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DC to DC leisure battery chargers

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DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby mcbutler » Wed Feb 03, 2021 11:09 am

Quick one fellow tranny fans.
Doing a camper conversion, leisure battery is in place and a nice victron DC-DC back to back charger on order.

Looking at the fuse box diagrams for the vehicle I have comcluded that I can connect the output from the pre-fuse box at connections 12, 13 or 14 which is a 60A aux powerpoint.
Would you areee.
If this is correct how do I access this connection? it seems that the pre-fuse box is located tight down the sides of the dual batteries I already have, is their a trick i dont know:-)

Thanks in advance everyone, love this forum so many responsive helpful individuals....
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby Frag » Wed Feb 03, 2021 11:25 am

Those pre fuses come through seat base,and are under a cover on the side nearest door,rear corner.
M6 studs if I remember right.
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby mcbutler » Wed Feb 03, 2021 2:17 pm

Frag wrote:Those pre fuses come through seat base,and are under a cover on the side nearest door,rear corner.
M6 studs if I remember right.

Thanks Frag, ill check it out right now
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby johnporter11 » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:11 am

mcbutler has opened up a topic that's going to lead to a lot of other issues. I'm in the same position as him, but I haven't been able to decide which charger to use!
On my 2015 minibus there is only one connection point at that location. But I had heard the if the 60A fuse blows (although I'd hope that it doesn't) it's a pig to replace. So I was going to use the battery terminal for simplicity.
Also, has mcbutler gone for the Victron isolated or non-isolated version? What are the pros and cons of each? I had planned not to use a ground for my house system, just bringing everything back to negative terminal of leisure battery. That would mean using the isolated version, which is brody expensive.
And where is he fitting the ignition feed? The difficult-to-get-at one under the seat? Or is feasible to take an ignition live from the fuse box at the steering column?
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby dumper » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:44 am

My x bus has nothing in the box on the outside of the seat so I have gone straight to the battery I have the Sterling 30 amp the only connection to the van side is through the sterling all the earths go back to the leisure batteries.i ran this without the ignition feed for 3 years till I put heavy duty fuse box in I thought it had a fault and was not cutting in so I fitted the ignition feed from plug in the seat box I decided not to buy the Ford lead so I cut the plug off and put crimp on terminals on to do this I removed the batteries and the battery box to give room to get down to the plug I put the batteries back in without the battery box so I could use a test light to find out witch wire to plug into when the ignition was on i then put it all back together.
If you were to buy the Ford plug lead you could do it all by just by removing the seat nothing else .
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby mcbutler » Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:28 am

johnporter11 wrote:mcbutler has opened up a topic that's going to lead to a lot of other issues. I'm in the same position as him, but I haven't been able to decide which charger to use!
On my 2015 minibus there is only one connection point at that location. But I had heard the if the 60A fuse blows (although I'd hope that it doesn't) it's a pig to replace. So I was going to use the battery terminal for simplicity.
Also, has mcbutler gone for the Victron isolated or non-isolated version? What are the pros and cons of each? I had planned not to use a ground for my house system, just bringing everything back to negative terminal of leisure battery. That would mean using the isolated version, which is brody expensive.
And where is he fitting the ignition feed? The difficult-to-get-at one under the seat? Or is feasible to take an ignition live from the fuse box at the steering column?


Hello John,
I decided after looking at the location of the pre fuse box and what a hassle replacing a blown fuse on the road might be to connect direct to the starter battery using inline fuses before and after the charger. Full kit with charger, cables, fuses, terminations, shrink wrap etc for £242 with VAT!
I went for a non isolated charger the reason i chose it is this

From Victron tech support "the isolated version has a separate, galvanically isolated input and output NEG while the non-isolated uses a common negative return. If both your source and target batteries share a negative return (ie chassis ground) then you do not need the isolated version."..
Victron is extremely easy to install and the bluetooth connection to the excellent app allows two minute set up and even battery charging graphs so you can tweak it if you want/need to...

So in summary my live to the Victron is fused at 60 amp direct from the starter battery, my neg leads for charger and leisure battery are connected directly to the neg on the starter battery. My battery is under my passenger seat and the victron, fuses under the centre seat.
Ignition feed is not required the victron senses the changes automatically. You can fit an ignition link I believe but if you do this then leaving the ignition on when the engines off leaves your leisure battery connected to your starter battery I believe..
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby fitzfarseer » Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:28 pm

Hijacking this post as I'm a bit confused by the isolation of the Victron. My starter battery is ground to the van (transit mk7) chassis in the front, whereas my leisure battery in the back will be ground to a bolt on the van floor, along with an inverter. From what I understand, this would mean they are both ground to the chassis, however I'm unsure whether that difference in grounding position, albeit 3 or 4 metres, is going to make a difference as to what charger I get, isolated or non-isolated. Any thoughts?
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby dumper » Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:15 pm

It’s 5 years since I fitted the Sterling b2b to my van and the only connection to the van side is a feed and earth from the van battery and then from the b2b to the leisure batteries all the electrical camper parts are all hard wired back to them I did this I wanted to keep the two systems as separate as possible .
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby bortaf » Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:01 pm

fitzfarseer wrote:Hijacking this post as I'm a bit confused by the isolation of the Victron. My starter battery is ground to the van (transit mk7) chassis in the front, whereas my leisure battery in the back will be ground to a bolt on the van floor, along with an inverter. From what I understand, this would mean they are both ground to the chassis, however I'm unsure whether that difference in grounding position, albeit 3 or 4 metres, is going to make a difference as to what charger I get, isolated or non-isolated. Any thoughts?


If they are both grounded to the chassis they are not isolated, if all the leasure grounds come back to the battery and not the chassis they are isolated :wink:
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby Somersetting » Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:04 pm

This is such a complicated subject but I am trying to understand something here, Although I am not using a Victron I am using Renegade. And they clearly say you need to connect to the Smart Alternator trigger circuit. I guess it somehow works out when the starter battery is charged it can carry on giving output as the Leisure battery needs topping out.
Can anyone give me the directions and details of where to connect my single trigger sensor cable to.
most appreciated if someone can.
Finally i hope the original post sorted itself out.
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby johnporter11 » Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:43 pm

I also struggled with that question when I fitted the Renogy DCC50S. In the end, I connected the trigger lead to an ignition live fuse under the steering wheel. Everything seems fine since it was fitted nine months ago.
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby Somersetting » Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:27 am

Hi John Sorry its been a few days since i posted and your kind reply, Yes I guess that is what most of will do. Grab an positive from when Ignition on. Shame its so un answered though as I thought this Alternator was a high tech searching for what needs to be charged so reducing the load on the Alternator as it is possible 2 van batteries and the leisure could all do with charging at once, you then get a well overworked Alternator and possible burn out Oh well I shall see what happens and hope I have the same joy you have had. Cheers Bud
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby johnporter11 » Sat Mar 19, 2022 11:33 pm

Apparently we are looking for the D+. And apparently there is one hidden inaccessibly in the battery box below the seat. Apparently it's in a multi-plug and you have to search out the correct pin. So bugger that...
There is also a way of simulating D+ with some kind of device that you can wire into a connector under the dash on the passenger side.
I just know that my own Renogy DCC50S has done everything I want of it for the last nine months. Plus, on sunny days when the leisure batteries are full, it diverts the solar panel charge to the starter battery as indicated on the charger. Today (wall-to-wall sunshine) my leisure batteries were sitting at 14.06v.
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby dumper » Sun Mar 20, 2022 1:35 am

Finding the terminal on the plug in the battery box is not that hard yes it’s tight to get to but with the seat off I removed the batteries and the battery box and then refitted the batteries without the box so I had the room to get a test light on to the plug to find out which wire was live with the ignition on and then it’s just a matter of cutting the wire off the plug and fitting a female terminal on it and run a lead to connect to the b2b unit .
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Past camper vans
1974 mk1 v4 with 2.0 pinto fitted
1986 mk3 2.5 di swb
1990 190 lwb 2.5 di
1998 100 lwb 2.5 di
2006 350 jumbo 135 tdci
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Re: DC to DC leisure battery chargers

Postby johnporter11 » Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:19 pm

There you have it.
Me, I'm lazy.
Dumper's up for it....
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