Hi all, May appear a daft question, but the previous owner wired the stereo on my bus from a leisure battery under the rear seat. Not sure if the battery has been left uncharged, but basically is doesn't now hold it's charge for very long. As this leisure battery only feeds the stereo and I have no other auxiliary power requirements, is it ok to have a split charge relay feeding charge into this leisure battery to power the stereo? Thanks
Take the fuse out from the feed from the alt to the LB (hopefully there is one). Then it's disconnected. Or just pop the -ve LB battery lead off.
just had a quick look at the wiring & doesn't look right to me - maybe that's why the leisure battery is dead (& possibly the cause of an overheated alternator? I believe the wiring should be as follows: 30 - starter battery 86 - charge indicator wire 85 - earth 87 - leisure battery previous owner wired relay as follows: 30 - leisure battery 86 - earth 85 - positive side of coil 87 - starter battery
think you are missing my question (maybe I didn't explain myself very well) - I WANT to charge the leisure battery so I can run the stereo but am asking if this is ok bearing in mind the battery does not hold it's charge for long - I will only be running the stereo with the engine running
Either wiring scheme (above) for the split charge relay is ok. The relay coil (85 & 86) is not polarity sensitive, and neither are the switch contacts (30 & 87). It would be better to either replace or remove the dead leisure battery. Using the known dead LB will put more strain on the alternator and could slowly flatten the main battery. You could get a replacement battery from a scrappy, anything will do as long as it holds a charge - so no need to shell out for an expensive new one.
thanks guys - I have already disconnected it after the alternator got fried & a wire inside it melted, just in case it was because of the state of the leisure battery. I will try & get a spare battery from somewhere.
In all honesty, if the LB only powers the stereo it probably makes sense to remove the leisure battery completely and wire the stereo back to the main battery. Saves carting around that extra weight.
This, if you are only going to run the stereo with the engine running then you may as well get rid and run it from the main battery, use the fuse box in he front of the bus
Ideally this is not right relay should not get its feed from the coil as it will energize with the key so when you try and start the engine the starter will pull from both battery's and given one is dead it will drag down the main battery. The feed for the relay should come from the alternator warning light circuit that way the battery's are only joined when the engines running. Given that your battery's dead and you only have the radio running off it, if you have no intention to run other stuff off of it i would get rid of it all and wire the radio back to the main battery
that would make sense, but the previous owner said that the stereo was draining his battery? Not sure how it could do this with the stereo off? Anyhows, got a good battery off the old man - not a leisure battery but a car battery, so gonna wire this in and correct the wiring to the relay. Hopefully, this should be ok for my purpose, and then at least i've got another battery in case I want to add any rear lighting or a DVD in the back at a later stage.
I've been through a few hand me down batteries for the leisure battery. Certainly worth leaving in there so you can have music and lights without worry about starting again. Is the main battery charging up OK? Did you try charging the leisure battery with a charger? I though my latest battery had had it, but it was the voltage regulator only letting the charging circuit put out 12v rather than 14v.
