Club 80-90 Forums

Lo Guys,

If I plug the old camper in how long will it take to charge the leisure battery?

cheers,

j

plus how do you know your batteries are charging correctly, if at all??

Well Dubby, it all depends upon what charging system you have fitted in your old camper, if it is the anolouge system typically fitted to the older vans then I would hazard a guess at the time taken to charge the battery could take a month of Sundays or longer if you forget to switch it on at the mains.

Later versions of the 'Zig' unit fitted to later vehicles could charge a battery invisibly during the driving process, like by magic.
Same thing applies when charging from a 'Hook up' source they tell me it is done with smoke and mirrors,,,,but personally I have never seen any mirrors but I have seen loads of smoke usually after I make toast for our kids in the morning after they have had their pobbies.

Opps, sorry about the 'Toast' reference, I forgot you don't have a grill.

Regards

Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,

PS, isn't your brain starting to hurt with all these questions,,,,,,,,coz mine is.......

lol cheers fritz

Not sure on charging system, its in a club joker. I will be plugging her in for an hour before I bugger off camping today, hope it lasts. Also is there a risk of running the main battery down if I run my inside lights and stereo over the weekend, dont understand how these things work

'fraid its a piece of string question.

roughly speaking it is AHr capacity of battery divided by charge rate of charger but it will depend on many factors.

If you have battery isolation when camped there is no risk of flattening your main battery - that is why it is arranged the way it is. Also, if you have a (working) split charge system you will recharge BOTH batteries when driving.

To check that your split charge is working you will need a multimeter. Check the voltage of both batteries without the engine running. They should be about 13v. Turn on the van. If both batteries are now about 14v the split charge is working. If only the main battery is showing 14v the split charge isn't. If neither battery is 14v you have an alternator problem or you don't know how to connect your meter.

actually, saying that your main battery is safe is only true if the lights and radio are wired to the LB. Until you know its probably best to make sure you turn them off at night.

A mains charger will typically take 10 hours to FULLY charge a battery.

T

Westy has on-board charger fitted as standard, Black Buzzin Box under the back seat/bed. Have a serch on here for the big thread about the Westy Charger and how it works, and how/what to replace it with if its knacked. Irish Dave done a top thread on it with pics and everything

an hours charge wont do much, leisure batteries take forever 10-12hrs depending on condition and size etc etc search on google for deep charging or leisure battery charging.

I don't have a westy charger - but the Zig unit charger on my Holdsworth is a bit pants (too slow).

I always connect a regular battery charger to the liesure battery when hooked up to the mains - but it still takes a while.

Ringo

cheers guys for all your input Got back from a weekend and worked out that lights etc work off the main battery and not the leisure battery!

I am going to do a mod on this thread to remedy

Towards charging, I have the standard westy charger under seat. All I have to remember is to charge battery up from mains for 10 hours + to ensure leisure is tip top

Thanks again,

J

Have a look on Brickyard, there is a post there (Westy forum I think) about how to sort the wiring out easiliy so radio, interior lights etc work from leisure batts. It`s not hard to do.

Westy auxilliary battery is not a liesure battery, just a normal car battery, it need to be to fit in the hole.
This battery is already wired to a split charge system, so you just driving the van will charge the aux battery.
A long run down the motorway will give a good few days of service if you are economical with the battery use.
Remember only the fridge and heater work from the auxilliary battery and not the lights and radio etc as some think.
As WCJ says, modify the wiring, not hard and you'll wonder why VW didn't do it in the first place.

Westy fridge works from main batt Simon, only when the engine is running though. Heater does run from leisure batt.

It only works from main battery because the alternator is charging both, as i understand it but never looked too close to be honest.