Bongo Fury

Hiya

I apologise now but I am a girlie and I am no good with techie stuff. So your help please.

I want to use my bongo more but I am sacred to use the electric sockets in case my leisure battery goes flat.

I have a relay on my two batteries ( red wire from each battery with a black box marked relay )

Can I purchase a device that will be displayed on my dash board so that if need be I can drive the van around to re-stock up the battery. Or am I asking for too much.

So can I buy such a thing and how do you wire it up ( I have seen this - gauge with a needle - showing green through to red in a small motor home )

Any help would be much appreciated ..... as I cant be asked to add up the amps and wattage - I have googled this but want to get the right device for the bongo. Sorry I am now wafferling - byeeeeee

A very simple "voltmeter" is what you need. Just connect it to the battery and "bingo" job done.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TIM-Voltmeter-8-1 ... 5637cca4c1

Hi Hovis,

Haydns' right with his suggestion, just two wires to connect. Any car spares shop (esp. in Essex ) should stock them......

It sounds like you're Leisure battery is connected in a way that will not cause the starting battery to flatten (through a relay), so, even if the LB does go flat, the Bongo should still start.

Do you know who did the battery conversion? That would give a clue as to how the system is wired up.

What electrics are you wanting to run from the LB?

SD

BTW, It's not the end of the world if the LB goes flat, they're designed to discharge more than the starter battery.

Just seen THIS unit, that would work all the power consumption out for you!

stilldesperate wrote:
BTW, It's not the end of the world if the LB goes flat, they're designed to discharge more than the starter battery.

But just don't do it too regularly, every discharge shortens the battery's overall life and the deeper the discharge the greater the effect.

Agreed !!! don't let it drop below 11 volts if you want to get a good "long life" out of the battery.

Hiya

Thanks for the info - the conversion was done by AVA leisure - so the paperwork says.....

Looking at spot light, electric griddle to do a bit of cooking and a laptop to surf or watch a dvd ?

I have a gas bottle - so I can boil a kettle from there......

HOVIS21330

hovis2130 wrote:Hiya

Thanks for the info - the conversion was done by AVA leisure - so the paperwork says.....

Looking at spot light, electric griddle to do a bit of cooking and a laptop to surf or watch a dvd ?

I have a gas bottle - so I can boil a kettle from there......

HOVIS21330

Change the spot light for an LED one, Cook on the gas instead of the griddle, and run the laptop from it's battery! LB will last all nitht!

SD

hovis2130 wrote:Hiya

Thanks for the info - the conversion was done by AVA leisure - so the paperwork says.....

Looking at spot light, electric griddle to do a bit of cooking and a laptop to surf or watch a dvd ?

I have a gas bottle - so I can boil a kettle from there......

HOVIS21330

I wonder if we are talking about a mains socket rather than 12v LB here? I'm not aware of any electric griddle running off 12v leisure battery.

Forget the griddle 12 volt or otherwise.....non starter off any battery

haydn callow wrote:Forget the griddle 12 volt or otherwise.....non starter off any battery

Yep that will flatten ANY battery quicker than you can say "sausages".

You are rapidly heading towards either finding a mains hook-up or buying a generator.

Use the laptop off it's battery and let that charge up again whilst you are driving.

Ohh and get a 12v adaptor for it, as that is much more efficient than using a mains charger and inverter.

stilldesperate wrote:

hovis2130 wrote:Hiya

Thanks for the info - the conversion was done by AVA leisure - so the paperwork says.....

Looking at spot light, electric griddle to do a bit of cooking and a laptop to surf or watch a dvd ?

I have a gas bottle - so I can boil a kettle from there......

HOVIS21330

Change the spot light for an LED one, Cook on the gas instead of the griddle, and run the laptop from it's battery! LB will last all nitht!

SD

Good advice there SD, i've endeavoured to replace as many conventional filament bulbs for LED's wherever possible... It makes all the difference. Depending how your conversion is wired up Hovis, i suspect that using the griddle/lights etc won't be a problem if you are on electric "hook up", as you are taking power directly from the mains.

Some kind of indicator is a nice thing to have though... I have a dash-mounted (switched as required) LED gauge to tell me how much power is in the L/B, this also re-assures me that power is being replenished when the engine has been started.

In addition, there is a small battery charger set up permanently inside the bongo (hidden under the front heater assembly) The cables are threaded through to the L/B, if need be i can connect the charger to a hook up (or the mains at home if i need to boost it).

These appear every now and then on ebay


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 189wt_1167

we have an electric griddle that runs off the lb.
all be it through a 1000w inverter.
anything that uses elements to heat up drains the lb so fast. we have to start the bongo to keep it charging to use the george foreman grill but its cleaner than cooking with fat in a frying pan.
i have a colour changing led which shows the state of the batterys, green,orange and reds flat. simple to fit and dosnt take up much space. its only one led.

You meen like this
its the led panel in green below the cluster




cheers stevie

got 1 fae ebay for around a tenner or so ,also its powered by what its measuring .