vehicle body like this.
Image

The accessory negatives are then connected to the bodywork either near to where they are, or if they run back to the battery connect to the bodywork near the battery like this. You can just use ring terminals and self tapping screws into a convenient hole in the bodywork.
Image

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 02 Apr 2016, 21:55
by IndigoSteve
Ok thanks

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 02 Apr 2016, 21:57
by IndigoSteve
On another note (rather than starting another thread) my batteries don't seem to charge when on hook up. They do when I drive the van but not when on 240v. Is this the battery charger? If so how do I test it?

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 03 Apr 2016, 09:11
by ghost123uk
IndigoSteve wrote:On another note (rather than starting another thread) my batteries don't seem to charge when on hook up. They do when I drive the van but not when on 240v. Is this the battery charger? If so how do I test it?
You don't indicate what type of conversion your camper is. Most of them do not include a mains powered battery charger as standard. Does yours actually have one?

Re: Power management system requied

Posted: 03 Apr 2016, 09:20
by ghost123uk
On the original topic (thinking by the way you should have started a separate thread ;))

For some time I have looked for a fused distribution "thingy" that has a nice heavy single input, feeding multiple fused outputs, like the one bigherb shows. All the ones I can find are multiple input to multiple output, not a "busbar" type arrangement. Anyone got a link to such an item?

E D I T = after remembering the term "bus bar" I looked again and if you scroll down a bit, here are some = http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... cat=131090" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;