Today I have finally fitted the leisure battery and wired up the ancient Lucas relay, It's a new old stock relay but it is Lucas, The question I have is - how do I know it is working properly. I wired it up as per Mattys instructions, and turned on ignition, ignition light on, started engine - ignition light off. no queer smells from engine compartment and all lights work. let her tickover for a while and still fine. put it on main beam spots and all and the faintest of ignition light came on, I accept the main beam lamp is next to the ignition lamp so could be overlap, back on low beam, rev engine lights get slightly brighter. So although I have a minor thing going on with the main beam and ignition lamp. I can't fathom out How I can do a simple test to see if the leisure battery is charging - any ideas?
Unplug the leisure battery and put a multimeter on the relay to see if it's kicking out any voltage on the leisure battery side?!?
id buy one then there very handy for diagnosing electrical faults you can get a cheap digital one for less than £10
If you havent got a multimeter then use a light bulb connected in place of the leisure battery on the output of the relay. It should come on when the engine is running. And the alternator light should brighten as it has to work harder and the current for controlling the alternator goes through the warning light.
as said pull + lead of terminal of leisure battery, the test lamp should be off with with it connected to battery + lead then get someone to start engine test lamp on battery lead should light up if its charging
Get a cheep meter then as said put in on battery then start the engine and the voltage should be higher Pikey way with engine running pull off the relay coil wire and you should hear or feel the relay click
it may only register when the engine is revving at around 1500 rpm....buy a cheap digital tacho from ebay...less than a tenner you'd be better off attaching the +ve cable to the leisure batt to something with a higher amperage than a test lamp tbh a 12v device like a camping hairdryer....probably get one on ebay for less than a tenner or if the cable from the relay gets warm it's more than likely working....shouldn't be too warm though, which may be a sign of underated cabling....you'd need to be able measure the temperature accurately of course...have you got a cheap thermometer?I've seen them advertised somewhere
No light from leisure side, just took Lucas rely apart and had a look inside, it says " made by Ricks aunt Rita 1976" and the contacts don't touch to complete the circuit?
Switch an interior light on which uses the leisure battery. Start and rev the engine until the alternator light goes out. As the dashboard light goes out, if the interior light brightens, the leisure battery is being charged
