Hi...total novice,and just wondered if anyone could tell me if the caravan leisure battery was charged up while driving?
Thanks,
Dave.
Thanks,
Dave.
Leisure Battery
- Thread starter Dave_374420879
- Start date
Yes but how effectively depends on basically the quality of the caravans on board charger.
If a high quality charger is fitted it will take the power supplied by the car and irrespective of losses in the wiring etc and regulation of the car's charging system, boost the voltage to the vans battery to 14.4 volts. Hymer for example I know fit such chargers and I have read that Swift have moved to similar units.
Cruder chargers just pass on what is left after the cars regulation and voltage drop in the wiring. The end result is the vans battery rarely see adequate voltage to effect a proper charge.
With such a system the battery will not be properly charged and if left like this will suffer sulphation damage.
If a high quality charger is fitted it will take the power supplied by the car and irrespective of losses in the wiring etc and regulation of the car's charging system, boost the voltage to the vans battery to 14.4 volts. Hymer for example I know fit such chargers and I have read that Swift have moved to similar units.
Cruder chargers just pass on what is left after the cars regulation and voltage drop in the wiring. The end result is the vans battery rarely see adequate voltage to effect a proper charge.
With such a system the battery will not be properly charged and if left like this will suffer sulphation damage.
JTQ
I believe you will find that the caravan charger has no effect on the car charging the caravan battery.
The caravan charger should only come into play when on mains electric.
The car will charge the leisure battery, up to around 14.7 volts,
But only if the car is wired to do so, and the engine running.
Obviously the 12s, or 13 pin plug must be connected.
I believe you will find that the caravan charger has no effect on the car charging the caravan battery.
The caravan charger should only come into play when on mains electric.
The car will charge the leisure battery, up to around 14.7 volts,
But only if the car is wired to do so, and the engine running.
Obviously the 12s, or 13 pin plug must be connected.
Ray,
You may be right for older and rudimentary systems where the grey socket is connected directly to the van's battery.
But I can assure you there are chargers/controllers that do process the vehicles feed to the battery, ie they deal with the charging both from the EHU and from the tow vehicle. The grey socket feeds the controller, the controller in turn feeds the battery, ie the controller controls not only what comes from the battery but what goes into it. Schaudt Electroblock used by Hymer and others being the example I am familiar with.
Doing it this way brings significant advantages as it is immaterial what losses are incurred in the wiring from the alternator to the battery, the controller just lifts the voltage to 14.4, and regulates the current whilst on tow to 8 Amps. Also importantly the charging regime of the leisure battery is optimised and independent of the vehicles regulation of its starter battery. This is becoming increasingly important as some high performance starter batteries on modern vehicles, eg Land Rover Disco3s and Range Rover Sports, are charged at over 15 volts.
Cheers John
You may be right for older and rudimentary systems where the grey socket is connected directly to the van's battery.
But I can assure you there are chargers/controllers that do process the vehicles feed to the battery, ie they deal with the charging both from the EHU and from the tow vehicle. The grey socket feeds the controller, the controller in turn feeds the battery, ie the controller controls not only what comes from the battery but what goes into it. Schaudt Electroblock used by Hymer and others being the example I am familiar with.
Doing it this way brings significant advantages as it is immaterial what losses are incurred in the wiring from the alternator to the battery, the controller just lifts the voltage to 14.4, and regulates the current whilst on tow to 8 Amps. Also importantly the charging regime of the leisure battery is optimised and independent of the vehicles regulation of its starter battery. This is becoming increasingly important as some high performance starter batteries on modern vehicles, eg Land Rover Disco3s and Range Rover Sports, are charged at over 15 volts.
Cheers John
JTQ
Thank you for your detailed reply.
I am interested in the system you describe, fitted to the hymer/swift.
At the moment i am drawing the wife towards a new van, and so with that in mind, i am looking for significant improvements over my old van.
My 2004 bailey, takes the car supply via a relay, referred to a habitation relay for some reason,straight to the van battery.
I assume most systems on british vans are like this.
As for sulphation damage, if there is any on my 5 year old battery, then it is not noticeable.
I have read on this forum about the 3 stage chargers fitted to some new Swifts, unfortunately those have i believe failed in numbers, again knowlege collected from this site.
I was unaware also of the car 15v systems, i suppose this enables smaller cables to be used, giving a weight and cost saving?
But i wonder what provision there is for connecting to my van for e.g., i don't think 15v to my van battery would be ideal, although in practise, any voltage drop will bring the terminal volts down to a safe level?
Finally do you have any links to the hymer system?
I did consider one of these in 2004, but the shower facilities were sub standard, not sure what my next van will be, it will be single axle, under 23' overall length, and no more than 1500kg.
I am a bit put off with the bailey with all the CRACKED panels!
Thank you for your detailed reply.
I am interested in the system you describe, fitted to the hymer/swift.
At the moment i am drawing the wife towards a new van, and so with that in mind, i am looking for significant improvements over my old van.
My 2004 bailey, takes the car supply via a relay, referred to a habitation relay for some reason,straight to the van battery.
I assume most systems on british vans are like this.
As for sulphation damage, if there is any on my 5 year old battery, then it is not noticeable.
I have read on this forum about the 3 stage chargers fitted to some new Swifts, unfortunately those have i believe failed in numbers, again knowlege collected from this site.
I was unaware also of the car 15v systems, i suppose this enables smaller cables to be used, giving a weight and cost saving?
But i wonder what provision there is for connecting to my van for e.g., i don't think 15v to my van battery would be ideal, although in practise, any voltage drop will bring the terminal volts down to a safe level?
Finally do you have any links to the hymer system?
I did consider one of these in 2004, but the shower facilities were sub standard, not sure what my next van will be, it will be single axle, under 23' overall length, and no more than 1500kg.
I am a bit put off with the bailey with all the CRACKED panels!
Ray,
I cant reply in detail at the moment, however this is a link to Schault; you need to scroll down to the CSV409 for current caravan units and the description here is though thread bare.
http://www.schaudt-gmbh.de/uploads/media/Schaudt07_GB.pdf
It does mention the "booster charge" from the tow car the feature I was describing and the smart charging.
Swift use an Italian unit but I don't know its full spec/features.
There was a bad batch but that I had understood the makers and Swift were acting responsibly and trying to trace and repair these.
I cant reply in detail at the moment, however this is a link to Schault; you need to scroll down to the CSV409 for current caravan units and the description here is though thread bare.
http://www.schaudt-gmbh.de/uploads/media/Schaudt07_GB.pdf
It does mention the "booster charge" from the tow car the feature I was describing and the smart charging.
Swift use an Italian unit but I don't know its full spec/features.
There was a bad batch but that I had understood the makers and Swift were acting responsibly and trying to trace and repair these.
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