extra battery

[matt hayward]

went camping over the weekend (see transit talk) and didnt give much thouhgt to the kids leaving the doors open, flicking the little curtesy lights on and playing CD's untill i went to start the van... dead as Elvis. Given that i intend to do a lot more camping, possibly running a small fridge, DVD system etc id of thought an extra battery would be ideal.

I know twin batteries were an option, so shouldnt be too difficult, but would it be possible to have them wired in so that even if the first battery is drained flat, the second battery remains untouched for starting? I suppose you could have a battery wired seperately to additional lighter sockets, but you'd still be left with the curtesy lights/ stereo problem, unless they were all rewired.

matt

[MrMPuk]

Yes get yourself a split charging relay.

[matt hayward]

so that will charge two batteries seperately? what i need is is no matterhow much the kids drain one battery, the other battery remains untouched for starting. Would a relay do that? (sorry if this sounds stupid)

[Luke]

yeah what you want is a camping/caravan leasure battery, and iscolate your vans battery so once the leasure battery runs down the van battery is left untouched - a simple motorsport isolater would do the trick!

this is a copy of how they shold be wired


search split charging relay and Search for all terms you will quite a few threads

[matt hayward]

cheers!

i see, so i drive to the site (both batteries charging), when i get there, pop the bonnet, pull the isolator out (thats the red 'key' thing rally cars have, in case you crash?), let the leisure battery drain, pop the isolator back in and presto!

[Luke]

cheers!

i see, so i drive to the site (both batteries charging), when i get there, pop the bonnet, pull the isolator out (thats the red 'key' thing rally cars have, in case you crash?), let the leisure battery drain, pop the isolator back in and presto!

thats it you can get 2 types of red key isolators one that will stop the engine running and a cheaper one that wont, but will isolate the battery and not allow it to restart but the cheaper one will be fine for what you need

[OxtonyxO]

this is ok but it wont let you use all the cd player and lights unless you rewire them to run off the second battery

[madvanman]

this is ok but it wont let you use all the cd player and lights unless you rewire them to run off the second battery

thats what i did when i had a big stereo system in me van, all the stereo system ran from the extra battery, i fitted a changeover switch so the ignition supply to the stereo could be connected to the ignition for normal operation or to the permenant feed that was wired to the extra battery for use when parked up.

[matt hayward]

hmm. dont fancy rewiring those much. what do campervan owners do? just have a honking great lesiure battery and make sure they run the engine to charge the batteries every day? perhaps just do that then

[OxtonyxO]

this is ok but it wont let you use all the cd player and lights unless you rewire them to run off the second battery

thats what i did when i had a big stereo system in me van, all the stereo system ran from the extra battery, i fitted a changeover switch so the ignition supply to the stereo could be connected to the ignition for normal operation or to the permenant feed that was wired to the extra battery for use when parked up.

yeah this is what i am thinking of doing 2 batterys + engine batt . so that i can run a stero system and an invertor

[MrMPuk]

Your best bet is to get a proper spilt charging relay and then that way you can still start off the second battery, most good marine suppliers will do you what you want.

[Nighthawk]

Battery guard is your saviour here.

In simple terms a solenoid trips out at a pre set voltage and shuts off all electrics

A simple press of the reset switch closes the solenoid again and you'll always have enough power to start the vehicle.

[matt hayward]

thanks. I'll have a hunt round for a relay then! also took the time to properly read Weegees posts on split charging- kinda makes more sense now.

[Campervan]

Have problems with the second, (auxiliary), battery on my campervan not charging. I had a search on the site and found Luke's diagram for split charging, but my split charging wiring has 2 relays. Any ideas??

[madvanman]

Have problems with the second, (auxiliary), battery on my campervan not charging. I had a search on the site and found Luke's diagram for split charging, but my split charging wiring has 2 relays. Any ideas??

do you have a fridge fitted that runs from 12v while your driving if you do the second relay should be for that