Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

Just a quickie..

When hooked to mains on a camp site.. does this charge the main battery as well as the leisure battery?

Thanks all!

The general answer seems to be "it depends.."
Most conversions don't as standard, but i's possibel to add the capability. If it's a "proper" (Westy etc) then probably not but it might have been modified after it the left the factory. I'm sure someone will be along to explain how to test if it is or isn't - never bothered me as I know mine doesn't, had everything replaced and asked the place that did it.

Andi

andisnewsyncro wrote:The general answer seems to be "it depends.."

That's about the size of it. What conversion do you have and has it got a 'Zig' unit or similar?

Hi,

I have a Westfalia California 1.6TD (89 model) as factory...

Unfortunately I'm not that up on Westies, but I know they don't have 'Zigs'. Some are fitted with a battery charger so I believe. You'll have to wait for a Westie enthusiast to clarify where it is if it is fitted.

I think on a Westy the radio & interior light were originally, for some reason, set up to run from the starter battery. There's lot's of info about swapping these to run of second battery. Once that's done you shouldn't have any drain on the starter battery once you're parked up so I guess just charging the second battery will be sufficient.
Both should charge whilst driving, but only the second one discharges once the engines switched off due to the split charge relay - as I understand it anyway (which could be very wrong...)