Electrical question(s) and confusion!

[cass]

Hi, being a complete newbie to the Bongo (less than a week), I have been discovering how everything works and have some questions about the use of Batteries (main one and leisure one) and the DS300uk Zig unit that is installed.

The conversion was carried out by AVA Leisure in 2006 and is all in good nick by the looks of things.

My confusion is with regards to the charging of the batteries and what powers what in the vehicle / camper conversion and what function the mains hook up plays in this mix.

Things I have observed are:

1. The leisure battery does not appear to charge from the vehicle when it is running it only appears to charge when the mains hook up is plugged in.

2. The main battery is used for the raising and lowering of the roof / the curtains / the two cigarette lighter sockets (original ones) / interior lights (original ones)

3. The leisure battery is used for the tap pump / interior lights (camp conversion ones)

4. The twin 13amp 240v sockets only work if the mains hook up is in.

Is this all normal behaviour ?
I would have expected the leisure battery to be charged by the vehicle in the same way the main battery is?
Would it be better to arrange things so that the roof & curtains were powered from the Leisure battery?
I assume there isn't any mains inverter installed as the 240v sockets only work from mains hook up?

What recommendations do you have to make best use of the various power scenarios?
Should the various things be wired up differently?
Should a mains inverter be installed to provide 240v power from the leisure battery?

I am going away on Saturday or Sunday for our first trip in the Bongo to France so your responses would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards
Peter

[francophile1947]

Can't help re the Zig unit, but you definitely don't want an inverter to power anything from the leisure battery - most 240v things will flatten a leisure battery in very little time - those sockets are there for when you are on hook-up.

[missfixit70]

Hi, being a complete newbie to the Bongo (less than a week), I have been discovering how everything works and have some questions about the use of Batteries (main one and leisure one) and the DS300uk Zig unit that is installed.

The conversion was carried out by AVA Leisure in 2006 and is all in good nick by the looks of things.

My confusion is with regards to the charging of the batteries and what powers what in the vehicle / camper conversion and what function the mains hook up plays in this mix.

Things I have observed are:

1. The leisure battery does not appear to charge from the vehicle when it is running it only appears to charge when the mains hook up is plugged in. May be a fuse gone on the split charge circuit if it's fitted? If not it's not too difficult to fit a split charge system, I'd recommend the Willinton kit, just do a search on here for more info.

2. The main battery is used for the raising and lowering of the roof / the curtains / the two cigarette lighter sockets (original ones) / interior lights (original ones) I'd stick with the roof going off the SB as it draws a large current & should only be raised with the engine running anyway, the rest can easily be transferred over, easy to do if you get the willinto kit, it's part of the intallation anyway, or two different ways of doing it here - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... re+battery

3. The leisure battery is used for the tap pump / interior lights (camp conversion ones) makes sense

4. The twin 13amp 240v sockets only work if the mains hook up is in.Sounds normal, an inverter tends to be fairly inefficient & for larger current draws, best used with the engine running or the LB will soon be flat

Is this all normal behaviour ?
I would have expected the leisure battery to be charged by the vehicle in the same way the main battery is?
Would it be better to arrange things so that the roof & curtains were powered from the Leisure battery?
I assume there isn't any mains inverter installed as the 240v sockets only work from mains hook up?

What recommendations do you have to make best use of the various power scenarios?
Should the various things be wired up differently?
Should a mains inverter be installed to provide 240v power from the leisure battery?

I am going away on Saturday or Sunday for our first trip in the Bongo to France so your responses would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards
Peter

[cass]

Thanks John for the speedy response, does the rest of the operation appear normal?

I was a bit surprised to find the leisure battery isn't charging when the vehicle is running?

Peter

[francophile1947]

Thanks John for the speedy response, does the rest of the operation appear normal?

I was a bit surprised to find the leisure battery isn't charging when the vehicle is running?

Peter

Kirsty beat you to it - you'll get used to that

[missfixit70]

Whereabouts are you Peter? if you stick your location in your profile (user control panel top right) there may be someone local with a bit of knowhow/experience of such things that can have a look?

[cass]

Just updated my profile - I'm in sunny Eastbourne on the South Coast.

Not sure if I have a split charge unit or not to be honest, from what I can see there is a power unit / a fuse board unit with RCD for 2 circuits / a DS300 UK unit which has fuses for the various appliances and the control panel up on the cupboard to display status info and switch on appliances power.

Would the split charge unit be in the back with all that or up front under bonnet?

[missfixit70]

Under the bonnet, either going from the SB to the LB or from the alternator to the LB, depending on the set up. Quite often its just a blown fuse where the LB has got very low then the fuse has blown trying to supply too much current

[flipflop]

I have a mid conversion and the leisure battery only charges with the hook up, thats the way it was designed/fitted

I'm thinking of getting the kit for charging when engines running

just need some nice person to fit it

[cass]

I'll have a rummage around in the day light I think, what am I looking for exactly? Is it a small relay unit or something larger?

I have just looked on fleabay for a split charge unit, there are loads, none appear to be a Willinton one though, where do you get them from (if I haven't already got one that is)?

[missfixit70]

If you go for the Willinton kit, anyone can do it, it's so easy - http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/willinton/ give him a shout if there's nowt listed.

[missfixit70]

I'll have a rummage around in the day light I think, what am I looking for exactly? Is it a small relay unit or something larger?

Basicaly you should have a fused wired connection between batteries with a box of gubbins somewhere along its length, I've seen some awful bits of rubbish passed off as a split charge on so called professional conversions.

[widdowson2008]

This is how mine is wired up. (Did the drawing after switching things on, pulling fuses, and noting which items turned off. Not very scientific, but it worked )
I'm quite a retard and need pictures to be able to understand things. You can learn a lot from pictures, especially publications such as............... Playboy, Mayfair, et al:
Hasten to add that this diagram is but one way to wire things up. There are other ways I'm sure.