Charging base vehicle engine battery

[Ukjon]

Good Morning,

My motorhome is connected to hook up whilst on my drive. I have a CTEK battery charger to charge the veh battery. Whilst on hook up, can I plug the CTEK charger into one of the electrical sockets inside my motorhome and use the CTEK charger that way?

Thank you

 

[Ian-n-Jane]

Yes you can is the short answer, but does the on -board charger not charge both the engine and leisure battery?

 

[Ukjon]

Afternoon Ian n Jane,

Thanks for response.

It charges both leisure batteries, but was therefore not sure if it also charged the base veh battery?

On our previous motorhome the solar panel charged both leisure and base veh batteries, however our supplying dealer told us that Knaus use a different system and the solar panel cannot charge the engine battery due to the way the electrics are wired up.

Whilst we use our motorhome all year, it can stand for 4 weeks on the drive between trips away, so now weather has turned colder did not want to jump in it for a quick weekend getaway - only to find a drained engine battery.

Regards

 

[TonyJones]

I'm not au fait with which converters do what, but there are several ways of wiring the 230v charger. Some charge both batteries automatically (perhaps giving priority to the leisure one), some will charge whichever battery is currently powering the hab system (according to how the switch on the panel is set), and some will only ever charge the leisure battery. If you can't find out how yours is wired (from the dealer or the manual), any competent caravan electrician should be able to work it out with a multi-meter.

 

[Ukjon]

Thanks Tony

Regards