Help. Leisure battery charger

Longs11

New Member
I have a leisure battery fitted and charged through a solar panel and the start battery. But I need the leisure battery to charge when on hook up.
My converter said I need a sargent pf200
But I’ve also seen the numax 12v 10a charger and the victron energy ip65

I have a consumer unit in the rear cupboard to run it off it’s own circuit. The leisure battery is fitted under the driver seat.

Any advise appreciated

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Hi @Longs11
There's a few questions that spring to mind so I can't really give you a definitive answer, but perhaps by asking questions I can help you tune in your solution.
First question is, is your leisure battery GEL, Lead Acid, or Lithium? Not all chargers can cope with all types of battery etc.

Normally the EHU (electric hook up) goes into a 240v consumer unit, and from there it feeds into the battery charger. The battery charger then goes either directly to the battery or to the battery via the 12v (24v) consumer unit.

You may need to take into account how your start (crank) battery is charging your leisure battery, Is it Split Charge Relay? or Battery 2 Battery (DC to DC) unit? And again your options will depend on type of leisure battery. A split charge relay could damage a lithium battery.

The final consideration is to ask "Do you want the EHU driven charger to charge your start battery too?"
In which case if you've got a DC to DC charger in place you could just charge the starter battery and (depending on if there's a need for ignition to be on or not) the crank battery when charged up will then be charging your leisure battery.

I've seen it done several different ways and I'm sure there are some much wiser people on here than me so I look forward to seeing what others say.
These are just my thoughts.

PS. you could also just plug a charger into your 240v socket and charge the leisure or crank battery, which I've seen done too.
 
That’s a great answer. I’ll check the type of van battery when it arrives home. And the battery to battery unit under the bonnet and get back to you. And thanks for the input.

I can get hold of the red numax above for £20 and leave it connect permanently to the leisure battery and plug it in when on hooked up to the vans 240v socket.
 
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