Electrical advice please

[blu]

Hi folks

Im afraid electrics are far from my strong point so i was hoping some one out there could help.

Recently i was staying on a cl site and left the lights on the car switched on overnight.

Luckily there was someone there to jump start off but it left me wondering if there was a way to charge the car battery using elec hookup via the caravans charger with the car hooked up to the van.

If this is not possible is it safe to use jump leads straight from the vans battery.

Kind Regards

Sean

 

[Damian]

Sean, it is not possible to charge your car battery from the van charger.

However, there are a couple of alternatives.

A jump start from the van battery is ok, as long as it is a one off and not a regular happening!! as van batteries are designed for slow discharge, not a hefty drain in one go as is the case in starting an engine, but as an emergency solution it would be ok.

Second possibility is to use a battery charger from the 240v in the van to charge the car overnight

 

[rayc]

blu, I note the first reply to your query but I have seen it done successfully. The caravan battery was disconnected and the leads connected via jump cables to the car battery { all safely of course}. The charger was switched on and hey presto the car battery was charged.

It did seem like a lot of bother to me! Why not just use the caravan battery to start the car via jump leads and then let the car alternator charge the car battery? It does work and a caravan battery is quite capable of providing the current to start a car - I've seen it done loads of times.

 

[Dave_374230619]

In theory you should be able to use one of those 'Cigar lighter to cigar lighter' chargers. All assuming you have a cigar lighter type socket in the caravan that is close enough to a window and you can park your car close enough to the caravan.

 

[blu]

Thanks for replies.

Seems like theres a few ways round the problem.i guess not leaving my lights on is the best solution but at least i know what to do if stuck.

Cheers again