T6 Leisure battery....

Give us some more info on what you are trying to achieve and we can give you some suggestions
Are you looking for mains voltage in your van ? invertor ?
How are you looking to charge your leisure battery ? solar ? mains ?
etc etc
 
Sorry, fair point.
Im not hugely specific yet as I wanted to see what was possible and best use (this is my first camper)

But I think it will mostly be for a few 12v sockets (for charging phones, laptops...) I have an Eberspacher D2 ready to install and im thinking I want to add some more lighting into the van.

I would like to be able to charge it from the starter battery but also mains if it is available.

Is this enough information for some advice?
 
As all T6s have smart alternators now you have to use a battery to battery charger to allow charging from the starter battery, something like the Ctek D250S or the Ring DC30
To charge from mains hookup you will need an external mains input plug to feed 240V to a battery charger onto the 2nd battery, something like you linked to in your first post although there are smaller/cheaper units out there depends what you are trying to achieve
As for the additional kit you will want to put in this is normally done by adding an extra fusebox fed from the second battery to accommodate the extra circuits you put in

Much of this will depend on your intended layout and setup and where you want to locate the battery and charging equipment etc, most commonly this is located underneath the front seats but can depend on size and space and size of passenger seat ie single or double

The main criteria for tasks like this is to sum up everything you are wanting to use in the vehicle and how long you would like to ba able to run it for off grid and from this you can look at battery sizes and recharge times etc
If im honest your best bet is probably to seek a professional to do this as its quite involved if you are not sure on the process and looking at adding mains voltages people like @travelvolts & @Absolut5 may be able to help
 
Tom54321m said:
Hi all,

I have tried to read as much as possible but am really struggling with what i am going to do about my in-van electrics. Does anyone have an answer for this?

The only thing I have found is this unit. Is this the best DIY option/most cost effective option?

Sterling 'Pro Charge Ultra' Battery Charger - 12V 10A

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...


I have that hooked up with the installation of my leisure battery. I have a voltmeter in line and shows the output of the battery at all times. I have an 1000w invertor and a couple of 12v/USB sockets running from my leisure battery and the system works great and have not had any issues with it. I have never felt the need to use external charging systems to charge my leisure. I feel it is not needed. If I am at a campsite I use their power into an electric hook up lead (Premium 3-Way Mobile Mains Kit). If there is no hook up I run anything I need from the invertor. If it runs out of power, I just start the van!
When I looked into this it was either the Sterling or CTEK that people were talking about. I had mine installed by Ian at Taunton T5.
 
This is something I will be pursuing very soon also. I'm going to get in touch with @travelvolts for the gear I need and @Absolut5 for in some ICE recommendations.

I really want the full whack.
Battery
Charger
Inverter
Mains hook up
Lighting
Speakers
Amp

All this plus carpeting and ply panelling.

Lots of work ahead!
 
Hi all,

I have gone the Ring dc30 route, as it's a GOOD price compared to the Sterling unit, and the CTEK, well.... They need you to do a workaround, by using the mppt connection for the alternator, and involves putting a relay in as well, so they are BEHIND the curve on this one in my opinion.

The Ring has a display, and does solar as well out of the box and has a temp probe for the leisure battery. It also has different charge routines for gel,agm etc and has a sleep mode. It is also a 3 stage smart charger doing bulk, absorption and float with these voltages alter able to your bat manufacturers recommendations. The Ring will charge a 110ah leisure bat fully and properly from flat in a 30minute drive.

The Sterling unit does float etc, as well as different bat types as per the Ring, BUT solar hookup is an extra unit, and a remote panel is available, but at quite a cost and doesn't look nice in my eyes. The Sterling will probably charge a 110ah batt to full from flat in the same time.

In the end you pays your money, and you takes your choice. BUT note.. ALL blue motion/stop start vehicles need one of the above, and NOT a VSR DESPITE what your converter might say! I had to educate mine! As he thought it was only the euro 6 engined vehicles, and he is doing work for a VW dealership (2 in fact), not realising it affects the euro 5 spec T6 as well! SCARY is not the word! Oh, and I had to be forceful!
 
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Just had a good look through the manual and looks like a good piece of kit. 165 quid off eBay, not bad!

I'd like to hook the leisure battery up to a power Inverter then through a consumer unit. The thing is I'd also be using the same unit for mains hook up occasionally.

Would it do the Inverter any damage to put 240v on the load side when the van is hooked up? And do you have to cut the 12v supply to the Inverter?
 
You would use a changeover switch to flick between powering your sockets from invertor and powering them from mains, this could be a manual or automatic switch but starts getting tricky if you build it yourself, there are a few pre packaged units around
again @travelvolts is the probably the one to advise best as he does it day in day out
 
Cheers,

I've pm'd him. I was thinking of using the switching relay system which would cut the supply to the Inverter and disconnect the load side from the Inverter when mains hook up was introduced.

I know how to wire it but wondered of it was necessary. Travelvolts recommends using as few connections as possible to limit volt drop but the relay would be the best bet for automatic switching.

I'm an electrical engineer so looking forward to learning a little about auto electric installs and ICE
 
The changeover could be on the mains side cutting output from invertor and engaging mains feed ? wouldnt need to cut 12v supply
 
Yes you could do this but there will still be a live supply from the Inverter running to the relay.

Not a major problem really because the relay will be engaged and retained by the mains supply allowing mains voltage to pass through but cutting the supply from the Inverter to the consumer unit.

If you run the 12v DC Inverter supply through the NC contact of the relay, when it is energised by the mains it will open the contact and cut the supply to the Inverter automatically.

The other option is a manual switch for the Inverter which is probably needed anyway to only have it powered up when needed.
 
Lots of invertors have power switches on them, mine has onboard and a remote cabled switch to operate the unit
 
one thing to think of is the fuse box. I'll try and explain what I'm going to do and why....

Feed your fuse box off of leisure battery.. Simples.

Feed a fused relay from leisure battery to fuse box, with a switched live from the ignition circuit to power up x fuses in fuse box from said relay when car turned on. This gives you a single pull from the vehicle loom and x aux fused ign circuits without danger of overloading vehicle loom, as is only switching the fused relay.

Feed a fused relay from leisure battery to fuse box, with a switched lighting live from the lighting circuit to power up x fuses in fuse box from said relay when car lighting is turned on. This gives you a single pull from the vehicle loom and x aux fused lighting side circuits without danger of overloading vehicle loom, as is only switching the fused relay.

Then have x fuses in your new fuse box direct to leisure battery to give you x fused perm live fuses. OR use a third fused relay, with a fused trigger wire from the leisure battery live, but is uneccesary

Why?

Any overload of ign live total fuses and lighting total fuses will blow the respective fused relay fuse whilst still giving you the ability to have differently rated fused circuits for the accessories that you are running.

This makes sense to me, but confused the shite out of my converter!


Aargh too many fuses.. Must be a minefield!
 
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Does that mean your leisure battery is only supplying your fuse board when the engine is on though?
 
@warren , no MY fuse box ign + comes on when car ign is turned on, that excites the fused relay to power up MY fuse box ign + fuses. Same when lights on car are turned on, excites that fused relay. I have also got fuses to MY fuse box perm live from leisure battery live.

What I am doing is having ONE pull from vehicle loom which is LOW draw for my extra multiple ign + circuits, and same again for MY lighting circuit draw.

I have got perm leisure live in MY fuse box as well
 
Ha ha, Yeh that's belts and braces stuff.

I don't plan on adding any extra load to the existing wiring loom.

Everything extra from now on including interior lights, ICE, Inverter will be off leisure battery so will be planning new fuse box accordingly.
 
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