Building in a battery charger

Discussion in 'Mech Tech' started by Zed, Oct 13, 2015.

  1. I'm hoping to use my original Domestic 45 CEW Westy fridge on 12v only and aware they area lot more inefficient than the new Waeco ones so the more capable the system the better for me. Do you have a pic of where you have all yours installed?
     
  2. do you have a photo of yours under the van?
     
  3. Your fridge can't be any worse than my Westy Berlin fridge!
    That uses about 5amps an hour, hence I need the MXS 7.0 (7amp/hr charging).

    My setup is.....

    Hookup cable in engine bay
    Cable goes up through spare wheel well into the under bed area
    In there, I have my RCD unit
    Out of that comes wiring for two double sockets, and a single socket
    The double sockets are mounted on the outside of the front of the bed panel
    The single socket is under the bed
    Plugged into this single socket is the MXS 7.0 batery charger
    The wiring from this then runs back to the leisure battery via the same round as the hookup cable

    1555413_10152753311653227_1907564660747219950_n.jpg
    10968406_10152753311603227_4781644519250263328_n.jpg

    The Durite split charge relay is on the far right of the engine bay
    One cable goes to the starter battery
    The other cable goes to the leisure battery
    And earth wire attaches to the chassis
    Excuse the wiring! It needs tidying up.

    Durite.jpg

    Simples! :)

    I didn't wire up the RCD, but everything else I did myself.
     
    geordieandy likes this.
  4. Thanks again @AndyC - it's finally making sense now :thumbsup:

    The label on my fridge has the following so think IF it works it's going to be similar. How long do you get with your set up not hooked up?

    160202-IMG_20160202_161220 (Medium).jpg
     
  5. Does that say .50a or 50a?
    Bit hard to tell?!
    Either way, I think it means 5a/h.
    So same as me.

    Got for the MXS7.0 then.
    Or at least a charger with 7a or above.

    I've not really used mine without EHU.
    The fridge would eat the battery in about 24 hours, so I tend not to use the fridge when not on EHU.
     
  6. There is a , before the 50A so yes I think it will be the same as yours and 24 hours was about what I thought without hook up.
     
    AndyC likes this.
  7. rickyrooo1

    rickyrooo1 Hanging round like a bad smell

    there's no way a westy fridge will run for 24 hours.... i once got to site and didn't plug the hook up in and turned the fridge on it had absolutely shagged the battery overnight..... i had a c-tek 7.0 and if i ran the fridge and lights/radio and the propex while on hook up the charger couldn't keep up with the draw.
     
    theBusmonkey and geordieandy like this.
  8. Really? It's only supposed to be a 5a draw the Westy fridge. Maybe that's optimistic and it uses more to get it going.
     
  9. rickyrooo1

    rickyrooo1 Hanging round like a bad smell

    really, don't forget though batteries rarely hold what they say and i guess chargers don't put out their peak all the time.... temperature affects all of these.
     
    AndyC likes this.
  10. Forgot that. I'm basing it on a 110a battery, but it's never gonna be that much.
     
  11. Go below 20% on the battery and you risk damaging it. That means 88A useful capacity.
     
  12. I've got a caravan zig unit and it does all of the above kept charge the car battery itself
     
  13. Zig unit is just a posh split charger with a display
     
    minirob likes this.
  14. 77 Westy

    77 Westy Supporter

    And a very basic battery charger.:thumbsup:
     
  15. Sorry to resurrect this again but can someone explain why the CTEK chargers and the MXS 7.0 model are much better than other battery chargers out there for £30 or so cheaper? I can see the 7.0 has Supply mode which the 5.0 doesn't but not sure I need that :thinking:
     
  16. theBusmonkey

    theBusmonkey Sponsor

    Go for the ctek10 amp to compliment your westy set up. The OG power supply the Americans fitted was rated at 10 amps.
     
  17. theBusmonkey

    theBusmonkey Sponsor

    These chargers are rugged and well proven. They sense the battery state of charge and input what the battery needs. They will stop 'bulk' charging as the battery becomes full and move over onto a maintenance charge to keep the battery in top condition. Cheaper chargers/power supplies often do not sense battery capacity and can overcharge resulting in reduced battery life & in extreme circumstances, fire. Cteks are essentially fit & forget.

    The 10 amp will comfortably charge both batteries and keep up with your camping demands whilst on hook-up.
    It will also allow safe trickle charging whilst the bus is laid up on the drive or in the garage.
    Note what Ricky says above regarding the MXS7 fitted to a Westy with OG fridge.
    As me how I know....;)
     
  18. Does this mean that after going from a 5 to a 7, I'm now going to have to go from a 7 to a 10?! :eek:
     
  19. Cheers @theBusmonkey I was going to test my OG Westy Fridge later hooked up direct to a old 12 volt 8 amp non smart battery charger I have lying around to see if it does anything but I think for this season I might just remove the OG Westy fridge from the cabinet and stick our Mobicool S32 DC Thermoelectric Cool Bag in there and see how that goes via the leisure battery although xtremevan have the last of their cr-50's for £410 today... :p
     
  20. theBusmonkey

    theBusmonkey Sponsor

    Maybe not Andy, but we've been banging on about the Westy fridge draw for years! haha.
    To me it just makes sense to save, steal whatever the extra 20 quid for the 10 & do the job properly;)
     

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