New Bongoer with battery questions

[Bonging]

Hi All,

I have recently become the owner of a '97 diesel Bongo, it has a full side conversion and looks to be a JAL (as has a JAL speedo). It has a leisure battery and a zig cf9, unsure if it has SCR of if it does what type - there is an anonymous switch above the rear fog light switch.

Sorry for the long post, hope it entertains..

This is my first Van and so far happy with it. I took it out within the first week for one night, ran the fridge a little and the lights of the leisure battery. On return ( around 60 miles) found the leisure battery to be flat. Fitted a new LB and now all seems to run well, as have been away with no issues since.

I use the van for commuting sometimes (depending if i want to cycle or not). Anyway accidentally managed to leave the vehicle lights on the other night ( I climbed over into the back and exited through the side door ).

On return SB was flat, unsurprisingly, but the LB was also flat. Got a Jump start and drove the long way home (about 10 miles), as it was a new LB wanted to ensure it was kept in good health so put it on EHU for day.

Van started fine in the evening and off to work I went ( the long way again), Started fine the following morning too for the drive home. Picked up a trickle charger for the SB but did not use as in the afternoon went to check both batteries and both had reading of 12.65v.

And this is where the questions begin:

Why did both batteries drain while vehicle lights were on?

Why did both charge whilst on EHU? zig cf9 was on VAN battery.

If I use LB not on EHU will it also drain the SB?

I have trowelled through your wonderful forums and not found the right answers, I did some more multimeter testing but unable to measure Amps.
Don't know if this info will help but here it is anyway -
Vehicle off - SB 12.65v LB12.65v
Vehicle on - SB 14.4v LB 13.5v

Vehicle lights on, engine off - SB 11.98v LB 12.45v

No change to volts with anonymous switch use.

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere or if its normal business for the bongo, but I would like to be able to use the bongo without EHU sometimes and don't want to drain the SB, also don't want to damage either battery.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks
Ben.

[g8dhe]

Welcome!
The CF9 is very often fitted but isn't always ideal for camper vans, its really intended for caravans where the car and caravan separate away from each other, its rather overkill and not best suited for campers where a lot simpler design is more appropriate! As ever with these things they can be installed and connected up in a variety of ways, I tend to take the line that each and every conversion is unique, especially after a few Owners have applied their own variations and modifications

The User manual for the CF9 is here http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/zig/Z ... al.org.pdf

You might want to check under the bonnet and see if there has been a Split Charge Relay and a pair of fuses fitted in addition to the CF9, this is a module that is connected between the two batteries with a fuse close to each battery, this relay is switched on when the alternator is running from the engine and then charges the LB and SB together - its the preferred method in camper vans. However the CF9 can also be setup to charge batteries itself by flipping switches either when driving or when plugged into the EHU.

Have a read of the manual and you should be able to charge the battery by setting the switches correctly - provided it has been wired up for it ....