Bongo Fury

We were going to have a leisure battery fitted, but on advice agreed to have a second starter battery (Exide 70Ah) fitted. The batteries are in tandem without a split charge. We intend to have a rear conversion with just a cool box and LED lights as well as the in-car entertainment system including DVD and CD players. Was this a wise choice? Or was this advice the easy option for fitting?

Hi
That advice was, as you stated, just the easy option. For leisure use, always use the battery designed for that purpose, as they are capable of a deeper discharge...starter batteries AREN'T, and they have to be re-charged instantly from the alternator after starting. Also, with a split charger, the 2 batteries aren't linked, so the current draw is ONLY from the leisure battery, whereas the current is drawn from both batteries in your setup, which, on heavy use camping, could result in not enough power to start the engine.
Cheers
Helen

No that is NOT a good option, you will end up having a flat SB.
You need a proper leisure battery, with split charge relay to allow charging while driving, and a wiring loom to move all the required circuits over to the LB itself see here;
http://www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk/i ... 1-bongovsr
Roger is also on the forum here for further advice!

As stated above the advice you were given was wrong. A second starter battery is absolutely pointless in this country because one battery is perfectly up to the job. The second battery was an addition in Japan for Bongo's from the North to help with starting where it is much colder than the UK. For providing power to lights, radio and equipment on a conversion e.g. fridge you need to have a leisure battery and a split charge system which joins the batteries together whilst the engine is running and then isolates them whilst you are parked up on a campsite so you don't discharge the starter battery.

My own opinion .. I always try use the right tools for for the job ..

A starter battery is constructed differently to a Leisure one .. A starter battery needs to be capable of producing high out put to crank an engine over in Arctic conditions .. but for only for a relatively short amount of time .. if abused .. left to run flat .. unused for a long time.. generally they are hard to re charge / resurrect them 100% ..

A leisure battery is designed to produce a more constant 'gentle' power over extended periods and is more forgiving in being left unused / un attended / in hibernation for longer periods .. such as in a caravan .. boats etc:..

Hi plewis 268,you probably had a bit of correct advice in the eyes of the advisor ,,,You can purchase Dual Purpose Leisure batteries, a 105 amp will give approx. 950 CCA (cold cranking amps) .

Best of both worlds if you are easily pleased.

The problem is you asked about fitting a leisure battery BUT your Bongo is not set up to use a leisure battery.

As stated you need to get the set up right and then fit a leisure battery.

All you have at the moment is a twin battery set up which will not do what you want.

However, you do now have an extra 70ah on board and a cheap solution might be to fit an isolating terminal switch to use when parked up and only drawer leisure power from the 2nd battery. The rules about not flattening it still apply, but you could fit a low voltage cut off I guess.

The advice above about fitting a isolated terminal to the starter battery is good and your cheapest option to be going on with....it's exactly what I did.....you can get isolator terminals off eBay very cheap

261818853135 Item number

Separated batteries gives confidence that whatever camping stuff / lights you use and leave on, you'll be able to start up the next day. So for peace of mind I would definitely ensure you don't risk draining (one of) the starter battery. I'd say important in your case. Cool Boxes, though great for satisfying the BBQ chef's thirst, they can themselves be thirsty on battery juice.

cmm303 wrote:Separated batteries gives confidence that whatever camping stuff / lights you use and leave on, you'll be able to start up the next day. So for peace of mind I would definitely ensure you don't risk draining (one of) the starter battery. I'd say important in your case. Cool Boxes, though great for satisfying the BBQ chef's thirst, they can themselves be thirsty on battery juice.

I agree. The single most useful thing about a leisure battery is (provided it operates isolated from the SB) that you can use camping stuff with engine off and know you'll still be able to start your engine if you flatten the LB. So your investment is not wasted even if the setup is not perfect. Just buy an isolator terminal and remember to un-isolate the LB except when in use so it can receive charge while motoring. And a low voltage protector might be a good investment whatever LB setup you have.