Bongo Fury

Fitting my Willinton kit on Sat. Out this morning. Battery dead. Great.
I've kept both North Jap spec batteries, one as starter one as ' leisure'
Can't think why it would have flattened it. Have I just wasted £70 on a kit ill prob end up ripping out?

Tidmo wrote:Fitting my Willinton kit on Sat. Out this morning. Battery dead. Great.
I've kept both North Jap spec batteries, one as starter one as ' leisure'
Can't think why it would have flattened it. Have I just wasted £70 on a kit ill prob end up ripping out?

It's a great kit and he is a quality vendor so don't rip it out. Disable it for now by removing fuses (from memory) and get in touch with willinton to discuss possible causes. Good luck, keep us posted.

Hold on there...

You may have just upset the balance? I have a free day tomorrow to look at it.

His kit can't flatten a battery. Nor can any split charging relay system.

If it "failed" - at worst it would permanently link both batteries, allowing you to flatten both of them IF you left something on in the van, like a fridge.

If your leisure battery is dead, then it would seem something is draining it. His kit is just some wires at the end of the day - they can't flatten anything - things you connect them to can though...

I agree Willington kit can't flatten the battery. Have you used the extra connectors in the fuse box to connect maybe the radio which will be on even when the ignition is switched off.Also spend some money and get yourself a proper leisure battery as the two batteries on the the northern Bongo's are both starter batteries.They will not stand being continually discharged and charged,this is what a proper leisure battery is designed to do.That is just my thoughts on the problem.Cheers Michael

Agree with the above - there'll be a reason, but it won't be his (quality) kit. Wouldn't want any readers to be put off the willinton kit, which made with care and attention and has been a boon to Bongo owners

Dodgey wrote:His kit can't flatten a battery. Nor can any split charging relay system.

If it "failed" - at worst it would permanently link both batteries, allowing you to flatten both of them IF you left something on in the van, like a fridge.

If your leisure battery is dead, then it would seem something is draining it. His kit is just some wires at the end of the day - they can't flatten anything - things you connect them to can though...

As far as im aware nothing was left on, i removed the face of my stereo, my coolant alarm must be wired to the blinds circuit so i left those two tabs supplied in the kit unconnected.
My corner sensors were live perminantly but turned off.
Cant think of anything else, alarm maybe.

I fitted the kit as per the excellent instructions and youtube video.

I tried her at 1pm and started fine.

Confused

Ill text you jaylee- thanks for the personal photo!

have you got one of those aldi or lidl radio's in it. ive seen 3 that have given problems, 2 of them were in the mrs's bongo. they stay live even when off. ive fitted an isolator switch to both the ignition live and the mem live. no problems since.

Hi Tidmo,is it not possible that your Drivers side starter battery is goosed,it might be that you didn't notice this with this battery joined to the passengers side starter battery.??Now you have split them.

Cheers.

The head unit is a Sony item, as for the batteries the AA guy said they were both showing over 12v before he jump started it... Got one of the guys at work to have a look this eve.

Teenmal- you were right! Basically both batteries are knackered. But with the combined voltage were starting fine til I meddled with it!
New battery to be fitted tomorrow and will see if that cures the problem.
On a new weird note my coolant alarm is now going off perminantly- plenty of coolant in header tank- weird. Have ended up removing fuse for the moment. Ideas?
Also any idea where would be a good feed to go from for ign on? Need to move the live feeds for coolant alarm and corner sensors.
Cheers guys

Just a weird idea... If you could plug the leisure battery feeds back in how you had set it up so your corner markers & LCA is on without the ignition...

Then without the ignition on, could you try switching on/operating the windows/maybe the wipers or indicators...?
They should not operate, but i'm wondering.....

Tidmo wrote:Teenmal- you were right! Basically both batteries are knackered. But with the combined voltage were starting fine til I meddled with it!
New battery to be fitted tomorrow and will see if that cures the problem.
On a new weird note my coolant alarm is now going off perminantly- plenty of coolant in header tank- weird. Have ended up removing fuse for the moment. Ideas?
Also any idea where would be a good feed to go from for ign on? Need to move the live feeds for coolant alarm and corner sensors.
Cheers guys

Hi,I would leave it till you fit the new battery,then retry it again and recheck the wiring also.

Jaylee- Will try that tomorrow. Gonna get a new stater battery and go from there... Will report back.
Teenmal- noticed small puddle of coolant under van just now. Level in header tank is good. If anything slightly above max. No change there it's the usual level.
Thought maybe screw had become disturbed with all the messing around under bonnet.
Alarm still sounding. Aggghh. It never rains....

I have a Willinton kit and coolant alarm. My coolant alarm is powered from the top of the top right fuse socket on the fuse board. The lower socket has the blue wire of the Willinton kit attached. I can't recall what this powers.

The LCA chirps when I switch the ingnition on, then once the engine is switched on (diesel).