What charges the leisure battery?

[Bongo_Blade]

Hi All, hope someone can answer this question for me as I have only had my Bongo for about 2 months now.

Whilst out camping last weekend, my leisure battery run low, which was not surprising as I was running the fridge, lights, Nintendo, laptop, mobile phone etc for 2 days.

Whilst driving home I thought the alternator would charge the leisure battery back up but when I got home after driving for over an hour the leisure battery was still very low.

I hooked up the leccy cable for half a day thinking the PMS unit would charge the leisure battery, but still no change.

My question is, what should charge the leisure battery?

I have an Elite side conversion with a PMS 3V fitted.

Thanks

[MountainGoat]

Do you have a Willinton Intelligent Split Charging Wiring Loom fitted? When I first got my Elite conversion almost three years ago the split charging system that they fitted was rubbish and both my batteries kept going flat. On changing to a Willinton kit the problem went away.

Tony

[mikeonb4c]

Hi All, hope someone can answer this question for me as I have only had my Bongo for about 2 months now.

Whilst out camping last weekend, my leisure battery run low, which was not surprising as I was running the fridge, lights, Nintendo, laptop, mobile phone etc for 2 days.

Whilst driving home I thought the alternator would charge the leisure battery back up but when I got home after driving for over an hour the leisure battery was still very low.

I hooked up the leccy cable for half a day thinking the PMS unit would charge the leisure battery, but still no change.

My question is, what should charge the leisure battery?

I have an Elite side conversion with a PMS 3V fitted.

Thanks

The alternator should charge it while driving. If it isn't, maybe the current drawn by a deeply discharged (flat) leisure battery) has overloaded a fuse or a 'trip' (put there to protect against overheating of the supply wiring). That would be my guess, so you'd need to trace the source of that.

Others will no doubt be along with more practical advice.

[haydn callow]

Agree with mike.....over discharged.....blown a large 40/50 amp fuse......

[apole]

Hi there,

2nd attempt, screen just went blank !!!!

Anyway, check your control panel, is there a switch that says something like touring and on-site. I have a zig which is similar. I must have teh switch to touring when driving or on site when on hook up. If I don't the battery won't charge.

maybe give elite a quick call, they maybe able to help you on the phone.

Andy

[haydn callow]

This may interest you...just posted it elsewhere


Supreme Being
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:50 pm
Posts: 2592
Location: Somerset
If your battery is a 100ah as you say.
You will in fact never get 100 ah out of it.
Co's..
you will never get 100ah into it when you charge it...guess around 90ah.
Then when it discharges so it only has 40% charge left (around 40ah) it is very low and should be recharged.
90 - 40 will give you a useable supply of around 50ah...say 60ah tops.
I would work my sums out on that basis....60ah.
If you discharge your battery below this 40% level you could damage it and shorten it's life.
If you have a cheap multimeter (about £10 from most places) put it on the 20volt dc scale and measure across the battery terminals..
as a very rough guide (measure after the engine has been stopped a hour)
12.7 volts 90% battery available
12.5 70%
12.3 50%
12.0 40% further use could cause damage and shorten life.

these are very rough figures but you can get my drift.
Also if you really discharge the battery you may start blowing BIG fuses when you start your engine to recharge....

Best to give the battery a engine recharge before it drops to 12.0 volts.
Your alternator will provide 70/80 amps (never quite makes this rated output) so a hours running should put a good amount back in....measure the battery again after another hour and you will get a result.

(tickover charging really does not turn a alternator fast enough to provide a full output) I think alternators are ment to run at about 6000 RPM....(we used to put big flywheel pullys on our narrowboats to provide this speed) I don't suppose a Bongo pully gives more than twice engine revs so it is quite slow.(less than 2000 rpm at the alternator) = low output

[Bongo_Blade]

Andy might have hit the nail on the head.

The PMS unit has a rocker switch to switch between the main battery and the Leisure battery.
When I am driving I had the rocker switch in the middle (neither selected).
Also, when I connected the leccy cable yesterday, I also had the rocker switch in the middle.

I'll go connect the electric cable now, with the switch on the leisure battery and see if it chargers.

I'll let you know later, thanks for the really quick responses.

[Bongo_Blade]

Yip, that did the trick. Switching the rocker switch to leisure battery whilst on electric charges the leisure battery.

I assume the same will happen whilst driving.

Simples really

[apole]

Glad things are working out. Good luck.

Andy

[haydn callow]

Worth testing to see if it does charge whilst driving.....Starting the engine on a well flat battery often blows a big fuse......happened to 2 peeps at last years Bash