Wiring lights / blinds etc to leisure battery

[DaveJaVu]

Hi - I am aware there are several posts regarding this subject, just looking for a little clarification.

Understand the corblimey way is to patch 4 leads from the leisure battery directly into the fuse panel for the functions you want - ie lights, blinds left, blinds right, sockets.

I have the leisure battery & split charger so don't need the willington ebay kit (also didn't get an answer from him anyway)

I am correct therefore in thinking that I can do this with.....

a single heavy duty cable from + terminal of the battery to something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0260634515

Then 4 separate wires from the other side of the new fuse block plugged into the bongo fuse panel in the correct locations as per corblimeys pics with the fuses moved to the relevant place in the new fuse block?

If this is correct - what rating should the different wires be?

Will doing this fry my fuse panel?

I also heard a guy on here was selling this type of loom but is no longer a member

Any pointers / answers gratefully received!

Regards,

Dave.

[francophile1947]

I just used Pippin's instructions below - dead easy

Look at the fuse board by the drivers right knee.
Remove the fixing screws and wiggle it forwards so that the rear is visible.

Counting from top left to right the numbering goes 1 to 8.

Fuses 1 to 5 are fed by a thick white/red from fuse BTN under the bonnet, which is always live.
(the fuse, silly, not the bonnet!)

Fuses 6,7,8 are fed only when the ignition is on via the thick red/black wire.
6&7 are curtains L&R, 8 is cigarlighter & mirrors.

1] If you do not have a secondary battery:

You can either select just the cigarlighter/mirrors or probably easier and handier select those and the curtains so that you can operate them without the ignition on.

Cut the thick red/black wire going in a couple of inches from the rear of the fuseholder for 6,7,8. Insulate the end that comes out of the loom.
Use a short length of similarly sized wire to extend the end going into 6,7,8 and tap it into the thick white/red that feeds fuses 1-5.

If you want to select just fuse 8 for the cigarlighter/mirrors then you would have to identify the blue wire coming out of fuse 8, cut that and insulate the end coming out of the fuse 8. The blue wire going into the loom would then need an in-line 15A fuse fitting and then tapping onto the aforementioned thick white/red that feeds fuses 1-5.

2] If you have a secondary battery you may wish to feed things from that rather than from the engine battery.

The instructions above are modified only by disregarding tapping anything into the aforementioned thick white/red that feeds fuses 1-5.
Instead you would need to connect it/them into an appropriately fused wire connected to the secondary battery.

While you are at it you could also feed all the internal vehicle lighting from that source as well.
To do so, cut the blue/red wire coming out of fuse 1 and insulate the end coming out of the fuse. Fit an appropriate 10A inline fuseholder to the end disappearing into the loom and connect it to the secondary battery.

[DaveJaVu]

Thanks for the help - clear instructions.... Not really sure if I want to chop the wires just yet!

Hence asking if feeding wires from an additional fuse block from the leisure battery into the fuse panel in the van is an OK and safe way to go.

Cheers,

Dave.

[francophile1947]

Thanks for the help - clear instructions.... Not really sure if I want to chop the wires just yet! Dave.

Believe me, if I can do it, anybody can

[hogggman]

hi,
i too didn`t want to start chopping wires about.my leisure battery wire to the back of the bongo conveniently passes the fusebox,so i connected a similar diameter wire to that,then connected via a connector block,4 smaller diameter wires.to these i connected a small spade connnector and plugged each one into the relevant input on the fusebox after removing the fuses.i may add an inline fuse at a later date,either on each inbdividual wire,or between the leisure battery wire and the connector block.i have had no problems,and now have the stereo,internal lights,all blinds etc,running off the leisure battery.
thanks
jamie

[DaveJaVu]

hi,
i too didn`t want to start chopping wires about.my leisure battery wire to the back of the bongo conveniently passes the fusebox,so i connected a similar diameter wire to that,then connected via a connector block,4 smaller diameter wires.to these i connected a small spade connnector and plugged each one into the relevant input on the fusebox after removing the fuses.i may add an inline fuse at a later date,either on each inbdividual wire,or between the leisure battery wire and the connector block.i have had no problems,and now have the stereo,internal lights,all blinds etc,running off the leisure battery.
thanks
jamie

Thanks jamie - spot on, do you happen to know the amp rating of the wire you used?

Cheers,

Dave.

[mrs hogggman]

hi,
he`s eating his tea,but says`27/30`is what he used.(whatever that means!)
thanks
sharon

[stringman]

Whatever you do PLEASE put a fuse as close to the battery as you can. If you do not do this, as described above, all of these electrical circuits will be unprotected. If any of these wires chafe through and touch earth the wiring will get hotter and hotter until they catch fire. When your insurance assessor sees that the circuit was unprotected they will refuse your claim.

The first rule in auto electrics: FUSE EVERYTHING

Instead of the junction box mentioned, how about a small fuse box. Any decent motor factors will sell you one for a few quid

[madmile]

I did my first year or so of conversions using pipins method of cutting wires and it works perfectly well.
However Corblimeys method of patching in is infinitely more flexible and reversible so I use this now.
Just a slight concern over using the wire direct from the leisure battery - as stringman has pointed out it needs to be fused.
If you take a wire from the battery into a connector and split into 4 to go into the fusebox - none of those 4 feeds will be fused as you have taken the fuse out and replaced it with a non fused feed (hope this makes sense).
I use a feed from the liesure battery into a fusebox (I use 8 way, but if you are just feeding the fusebox patches then 4 way is perfect).
Wire into the fusebox should be rated higher than the fuse rating and current drawn. You wont know exactly what is being drawn, but as mazda chose 15A for fuses 1-3 and 10A for no.8 then 20A should be sufficient for each of the 4 feeds into the fusebox. If you use much thicker wire it gets a bit thick to bend around the fusebox neatly.
To feed the fusebox with one wire it will need to be able to cope with all the feeds, but if its a short distance then I would use 4 separate wires from the leisure battery going to each of the fusebox terminals. That way you can safely use the same 20A wire that you use for the patching.
I would post a photo, but its peculiar to my conversion set up and may confuse the issue more than I already have .

[corblimey]

Beat me to it madmile!

You're pretty much spot on with what you say in your original post.

I'd use an 8 way fusebox, if you go with a four way you've immediately restricted yourself and if you want to add something else (e.g. rear fag lighter) at a later date you'll have to bin your 4 way.

Re cable ratings and fuses; use the same rated fuses that you removed from the bongo fuse board for each of the corrosponding feeds and as MM suggests 20A cable for the feeds from your fuse box to the bongo fuse box. Basically you need to make sure your fuse is always the weakest link so a combination of 10A cable a 15A fuse is not safe but 27A cable and a 2A fuse is (if a little silly). You can use thinwall cable http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... inwall.php which is thinner and more flexible than traditional cable.

You can feed each of your fuses with a seperate wire as MM suggests, alternativley I used a single 27A cable into the first fuse socket with a corresponding 25A fuse. I then daisy chained the fused side to each of the remaining 4 fuses using piggy back spade connectors http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... to/bpg.jpg. I figured that it's unlikey that the Bongo will draw the total current arrived at by adding all the original fuses (15 + 15 + 15 + 10 = 55A) hence the choice of a 27A feed wire and 25A fuse. If you look at the poxy cable used by Mazda to wire the Bongo fuse board you'll see what I mean. Anyway the worst that can happen with my method is that I'll blow my feed fuse and that hasn't happened yet. Of couse, if you add other items you'll need to think about using a higher rated feed. If in doubt go with MM's suggestion. Also, always try and keep unfused cable (i.e. the cable from the battery to the fuse box) as short as possible.

If I get a chance I post a pic, that will be so much clearer than my rambling!

[DaveJaVu]

Guys....

What can I say! - many thanks in particular to corblimey & madmile, the above instructions are clear as day.

I'll enjoy doing this on the weekend and then post some feedback.

Only been here a shortwhile (been a bongo owner less than 1 week!) but have found these forums an incredible source of info and everyone has been supremely helpful.

Looking forward to getting the bongo out & about!

Many thanks again.

Dave.

[corblimey]

As promised. Sorry it's a bit crap, I took it with my phone.



As you can see from the photo it's not quite how I described it earlier! Forgot about the changes I made recently.

The cable coming in on the bottow right is actually two 27A feeds from the battery. That goes through a 25A fuse which can be replaced with a higher rating if necessary and then that is "ringed" (as in ring main) to feed the other fuses. I could have used a single heavier feed cable but that's what I had to hand at the time. All the other cables coming out of the bottom are fused feeds to patch into the Bongo fuse board + one to feed the rear fag socket.

Although I have a "quality" crimp tool, I've had too many crimps fail so I always crimp and solder now.

Shame you can't get hold of Martin (Willinton) really, his kits are nice, neat and (IMO) more cost effective that DIY.

[dom_e]

I've had success with a very recently purchased kit from Willinton. He got back to me very quickly with the instructions etc. Try him again - perhaps you just got the wrong mail address.