Club 80-90 Forums

Hi

Apologies if this seems woefully incomplete, its my first posting, about my first van and i fear i may have missed something. Anyway, here goes, the van is: 1990 Autosleeper Trooper, right hand drive, 1.9, petrol.

The problem is that the fuse on the leisure battery keeps blowing. The last one to go was a 30amp fuse. I think it happens when i start the engine as the previous owner suggested taking the fuse out and then replacing once the van was started. If anybody has any more permanent suggestions as to how to fix this it would be great to hear from you. The only things running of the leisure battery are the fridge, water pump and internal lights - only the fridge was used over the weekend.

many thanks

Sam

if it's blowing when you start the vehicle it suggests that the van is trying to use your leisure battery to start your van. how is your leisure battery connected is it going through a zig unit or some other type split charging device (in which case they need testing) or just connected directly to a positive terminal in the van? (not recommended)

The fridge shouldn't be connected to the leisure battery.
If you have flattened your leisure the engine will try to put up to the max from your starter battery and or alternator - this could be in the region of 100A. That is why it is blowing most probably.
The fridge should be powered from the alternator so that 12v can only be used whilst travelling. Use gas when parked up.

As was suggested......Running the fridge from the leisure battery is not advisable unless whilst driving. The fridge simply uses too much power and will flatten a fully charged 80amp leisure battery in a matter of hours. Now that brings us to the reason for blowing fuses..as oldiebut goodie says, with a fully flat leisure and charged starter batties 'combined' the alternater senses partially charged status and kicks in, thus the amp transfer from stater to leisure battery is a little higher than the 30amp fuse can handle (although knowhere near the 100amps as suggested)
So what can you do..well, never run the fridge on 12volts when camping and a good idea maybe to fit a voltmeter (state of battery charge) meter so you are aware when the battery is getting low, so you can run your engine and recharge before it becomes too flat.
Or perhaps increase the capacity of you leisure battery (bigger battery has more capacity so will last longer) or perhaps fit a second leisure battery in parallel to the first. Although with both of these suggestions it maybe prudent to beaf up your leisure charge circuit to handle the extra power.
I would still keep the 30amp fuse and some spares just in case.
Martin