Charger And Hook Up For Ff Secondary Battery

[Manu]

Hello everyone! Brand new to the forum (and to the T6 world!).
I just bought a 2016 T6 Kombi Highline 4M (EU6, bluemotion). It has a factory fitted secondary battery and a retro fitted fuse box to feed 12v sockets and down lights to the rear, all under the passenger seat (check the photo). I want to add an electric hook up under the bonnet to feed a battery charger for the secondary battery and a voltmeter to check battery status when I am not plugged in. I have been quoted £600+VAT for this . I am considering doing it myself, but I have very limited knowledge of electrics
My questions are:
- Do you know if the secondary factory fitted batteries are equipped with a VSR,split charger or similar, or is this just connected in parallel to the vehicle battery (both batteries are identical models)?
- By draining the secondary battery, the one under the bonnet stays charged?.
- Could I just feed a wire form a hook up socket under the bonnet to an RCD under passenger sit, and from there just a connect a leisure battery charger and the 240v sockets to the rear? If so, what charger would you recommend? I assume any would do?
- Is the £600+VAT quote a joke or am I missing something?
This may all have ben covered in another threat, but as my car has a mixture of factory and retro fitted wirings I could not find a straight answer.
Thanks for your time!

 

[Loz]

- Do you know if the secondary factory fitted batteries are equipped with a VSR,split charger or similar, or is this just connected in parallel to the vehicle battery (both batteries are identical models)?
- By draining the secondary battery, the one under the bonnet stays charged?.
- Could I just feed a wire from a hook up socket under the bonnet to an RCD under passenger sit, and from there just a connect a leisure battery charger and the 240v sockets to the rear? If so, what charger would you recommend? I assume any would do?

There is a crude VSR (the 100a relay with 100 on it at the bottom of your photo) these are pre-bluemotion tech so better to replace this with a DC-DC charger. @travelvolts volts does a kit.
Yes you could do the 240v bits as you suggest.

 

[Manu]

Thanks Loz!
I will check the DC-DC charger. I will also check with the installer that gave me the quote exactly what type of installation they do and if they change the VSR.
They seemed like a really nice and honest bunch, so there will probably be a reason for the £600 quote!

 

[Dieseldonkey]

Hi @Manu . I've just recently purchased and installed a kit from @travelvolts to put a 240v hook under the bonnet. Can vouch for the fact it's an easy DIY job. The online instructions are clear to follow. Only issue I had was with the cab carpet (Shuttle). It's pretty stiff compared to rubber. It was easier to unbolt both front seats rather than just the drivers seat. Depending of course on where you want run the cable to.

As for charging, I'm no expert but my understanding is that AGM batteries prefer a higher voltage and multi staging. Proper chargers seem expensive but I found a charger at Aldi's. It has modes for motorbike, car and cold weather. The cold weather mode ramps up the voltage a bit and seems to be in spec for an AGM battery. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong with this though but it seems be work ok.

Was also told that running this chargers supply through the solar input on my Ablemail DC DC charger would also work.

 

[Manu]

Thanks @Dieseldonkey
The flor in my van is rubber. I played with it and it looks fairly straight forward to feed a wire under it so that part should probably be more straight forward!