split charge woes.

[nicstrike]

i think I may be answering my own question here but..... I fitted a willinton kit to our bongo a couple of years ago (great kit) but now it appears to not be switching over to charge the leisure battery , as it has become flatter than a ginsters pasty (blerg!). I know the main battery is getting long in the tooth , so I am wondering whether this is preventing switch over by not holding enough volts to allow the relay to change over? i'm probably going to replace the main battery soon anyway but wondered if the collective braincell thought this may be the issue? I have temporarily returned all functions to the factory circuits till I can sort this one out.

[Northern Bongolow]

sounds possible, a good garage can test your batts.
ive have seen a few faulty willintons, usually older units that have worked hard.

[g8dhe]

Without checking with a meter its difficult to say, certainly a damaged S/B can be the cause of lower than expected volts when not charging but the alternator will normally raise the voltage sufficiently - at the cost of doing more damage of course - to allow the L/B to charge. If the S/B is bad then normally you will notice that the starter is turning over a lot more slowly than normal.

[Dodgey]

Just grab a cheapo meter, i.e. for £5

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/electrical/e ... r-12758714

and meter the SB when the engine is running. If it climbs over 13.5 volts and the LB doesn't also climb, then the Willinton relay is dead, OR, a fuse has gone - there are two large fuses - one by each battery, then 4 smaller ones on the back of the relay. One of the big brown fuses would cause this. Very unlikely all 4 of the smaller fuses have blown.

Oh - and get a charger on the LB ASAP - leaving it flat is killing it every day you leave it longer.

[Simon Jones]

Has your split charge got an LED on it to show its charging? Mine was one of the earlier versions which did not so I've since fitted one with a resistor across the relay coil so I can tell at a glance whether it's charging.

[winchman]

A motor factor with a good battery tester should be able to test it with something like this
http://www.maxautopartsltd.co.uk/autopa ... 7-9-46.php
This type of tester will even give battery life left in it.
Not with one of theses
http://www.thetoolboxshop.com/0-524-08- ... eries.html
The above are very old hat and can cause explosions and damage the battery.
You may find this helpful
http://carbatteryonline.net/car-battery-tester.html

[winchman]

Has your split charge got an LED on it to show its charging? Mine was one of the earlier versions which did not so I've since fitted one with a resistor across the relay coil so I can tell at a glance whether it's charging.

That's a good idea.
You could also fit two of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-4-Blue-LED- ... 3a82b999c7
I fitted a slightly different one to my startet battery circuit with a switch so I can turn it off