wot a plonker

[rustic]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Dut...ervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item415b52343a

Hi Pete, I agree with the seller of this item, you need 2 heavy duty fuses, and I notice he has included spare fuses as well....:augie

40 Amp cable should be fine for charging a leisure battery.

You could get the individual components cheaper on ebay, or from Vehicle wiring products, but at least he will give you a wiring diagram.

But should be some of those on the internet.


Re: Insurance.
Direct Line wouldn't allow me to fit a second battery under the bonnet.
But I have all the bits ready.... If I change insurance companies.

The insurance allows me to carry goods in the boot, so if I need to, I could have a battery in the boot.... Not permanently installed though....

Do check your insurance.


If I was doing what you are doing, I would have the second battery in a case in the car and charged via the cigar socket only when the engine is running. You could then have a high wattage resistor in line with the live feed so that it wouldn't pass more than 10 amps in either direction.

For a resistor you could use an enclosed spot light/ head light (55Watt ), this would limit the current to 4.5 Amps under any fault conditions.
It wouldn't charge the battery very fast though, but then Leisure batteries don't like high charge rates. As you don't want to gas yourself from the hydrogen and oxygen from the battery. Which can be explosive..

You should be able to work out a value of resistor, and the required wattage and the size of the heat sink required, if you want to charge say at 10 amps, the rating of the cigar socket ( From a previous thread).

Normal starter batteries that are fitted in the car, say under the passenger seat, like on our Picasso, have an external vent pipe, like on Leisure batteries to exhaust the gas outside for this reason.
:thumb2


Just a thought to get you on the road quickly.
However fuse both ends just in case.

Some people fit a diode to charge the second battery, but due to the voltage drop it doesn't allow the battery to fully charge, also you will need a supply that is off while you are parked up, or you will still flatten your main battery, albeit over a longer time.