Some help with 12volt electrics please.

[2newbies]

Hi everyone.....My new willinton leisure battery kit has just arrived,can't wait to fit it .....but what i was wondering is can i use it to power some extra goodies....additional lights.extra sockets etc.and if so...how..
thanks...Paul and claire

[Velocette]

Hi everyone.....My new willinton leisure battery kit has just arrived,can't wait to fit it .....but what i was wondering is can i use it to power some extra goodies....additional lights.extra sockets etc.and if so...how..
thanks...Paul and claire

Personally I would use the fusebox of the Willinton kit to transfer existing circuits currently on the starter battery and run new circuits directly to the leisure battery for asnything you install 100% from scratch. That is what I have done anyway, others may have different views.


There are 1001 ways of wiring everything up, things to watch are cable sizes
overload protection (fusing)physical protection and security but above all conductor cross section in relation to expected load and length of run especially for heavy loads like fridges.

[g8dhe]

Provided you have ordered the wiring loom part of the kits covering all the existing sockets are covered.
If you want to add additional sockets then that will need extra wiring of course and can be brought back to extra fuse blocks as required.
If you have a conversion then you may well have additional circuits in place

[2newbies]

Hi, Thanks for the replies,I am now going to to run a 30amp fused cable to the cp3 zig directly from the leisure battery,,,but am now wondering whether I should run a neg. cable from the LB to the Zig as well....cheers Paul

[windywatson]

Hi,

No need to run a seperate negative cable all of the way from the LB to the Zig. The LB should have the negative side connected to the vehicle chassis as the vehicle is negative earth, all you need to do is take a suitable cable from the negative of the zig and connect this to the chassis adjacent to where you install the Zig. You do need to ensure that the connection to chassis is good, cleaning off any paint down to bare metal.

Hope that this helps.

Cheers

[g8dhe]

And also that all the joints between metal work between attachment points are good!
I must admit I have always run the -ve return via my own cable as well as using the chassis, as it helps with noise problems on radio and audio equipment, which can be a bugger to track down

[2newbies]

Hi....Thanks for that.....that makes it a lot clearer.....thanks again.....Paul

[hijimhere]

Why 30 amp fuse - I would hope that you haven't an accessory capable of that type of draw as you are into serious problems - most camp sites are 5 to 10 amp!

[Simon Jones]

20 or 30A is about right for connecting to a leisure battery to a charger.

Jim, bear in mind that a 5 or 10A mains supply is a completely different beast when it comes to 12V. A 240V kettle draws about 12.5A (assuming 1500 Watt element). The fuse in a Bongo to run a pair of electric blinds is 10A, but you can't compare the power consumption of two small 12V motors with a 240V kettle, even though they use a similar rated fuse.