Club 80-90 Forums

Hey,

I recently bought a 1990 Westfalia and the people we bought it off never used a leisure battery, but we want to wild camp so need one. My dad found a wiring diagram for it, and it looks like we are missing a battery charger and the loom for it. I also want to be running the lights/fridge off it if possible, so how would I go about that?

My dad will be able to do the wiring, but as we've no experience in this sort of thing, just need a bit of advice on what battery charger and other things I'd need and how to connect it all up really?

Thanks,

Chris

It won’t last long with the fridge running off it. Look in to sola if you want freedom. Bigger the better


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Agree, don't even consider running a fridge off a battery. Fridges best run on gas. Just follow this for a basic 'how to' which will get you started, and ideally go solar (150watt minimum).



I'm a very determined self-sufficient owner in terms of power and whilst it took me a few years to get it absolutely right, I just can't fault the present setup, Even if I leave the camper for months, both batteries are always at max. I'm happy to pass on my own experience on this if it helps someone else avoid the blunders I made on the way. Solar, one starter battery in the usual place and a whopper truck battery (180ah) powers all I need. In fact I don't even use a split charger now - the sun keeps the leisure charged at all times. In Winter, when light is reduced, theres still enough to trickle charge.

The leisure battery was never meant to run the fridge when static and it was originally wired to work on 12volts but only when driving. The original Westy Dometec fridge draws just under 8 amps and so your average 80ah leisure battery will be flat in less than one night.
Best advice is go solar but back the panel up with two large leisure batteries in parallel (160ah +)
A split charge relay will keep things topped up on the run, the solar panel whilst camping.

Martin