Club 80-90 Forums

Ok so I'm an idiot and left the lights on and flatted the whole caboodle. I tried jump-starting off the leisure battery but amount of power was laughable and nowhere near enough to get the starter turning.

So the new tack was to take out the battery and charge it with a mains charger in the house, except that the special turntable bit of the captain chair overlaps the cavity behind the seat and makes pulling out the battery look impossible.

Does anyone know if this is the case? If I have to I don't mind taking out the seat and unbolting the turntable but - y'know - I'd rather not have to if there's something obvious I've missed and it can be done without such an effort.

All help appreciated in advance.
Huw and Heidi

mines not a westy so this may be totally inappropriate...

First off, if you have a genuine leisure battery rather than a second car battery it is unsuitable for jump starting. They are designed for slow discharge at low currents and will quickly die if used for large currents.

On my van I removed the swivel on the drivers seat as it made it impossible to get the battery out. I have a tiny LB which I can get out with the swivel in place but a normal size battery would not go.

When I have to recharge I just plug the van in (as though I was camping) and use a mains charger. Can you do the same?

Spin the seat through 180 degrees,then you might have to adjust it back on its runners[towards windscreen] The battery should come out!
Regards Chris

Goto halfords and buy a portable jump stater for about 25 quid which will prove invaluable in the future!

cjvmee wrote:Spin the seat through 180 degrees,then you might have to adjust it back on its runners[towards windscreen] The battery should come out!
Regards Chris

Problem with that being van is parked on a hill and the handbrake fouls the seat when attempting to spin it more than say 120°. Steering wheel kind of buggers up that plan too...

Looks like I'm out with the socket set in the rain tomorrow then

dbroada wrote:When I have to recharge I just plug the van in (as though I was camping) and use a mains charger. Can you do the same?

Van is stuck on a hill a fair schlep from our house so not really an option unless I buy about 400yards of extension cable

Thanks though - worth knowing for on site etc.

timthetrader wrote:Goto halfords and buy a portable jump stater for about 25 quid which will prove invaluable in the future!

Just spent £39 on a mains charger in Halfords today already! Pfft. I'll be there with my socket set in the morning then...

littlepixel wrote:Van is stuck on a hill a fair schlep from our house so not really an option unless I buy about 400yards of extension cable

Thanks though - worth knowing for on site etc.

even better then - use somebody else's electricity!

The leisure battery is usually under the drivers seat [lhd westy yes?]You need access to the battery under the passenger seat which is the main battery.
Regards Chris

Yep, Westy lesuire battery under the drivers seat and engine battery under the passenger seat (LHD) so its dead easy to spin the seat round 180 to access the battery.

owlets wrote:Yep, Westy lesuire battery under the drivers seat and engine battery under the passenger seat (LHD) so its dead easy to spin the seat round 180 to access the battery.

Thanks everyone - battery is now in kitchen charging...

Seriously considering the idea of removing the turntable under the driving seat for charging of the leisure battery so we can run the fridge on long journeys from the off. It's kind of useless turned round anyway because of the sink unit.

The fridge runs off the 12v when you are driving along and the Zig unit under the back seat keeps the lesuire battery charged up, plus when you are hooked up to 240v, the Zig does the same thing. You shouldn't need to take it out to charge up really.