Bongo batterys

[spad112]

Hi

Fitting leisure battery,need some advice
Tray fitted ,wiring in place ready to but leisure battery in.

Advice says don't buy one thats bigger than the main battery,but there is nothing on it that tells me what it currently fitted in my bongo.......110a/h ????

Looks to be original battery ( Japanese ) Panasonic ?

Can anyone tell me what their setup is ?

What size main battery and leisure battery ?

[francophile1947]

Fit the largest battery that will fit in your tray - there is no reason it cannot be a larger capacity than the starter battery. Lots of people fit larger batteries and nobody seems to know where the instruction to not fit a larger one comes from

[spad112]

Hi

The advise not to select leisure battery bigger than your main battery comes from the fact sheet in the members area.

I was hoping someone who has a leisure battery fitted already and working perfectly ok could tell me what their set up is.....

Many thanks for your reply

[francophile1947]

Hi

The advise not to select leisure battery bigger than your main battery comes from the fact sheet in the members area.

I was hoping someone who has a leisure battery fitted already and working perfectly ok could tell me what their set up is.....

Many thanks for your reply

I know it comes from the fact sheet, but nobody seems to know why it got there - it's not correct. You can fit a larger capacity leisure battery than your starter battery. Lots of folks have 110ah leisure batteries with a 95ah(or less) starter battery.

[scanner]

Just make sure that if it's bigger, it isn't physically higher and touches the underside of the bonnet. If it does it could short out and you wouldn't want that.

[spad112]

Excellent,I will now look to find leisure battery at reasonable cost.

Once again thank you

[stringman]

I've got 2 leisure batteries, a 110ah under bonnet and an 85ah in the kitchen unit with no problem whatsoever

[apole]

Hi,

My car battery is I think 65 AH, however this is a petrol bongo, normally the diesels have a more powerful battery.

My leisure battery is 110AH, I believe that is about the biggest you can fit under the bonnet. No reason why you cannot have a bigger leisure battery, best to fit the biggest you can.

Also best if possible to reduce the load on it as much as possible if you are likely to be away from hook up for a few days. Get a good compressor fridge, and LED lights to replace the standard bulbs. I had a set of spotlights in mine, great light but nearly 1 amp each. Good 3rd Gen LEDS are quite pricey but they give good light and last a long time, cheap ones don't.

Also worth moving things like the blinds etc over to the LB, and check too that nothing is drawing power that shouldn't be.

Andy

[thedogsbollox]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

[scanner]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

I don't think you need to tap off the Willinton set up just run a heavy amperage wire (with an inline fuse for safety) from the +tive terminal of the 1st leisure battery to the +tive terminal of the 2nd one and also earth the -tive terminal of the 2nd one.

I can't think why that wouldn't work - just don't try charging both of them from heavily discharged at the same time.

[thedogsbollox]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

I don't think you need to tap off the Willinton set up just run a heavy amperage wire (with an inline fuse for safety) from the +tive terminal of the 1st leisure battery to the +tive terminal of the 2nd one and also earth the -tive terminal of the 2nd one.

I can't think why that wouldn't work - just don't try charging both of them from heavily discharged at the same time.

Thanks for that scanner, all makes sense. I think that my onboard battery will more than likely be fully charged or slightly discharged but the boat one will be sucked dry after use so that shouldn't be a problem. Now, how to isolate the + wire at the back so it don't short on anything?

[scanner]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

I don't think you need to tap off the Willinton set up just run a heavy amperage wire (with an inline fuse for safety) from the +tive terminal of the 1st leisure battery to the +tive terminal of the 2nd one and also earth the -tive terminal of the 2nd one.

I can't think why that wouldn't work - just don't try charging both of them from heavily discharged at the same time.

Thanks for that scanner, all makes sense. I think that my onboard battery will more than likely be fully charged or slightly discharged but the boat one will be sucked dry after use so that shouldn't be a problem. Now, how to isolate the + wire at the back so it don't short on anything?

Use an insulated crocodile clip from somewhere like Maplins if you have a similar one at the front you can easily isolate the whole wire in an emergency - if it shorts out or something.

I bought an "Energy SFL" by Squadron Batteries (at bottom of page 4)
http://www.squadronbattery.com/download ... _broch.pdf
from the local marina it's a deep cycle battery that can be used for engine starting as well. They have additional screw terminals as well as the posts so it's easy to make extra connections.

[mikeonb4c]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

I don't think you need to tap off the Willinton set up just run a heavy amperage wire (with an inline fuse for safety) from the +tive terminal of the 1st leisure battery to the +tive terminal of the 2nd one and also earth the -tive terminal of the 2nd one.

I can't think why that wouldn't work - just don't try charging both of them from heavily discharged at the same time.

I'm just trying to think here. Can you just connect +ve to +ve with a thick wire and then just earth the second battery to the chassis as it will make its -ve connection to the main leisure battery that way, or this that dodgy practice? It's save on one thick wire though if so.

Oh B'Jesus, thats me on 7000 posts

[scanner]

I have a question on this topic. I have bought a split charge relay and tray from Willington and i am going to use one of the 2 leisure batterys that i use to power an electric outboard on my inflatable dinghy. The question i have is, would i be able to run a couple of wires to the back of the van(switched of course), that attaches somewhere to the willington kit, to charge the other battery that i have that will be used for the boat?
Any thoughts, advice, pictures, wiring digrams, assistance, installation will be greatly recieved
Thanks
Tony

I don't think you need to tap off the Willinton set up just run a heavy amperage wire (with an inline fuse for safety) from the +tive terminal of the 1st leisure battery to the +tive terminal of the 2nd one and also earth the -tive terminal of the 2nd one.

I can't think why that wouldn't work - just don't try charging both of them from heavily discharged at the same time.

I'm just trying to think here. Can you just connect +ve to +ve with a thick wire and then just earth the second battery to the chassis as it will make its -ve connection to the main leisure battery that way, or this that dodgy practice? It's save on one thick wire though if so.

Oh B'Jesus, thats me on 7000 posts

The earth, is the earth, is the earth, SFAIK, a separate earth lead is redundant.
The chassis is used to connect the -tives of the main battery and the first leisure battery, so why can't it be used for the second leisure battery as well?

[mikeonb4c]

Thanks scanner. Just trying to get my non electrical head around this one in case I ever did it.