Leisure Battery

BlackBeltBlakey wrote: T5-KTM wrote: I've just been to a festival this weekend, first time sleeping in the van  I ran out of time to get everything fully sorted so a split charge system wasn't possible. I've got a 12v socket near the sliding door and switch on the dash. I plugged the fridge into this for the drive up and then switched over to a non-wired in 12v leisure battery when we arrived on site and the engine was off. I have a Waeco CF-50 and it ran from Thursday 8pm to Monday lunchtime off of one 100Amp leisure battery, keeping an internal temp of 2 degrees. Very impressed! Luckily I took the jump cables as by Monday morning the van battery was toast from the internal lights being on. As I wasn't sure how long the leisure would last when running the fridge I'd taken a spare so I used that to jump the van. The battery will only give off toxic/explosive gases when they are being charged.....if it aint hooked up, one less thing to worry about.   So am I right in thinking you just dumped your leisure battery in the back of the van and hooked the fridge up to it for 3-4 days?  No other external bits and pieces required or used?   If so, which battery do you have?   And I'm guessing mac (correctly) will tell you that you should have had a fuse in there somewhere, right?    Cheers

Absolutely correct for the first part. I also bought a cigarette lighter socket type thing on a 1m wire and fitted an inline fuse to it. I then ran the fridge and 12v shower off it for the weekend.

I bought a 100 amp leisure battery from my local camping/caravan shop, made by Numax.

I will be installing a split charge system in the next week or so, fitting a decent inverter, possibly a 240v hook up option, putting it all into a box and wiring it up. I will document it and post it on here when I do. Still just looking at all the options.

BlackBeltBlakey wrote:   Fantastic.    Any chance you can post links to the bits you've bought so far please?   It sounds like you are already one step ahead of where I want to be and I can probably learn a lot from the steps you're taking.   It also sounds like you are doing the same things I could do, like taking the leisure battery along to run your fridge without having it wired into the rest of the electricals as a first step.   Cheers! Blakey

No problem. I've already been looking at buying a second leisure battery as I intend to run some fairly heavy duty luxuries off the inverter, these ones off ebay look pretty good to me here

Just had a quick search for a 12v socket like the one I have and found these that look loads better
Combined with some of these
And of course one or two of these
Or one like this for a quick and easy connection -  like this

I'm by no means an expert, there are plenty of more knowledgeable guys here on the forum, but I don't think you can go too far wrong with some common sense and asking a few questions on here as you go.  Kitting out your camper is a personal and constant development as you encounter new 'wants' whilst your away. Use it and enjoy it!

Good thinking Energy

T5-KTM wrote: I've already been looking at buying a second leisure battery as I intend to run some fairly heavy duty luxuries off the inverter, these ones off ebay look pretty good to me here Just had a quick search for a 12v socket like the one I have and found these that look loads better Combined with some of these And of course one or two of these Or one like this for a quick and easy connection -  like this

energysolutions wrote: Regular battery charger like the one I hyperlinked in one of my earlier posts, you could simply charge the battery at home and then run it while camping until it dies or stick the charger on it while camping to keep it topped up (provided mains is available)   This could be a temporary answer for you until you bolt it all together properly, plus all the components you use for the temporary install will carry over when you do the permanent job

BlackBeltBlakey wrote: If I got a couple of THESE, for attaching to a Leisure Battery, how would I add a fuse in between?  What parts would I need?   Also, how many of them can I sensibly attach to one leisure battery (say THIS one as an example), at once?   And is there a "correct way" to attach the leads?  i.e. one colour before the other, or does it not matter as long as there is nothing plugged into the leads?   I think I'm going to look into buying a battery first (with these leads) plus the charger Energy suggested earlier.   That seems like a good start, and at least the battery and charger will be reusable.   Cheers!

energysolutions wrote: If you want to fuse it properly and run several 12v sockets then your best bet would be to connect to the battery with these (secure and quick release) then connect these to the clamps - they have inline fuses as standard   If one aint enough, double on up on the clamps cos each set will be fused independantly anyhow keeping everthing safe

BlackBeltBlakey wrote: energysolutions wrote: If you want to fuse it properly and run several 12v sockets then your best bet would be to connect to the battery with these (secure and quick release) then connect these to the clamps - they have inline fuses as standard   If one aint enough, double on up on the clamps cos each set will be fused independantly anyhow keeping everthing safe     Sorry, bit confused now.   Are you saying that the complete solution is to:   1.  Take a leisure battery and stick it in the back of the van. 2.  Add quick release terminals to the battery.   (why do you need these incidentally?) 3.  Attach water proof sockets to the above terminals.   Or are the clamps we were talking of earlier still in the equation?       As a separate question:  I understand how the battery charger can be used to recharge the battery when back home or how it can be used to power and charge the battery if we are near a mains when camping - assuming I have the relevant power cable to provide mains power inside the van.   However, one thing I'm not certain of.   Longer term when I add the leisure battery into the full electrical circuit of the van, using a split charge relay, how will the charger then fit into the equation?       Thanks for the ongoing help!

T5-KTM wrote: BlackBeltBlakey wrote: energysolutions wrote: If you want to fuse it properly and run several 12v sockets then your best bet would be to connect to the battery with these (secure and quick release) then connect these to the clamps - they have inline fuses as standard   If one aint enough, double on up on the clamps cos each set will be fused independantly anyhow keeping everthing safe     Sorry, bit confused now.   Are you saying that the complete solution is to:   1.  Take a leisure battery and stick it in the back of the van. 2.  Add quick release terminals to the battery.   (why do you need these incidentally?) 3.  Attach water proof sockets to the above terminals.   Or are the clamps we were talking of earlier still in the equation?       As a separate question:  I understand how the battery charger can be used to recharge the battery when back home or how it can be used to power and charge the battery if we are near a mains when camping - assuming I have the relevant power cable to provide mains power inside the van.   However, one thing I'm not certain of.   Longer term when I add the leisure battery into the full electrical circuit of the van, using a split charge relay, how will the charger then fit into the equation?       Thanks for the ongoing help! You won't need it, as it will be charged from the split charge relay when your driving around