Charging starter and leisure battery.

[Captain Chaos]

Hello there, I've installed a Victron DC-DC Charger in my van around 12 months ago and it's working great. I have a 110ah AGM leisure battery, my only drain on the battery is the Autoterm heater and around 10 watts of LED lighting so I can easily last 3 days off grid for weekends away. What I'm wondering is I plan to have longer breaks away so I'm thinking of installing a charger. My question is, if I install a Victron Ip 65 charger under the bonnet and connect it to the starter battery will it switch on the DC-DC Charger and charge the leisure battery too? I don't see why it wouldn't, can anyone confirm? Has anyone done it? Cheers.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Accepted method is to fit charger to leisure battery, and use something similar to an Ablemail AMT-12 to maintain the starter battery. This method prioritises the LB over the SB. Which is what you need.

 

[Deaky]

It won't necessarily turn on the DC-DC charger. Most have an IGN live or run signal to avoid discharging the starter battery while the engine is not running.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Accepted method is to fit charger to leisure battery, and use something similar to an Ablemail AMT-12 to maintain the starter battery. This method prioritises the LB over the SB. Which is what you need.

I'll have a look into this, not heard of an Ablemail AMT-12. Cheers.

 

[Captain Chaos]

It won't necessarily turn on the DC-DC charger. Most have an IGN live or run signal to avoid discharging the starter battery while the engine is not running.

My Victron DC-DC does have a run switch but I never connected it as I believe the DC-DC senses the engine is not running so it isolates the starter battery

 

[Salty Spuds]

I'll have a look into this, not heard of an Ablemail AMT-12. Cheers.

The search function is your friend

 

[Captain Chaos]

The search function is your friend