Bongo Fury

just had similar issues with this kit,and the phone number was not a lot of use.the email was better/faster.
he is good at sorting things so have faith.
best to fit the proper relay really.

dave_aber wrote:As far as In can see, the Nagares RL/180-12 is just a relay - what Martin does is add the 'voltage sensing' circuit and an indicator LED - so an off the shelf version won't work.

Have you got a battery charger you can take with you and use with your "mains cable with a socket thingy"?

If you are just looking for the radio etc to work whilst travelling, you can always patch the 'leisure' circuits back to standard quickly and easily :

1. Remove the 4 fuses in the Willinton kit, under the bonnet.
2. Remove the willinton patch leads from the original fuse box by the driver's right knee.
3. Refit the 4 fuses to the original fusebox.

Just don't leave things on at night - or run with a charger fitted to the starter battery overnight powered by your mains lead.

Hmmmm I don't have a battery charger - but I do like your very practical suggestions as a workable fall back plans so may look at getting one.

Meantime, I hope Martin gets back to me and has a part sitting there just waiting to be sent to to me!!

Just another thought - if you do re-patch the leisure circuits back and effectively put the leisure battery out of use for a temporary period, it would be a good idea to charge the leisure battery up as soon as possible anyway. Lead/Acid batteries don't like being discharged (although 'proper' leisure batteries are more robust in this regard).

The other option (puts on Heath Robinson hat) is to manually link the batteries once the engine is running, and disconnect them when you stop. A single jump lead will do (+ to +), but you would need to ensure that nothing directly connected to either + terminal (and un-fused) can touch the bodywork or fall off one battery and short out. On second thoughts, that's not the safest idea I've ever had!

Sharon, I have a spare willinton modified relay if you're interested.

corblimey, if only I had spotted you offered that sooner!!

My "problem" is not resolved, as everyone suggested Martin does indeed provide good aftercare and duly posted the replacement part on Friday. Unfortunately Royal Mail have failed to try and deliver it despite me waiting in, so it's tracked in the system somewhere, but noone knows quite where... and presumably the "missed" delivery card is in the post. It so frustrating!!

Anyway, looks like I'll be bongoing without a leisure battery, so a further question would be would the leisure battery still be charging despite the faulty relay?
And if not, how long before it goes plain flat, and will that do it harm (it seems to be suggested it would). And if I was to get a battery charger, would any old car battery charger do the job.

*sigh*

Shame, never mind there is a way around it.

1) Remove the willington +ve power cable that feeds the leisure battery from the relay binding post and move it to the other relay binding post you are bypassing the relay. The effect will be that both batteries will still charge.

2) Whilst pitched up remove the fuse from the willinton +ve power cable (leisure battery side) to prevent you draining the starter battery.

3) When you drive off reconnect the fuse to continue charging both batteries.

4) Repeat 2 and 3 each time you pitch up

Basically you are manually doing what the relay is doing but without the failsafe of ensuring the starter battery is fully charged before the leisure battery charging takes place.

Hope that helps / makes sense.

The LB won't be charging if it's only getting 8 volts, but TBH if you're only getting 13volts out of your alternator acros the SB, you may have more pressing issues, alternator should be chucking out @13.8 -14.5volts, this may be the issue rather than the relay being at fault. it may not have reached switching voltage.
Are you getting the sediment & charge lights staying on on your dashboard? I'd get someone to check the alternator output again.
If it's ok, and the LB is still not charging, then get it well charged up before you go, at least 48 hours with a decent intelligent type charger, then keep it charged while you are camping. Hard to say how long it'll last depends on what you use, how often, how well charged the battery is etc.
The other option is as Dave Aber said, to revert the fuse box back to running everything from the SB by pulling the wires & replacing the fuses, make sure you remove the fuses to those wires under the bonnet first or tape them up to stop them shorting out. You could always get a cheap ciggy socket adapter & connect it to one of Willinton fused connections if you need in the van?

Too slow or what CB said I did that for a few days while I was waiting for my new relay to turn up, didn't drive anywhere in that time though, not sure I'd trust myself to remember to remove/replace the fuse

I think I got lost at point 1) relay binding posts!!

Actually, I'll print that out and go and have a look see if it makes sense to me then.

I have actually followed Dave abers advice and reverted to the starter battery, so i currently have a redundant leisure battery. I might actually leave it that way, as I am totally clueless about all this! But I'll still have a look and see if CBs instructions make sense on inspection - it's good to learn something afterall!!

surely step 2) should be to remove the fuse in the Willinton power lead, starter battery side, not the leisure battery side?


I like the idea of moving the power cables to the same terminal post, this would be a less heath-robinson way of linking the batteries than using a jump leaf.

When parked up, you could pull a fuse or disconnect the S/B negative lead.

dave_aber wrote:surely step 2) should be to remove the fuse in the Willinton power lead, starter battery side, not the leisure battery side?

Guess it depends which battery you want to use, but yes I did
Rachel if you go this route, make sure you charge the LB up first from the mains if it's still down @ 8v, or you'll probably blow the main split charge fuse. You could connect a jump lead from SB positive terminal to LB positive terminal on initial start up to get some charge back in the LB.

dave_aber wrote:surely step 2) should be to remove the fuse in the Willinton power lead, starter battery side, not the leisure battery side?

Doesn't matter. Since we connected the two cables together in 1) it's the effectively now a single cable we're just trying to disconnect the two batteries, so either or will work. Although rereading what I wrote I think I may be causing confusion with my chosen terminology.

Actually Dave, your idea of removing the starter -ve is a much better idea since removing the -ve on a battery is a safer option on a -VE earthed vehicle. You should always remove the -ve first when disconnecting a battery to reduce the risk of shorting the battery.

So revised instructions would be:

1) Remove the willington +ve charging cable that feeds the leisure battery from the relay binding post and move it to the other relay binding post so you are bypassing the relay. The effect will be that both batteries will still charge.

2) Whilst pitched up disconnect the starter battery -ve cable to prevent draining the starter battery.

3) When you drive off reconnect the -ve cable to the starter battery.

4) Repeat 2 and 3 each time you pitch up

I think you've just overcomplicated it again personally CB, by using your initial instructions, but removing the SB side main fuse rather than the LB when parked up, you are basically manually doing the job of the relay, ie seperating SB & LB but still allowing both to supply what they were independantly.

You're right Kirsty, removing the starter battery -ve is going to cut power to the all the stuff that still runs off the SB so scratch that. Doh!

Going back to my first set of instructions is the best bet, just be careful you don't short the +ve charge cable to the chassis with your spanner when undoing the fuse nuts.

Just remove both main supply fuses on the willinton kit while doing it to isolate or if you're unsure, remove both batteries negative terminals while doing the work & reconnect when it's done.

Thanks all for the tips and tricks!

I am now accepting the relay ain't fixed and turning my mind to more fun things and heading off for the Cairngorms.... just as soon as I've had another coffee or two