Connecting factory Caravelle 12V sockets to leisure battery

[Mike Y]

Hi all. I've searched the forum but can't find the answer... although I feel as though others must have done this.

I have a '67 reg Caravelle (executive) which appears to have 3 factory fitted 12v sockets, one in the boot (driver's side), one in front of the driver's side rear wheel arch and another in the dash. I have a retro-fitted leisure battery under the driver's seat and I'm wondering how easy it would be to connect (some, if not all) of these sockets to the leisure battery rather than the starter battery.

I could run new cables from the leisure battery to each of the socket locations, but is there somewhere more convenient I can tap into each of these? (that hopefully doesn't involve removing all the interior trims/dash!)

Thanks

Mike

 

[Kind of Blue]

Welcome to the T6Forum MikeY. Frome a fellow T6 Caravelle Exec owner mines a 4Motin with F/L. Can not answer your question Except to say I believe that it might be better to connect up in a more formal way and use your sockets for low ampage /wattage use. Now doubt that you will be given direct advice but their is a huge amount of stuff concerning leisure batteries and connection and solar also

 

[Mike Y]

Welcome to the T6Forum MikeY. Frome a fellow T6 Caravelle Exec owner mines a 4Motin with F/L. Can not answer your question Except to say I believe that it might be better to connect up in a more formal way and use your sockets for low ampage /wattage use. Now doubt that you will be given direct advice but their is a huge amount of stuff concerning leisure batteries and connection and solar also

Thanks. The question came about because we have a plug-in 12v coolbox that we use while travelling, and I was surprised to find that all the factory 12v sockets appear to be permanently live, so I don't want to leave it plugged in when we stop for too long (at a service station for example). There is one retro-fitted 12v socket on the rear of the driver seat base that is connected to the leisure battery, so I've been using this, but this means trailing the cable across the door opening, so then I'm paranoid about one of the kids tripping over it! If I could have, even just the rear factory sockets connected to the leisure battery I wouldn't need to worry about flattening the starter battery if something was left plugged in.

 

[Kind of Blue]

All that I can say is I have spent most of my driving in much older vehicles and these T6 etc are quite complex creatures certainly electrically speaking and I am not the best source for advice. I would not have thought that leaving the cooler on at a service station for a short while would do much harm depending on the state of the main battery or auxiliary and how long one was going to sat at the service station. I understand what you are saying about kids ability to trip over almost everything especially the thing that one last warned them not to trip over. It must be the universal rule, what dad says do not trip over relates to lets have some fun and trip over what dad says not to trip over and piss him off, its great fun watching his head change colour like a Camelon from e pale to an exciting red orange and then explode. Longer term use of appliances that may draw higher amp-ages or for camping and using additional batteries would require some wiring and a few additional bit of equipment, Wiring DC-DC devices and something to controle solar and a few more bit,s loads and loads on these pages whole multi page how I did it series.

The member Dellmassive and Pauli are great fountains of knowledge the former is a very prolific poster of incredibly useful information including not to be missed How I did it series!!!! including batteries and associated equipment

 

[Kind of Blue]

Many of the guys are on the hols at the moment in their campers travelling GB, EU and beyond but many will log in some time if their hangovers are not too bad and you may receive a better informed answer to this and any other query.

Is your vehicle equipped with an auxiliary battery some vehicles where mine not. It is relevantly simple to connect up axillary kit but your best reading the relevant posts or taking guidance from some of the others. Some great Lithiumbatteries available these days.