12v Leisure Battery Set Up - Camper Scotland Conversion

[mercurykev]

As as the owner of a full side conversion bongo for all of 4 weeks now, I'm trying to get a better understanding of the leisure battery set up. The Camper is a Camper Scotland Conversion and is around 4/5 years old so someone on here might have a similar model.

Starting point is a Zag battery status panel - situated on the rear passenger side panel near to the sliding door . The switch on this doesn't seem to turn off the leisure battery circuit or switch between that and the main battery. The sole purpose of this looks to be to show the leisure battery charge.



There is also a 12v cigarette lighter socked at the rear passenger side and through trial and error I can confirm that this is powered by the leisure battery.

Next thing is the interface between the mains hook up and the 12v system. I've found these two devices in the cupboard beside the mains hook up on the driver side of the vehicle - it looks like the first one is a surge protector and the second is a Zafir 90 12v battery charger:

The main hook up goes directly into this and there is an out put that goes to the 12v battery charger


Zafir 90 12v charger - the output wire from this looks to head towards the back of the van and then across the bottom of the rear floor and across towards where the Zag panel and 12v socket reside.


In addition to these things, the tap/water pump is powered by the leisure battery system and there is a 12v socket near the fridge (driver side) and the fridge gets plugged in there.

There is a problem with the fridge socket and I think a fuse might have blown, which lead me to my first question:

1) where might the fuses associated with this set up reside? I've had a look at the main fuse box under the steering wheel and it just looks identical to the set up in the factsheet.

2) my understanding was that some form of relay should be in there somewhere where should I be looking for this?

3) this set-up feels a bit rudimentary for me, ideally I'd like the internal lights and blinds to run off the leisure battery - would this be a big job?

Help appreciate, especially if you have a similar Campers Scotland conversion.

[g8dhe]

Well lets see the Zig unit is more than adequate for a Bongo, the switch (if its been correctly wired up of course!) allows you to connect either the Starter battery (Car position), the Leisure battery (Caravan position) or neither (centre position) to the added 12 volt devices.

The CTEK charger is to be honest a bit under rated at only 3.3Amps, this would normally be connected to the Zig unit on the meter side of the switch, it can therefore power the extra 12 volt devices directly if the switch is in the centre position, or more likely it will in conjunction with the LB when set in the Caravan position supply these devices. However the charger is really only maintenance charger designed to keep a battery charged when not connected to a vehicle - for instance if your LB is 90AmpHr it would take at least 30-60 hours to fully charge the battery from flat!!!

It is normal to also have what is called a Split Charge Relay to allow charging of the battery from the alternator when travelling, this is normally mounted under the bonnet and will have a cable going to the +ve terminal of both batteries (via fuses close to each battery). From the LB you would normally have an extra fuse block some times under the bonnet but sometimes mounted elsewhere, this will feed the Caravan position of the Zig unit and possibly other devices like the Lights, Blinds, Radio etc that you might want to use when parked up.

Adding the extra devices like Lights, Radio, Blinds etc. is fairly simple if you have some experience with wiring, wiring looms to achieve this are available from Ebay and others.

However all the above assume that the "NORMAL" type of setup has been installed, that we can't be sure of without inspecting the actual wiring.

[mercurykev]

Thanks for the info, a bit of cable tracing shows me that from the battery end of things cables trace to a point above the passenger footwell and a Combi Master E11, which looks to be the relay for the split charging while driving.



One bad thing I've notice is that now the 12v socket on the fridge side not working, neither is the pump for the sink. So they are connected unfortunately it's all behind the side conversion.

[g8dhe]

Yes that's a split charge and fridge relay, but it is again only just about adequate for the fridge itself, the wiring for charging the batteries also looks very thin. You might be better considering upgrading that too something with a MUCH higher rating and mounted closer to the batteries under the bonnet.

[the laird]

Why don't you contact gary at campers scotland grangemouth he is helpfull and maybe can throw some like your way

[clutha]

Is this too obvious?

A terminal on that relay looks like a wire is missing. Bare core visible unless my eyes deceive.

[the laird]

Hey nought wrong with your eyesight gordon

[mercurykev]

Is this too obvious?

A terminal on that relay looks like a wire is missing. Bare core visible unless my eyes deceive.

I'd spotted that and plan to reconnect the spade connector to the wire - it's 50% connected rather than completely unconnected.