battery charging from car

[phillip1]

hi guys i have recently had a new tow bar fitted to my car with double electric sockets so obviousely i can now charge the van battery while the car is connected, does this mean that i can attach crocodile clips to the correct wires and charge my leisure battery directly from the cars alternator just checking as the qualified fitter said this was possible thanks guys

from phill

 

[wombat1]

Philip

I think you will find that the 12V battery supply from your car to the van, only provides power to the fridge, it does not charge the caravan battery.

Others may wish to correct me. The van wiring doesn't allow the car battery to charge the van battery.

I am open to others more qualified than me to comment further.

 

[phillip1]

Philip

I think you will find that the 12V battery supply from your car to the van, only provides power to the fridge, it does not charge the caravan battery.

Others may wish to correct me. The van wiring doesn't allow the car battery to charge the van battery.

I am open to others more qualified than me to comment further.

hi wombat are you sure about that cos if you look on a standard twelve pin diagram you will see a blue or a red feed the red is the fridge and the blue is a feed to charge the battery also the guy who fitted my tow bar at the garage said you could use the fridge feed to charge the battery if you didn`t use it for the fridge i just wondered if you needed some kind of charger or if the feed could be connected directly to the battery in the caravan like it is in the car of course this would only work while the engine was running i.e when towing i was just hoping someone could verify the theory thanks for your advice

from phill

 

[rob_jax]

Hi guys,

The wiring in the single 13 pin (ISO 11446) car socket or the 12S socket of the older twin electrical system does provide a dedicated connection for caravan battery charging (and internal lights depending on the "state" of the caravan habitation relay).

Fridge power and battery charge are two separate circuits in the car-caravan connectors.

So our "German" Eriba caravan has a battery charging booster (really nice W1214 unit made by Schaudt) that provides multi-stage charging of the caravan battery when towing.

And that brings up the second part of the question - what your caravan manufacturer fitted inside the caravan to make use of the battery charging facility, and what you need to do inside the caravan to make use of this.

Robert

 

[phillip1]

hi robert thanks for your info and it makes things really simple my van is an old avondale perle from the seventies and although i have full interior 12v lighting there is no charging facility provided whatsoever other than the blue feed coming from the standard 12 s socket and the necessary earth connection and i do have full mains electricity that i had installed a few years ago by a qualified dealer so i could charge it that way with a normal battery charger i just wondered if it was possible to do it from the car while i was travelling thanks again from phill