Club 80-90 Forums

Hello Peeps,

Wondered if you could point in the general direction of something silly I seem to have done with the wiring to the leisure battery.

At the moment, the leisure battery only seems to be giving power to the secondary fusebox when the ignition and therefore the Smartcom device is on (or for the short time afterwards when the voltage drops below the 13.2 kick in threshold). As soon as the Smartcom clicks off, there is no voltage at the secondary fusebox!? I've checked the leisure battery and this is reading 12 volts so it is being charged.

Until I recently fitted a stereo to the van (to replace the old knackered 'Ford' thing I ripped out months ago!) and tidied up some of the wiring behind the new panels I've fitted this worked fine.

To my simple mind, I'm guessing this is something stupid but I am at a loss at what to do...?

Presume I've got a circuit wrong somewhere... any ideas?

Thanks,

Chris

You should have a fuse in series with the leisure battery and this is usually located close to the battery (typically 30A rating). If this has blown or become disconnected you will get the symptoms you have described. Also check that the connections on the leisure battery terminals. If either of these are not connected you will get the same problem.

If the fuse appears intact then you will need to carry out voltage measurements using a simple voltage tester or multimeter (both available very cheap these days and worth having - if you don't have one that is), but check the above first.

on the smart com relay there are two switched outputs, supposedly one (1) for the leisure battery, and one(2) for the fridge. it sounds like you have connected it up like this

(c) - Leisure battery
(1) - Main battery
(2) - Secondary fuse box

(c) being the common connection. it should be connected as follows

(c) main (starter) battery
(1) - Leisure battery
(2) - spare or fridge if you've got one.

the secondary fuse box should be connected to the leisure battery via a suitable fuse.

If he is getting power once the relay connects it negates the fuse having blown - it points to lack of contact with the positive terminal on the leisure battery or the leisure battery is fooooooked.

Or as above.

Cheers guys.

Like you say, can't be blown fuse and working when Smartcom 'switched' (plus I did check all of the fuses including those either side of both main and leisure battery and were all fine).

I'll check the wiring to Smartcome again when I get a minute in the light. I did re-site the Smartcom box to tidy things up a bit and I'm wondering if I've wired it back up wrong based on what you are saying.

From memory, the Smartcom takes a positive feed from my main battery, then has negative out to vehicle body earth and positive to leisure battery. The leisure batery then has positive feed to secondary fusebox with negative side going to vehicle body earth.

Presume I just need to try moving the positive feed from Smartcom into the other port / socket and see if that is the problem?

Thanks again for your help

Chris

Even if the input/output terminals of the Smartcom are crossed you should not get that fault. Crossing the terminals will result in failure to charge the leisure battery and thats it. Since the Smartcom is 'switching on' it must be sensing the higher voltage with engine running and therefore has the correct feed to the input terminal.

The Smartcom does not connect the leisure battery to the secondary fusebox (assuming that you refer to the 'secondary fusebox' as the one that distributes power to your leisure equipment). The Smartcom simply connects a feed from the starter battery to the leisure battery in order to charge it when the engine is fired up. The original wiring does not have to be interfered with. You simply add an additional wire from the correct terminal of the Smartcom - (via a fuse) to the positive of the leisure battery (and one from the starter battery to the smartcom) thats it other than for an earth connection . The fact that, when you switch on the ignition, your leisure equipment functions suggests that you are connecting the starter battery (via the smartcom) to your leisure wiring but, for some reason, you have lost the most essential feed - the one from your leisure battery. You need to follow that feed and find where and why it has been interrupted. If wired correctly, with engine running you should see around 13.4V t the leisure battery and my money is on a measurement of 12.5V because there is no feed to it.

Guys,

Followed all of your advice and pleased to announce....drum roll please.....fixed it!!!

As I suspected, I had had another brain f%rt!

Firstly, with engine running checked voltage coming out of Smartcom to leisure battery - 13.8v; good
Checked voltage across leisure battery with engine running - only 11.8v; not good
Removed positive lead off leisure battery and checked volts - 13.8v good , therefore issue at leisure battery.
Checked earth from leisure battery - when I had carpeted the panel recently, had put earth connector between 2 pieces of carpet so not actually earthing to bodywork. wot a shagw%t!!!

Corrected this and all fixed - yippa-dee-do-dah

Thanks for all your suggestions and help. Easy when you are armed with the correct info. Thanks again, Chris