Campervan battery negative set fire.

[jaspera]

Hi,
I have a professionally converted 1992 transit campervan, done by "leisuredrive". Bought it at the start of september, the other half and I planning on doing some work on the van then going to portugal for a very long trip. It has a split charging system for the leisure battery and starter battery (both under bonnet). We have been driving it around a bit and it's been fine but the other morning the negative earth on the leisure battery started smoking profusely and melted in half, I was advised to just disconnect the leisure battery for now as it might have just been a fault on that end, but soon after the same happened to the starter battery. Could this be the voltage regulator?
Thanks,
Jasper and Beca

 

[TonyJones]

Hi both of you, welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your problem - must've been quite scary seeing all that smoke,, and things melting.
Regulator is a possibility, but I'm no electrician.
Others may have some advice, but I see Leisuredrive are still around, up in Bolton:
http://leisuredrive.co.uk/
Could be worth giving them a ring and asking advice - some of the smaller converters can be very helpful and co-operative, as long as you make it clear you're not holding them responsible 24 years down the line! Always assuming that it's still the same firm, not another outfit who bought the brand. But they always were around the Manchester area, so could be the same.
Anyone know for sure?