Fitting a second leisure battery,

[Razor]

I’m in the process of fitting a second leisure battery in the back of the bongo,I have my first leisure battery and split charging system as supplied by Karl installed under the bonnet,are there any issues I should be aware of and will the split charge system also charge the second leisure battery?.and how can I ensure that the battery condition display is for each battery.
Thanks in advanc
Razor.

[g8dhe]

The charge rate to a battery elsewhere in the van is likely to be significantly different from those at the front due to the resistance of the cable, do you have some significant loads that actually requires it ?

[Razor]

I have stripped out all the back and had internal and external welding done I have no specific loads at present but am looking at a conversion with fridge and intend to purchase other 12volt appliances like,TV,kettle,outside lighting,and hope to spend time away sea fishing away from the rat race so thought I might need it,I have run suitable cabling from the first leisure battery to the back of the van and was also thinking of an inverter,so was just thinking ahead if there are better options out there p,ease advise,
Razor.

[g8dhe]

A 100AmpHr battery should be sufficient to run a fridge for 3.5 days, and if you have a solar panel 100 Watt then its continuous without need for EHU charging provided during the Winter months you home parking spot has adequate light coverage, between rows of houses you might not get much more than 3-4 hours of good exposure in some situations.

[Razor]

Thanks Geoff
Am I right in thinking that the fridge for 3.5 days is 12volt? And would you recommend a EHU connection and/or inverter.
Are there any recommendations for the solar 100wattcharging system ,many thanks
Razor.

[g8dhe]

Well yes the fridge is a 12 volt fridge, your not going to be using a 24 volt one or a mains one without EHU. Having EHU is always helpful especially for cold nights when you need heating batteries are not adequate for heating requirements! As to inverter if you really need one, but these days everything is available for 12 volt working other than heating devices.
For sensible well tested and designed for Bongo's use http://www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk/ systems.

[mikeonb4c]

If you fit and then flatten(ish) two leisure batteries, could the charging demand overload both the VSR and fuses and/or strain the average alternator. A question for Geoff really.

The solar panel route strikes me as a better strategy

[g8dhe]

The VSR's if adequately rated, a lot are 100 Amp, so no problem there, given the fact that you would only get two batteries under the bonnet where the wiring from the alternator is relatively short, hence higher current and the third would be towards the rear with a significantly higher overall resistance I suspect you would be OK say 40 Amps to the SB, 30 Amps to front LB and maybe 20-25 Amps to rear LB it would probably just about be OK but it would be pushing the load especially at night with all the lights going as well.

[Razor]

Thanks for you words of wisdom. The second battery under the bonnet is the same rating as the main batteryincluding cran,ink power,the reason being if I needed to jump start I could from this battery,the third battery I have been given is a true leisure battery of 100 amps.can you see this being a problem ?.
Many thanks

[g8dhe]

There are a lot of parameters to be taken into account, so trying to give a definitive answer would be difficult. I think the best response is it will be close to the maximum limits it will also be complicated by the fact that you will have two different style batteries in parallel which is never a good idea as the voltages and internal resistances will be significantly different when used together.

My own vehicle only uses a single LB, and I have a lot of 24/7 equipment running given my electronics and amateur radio background, rather than use a VSR I prefer to use an ignition switched relay, which means that I can control the relay to some extent, when the Ignition is first turned to On the batteries are in parallel and will start to equalise the charge between them in either direction so if I should end up with a flat SB it will transfer charge from the LB to the SB in a controlled way, when you move the ignition to Start then the relay breaks the connection so that only the SB powers the starter motor, once the engine is turning and hence the alternator is generating then the Ignition returns to On and the batteries will charge together.