I am just about the put in the wiring for the living part of the camper and I have put in the split charge wiring for the leisure battery so far. Ok this is what I would like to do and am unsure of the best way to do it, can anyone help? All the lights will be led and the fridge will work off 12 v as well. I want to put in 3x 12v cigarette sockets so I can charge phones and put in an adaptor for USB charging as well. I also want 2 mains sockets – but they can run from a live hook up. So I was thinking – if I get a good battery charger and fit it in the van – when I hook up it will charge the 12 v LB – and also I could have 1 circuit going off it for the 230v– here is my sketch of what I am thinking If I get a CTEK Multi MXS 7.0 charger it can be left on the main battery when in use and I can also switch it over to the main battery when the van is not being used – – err does that sound right
i have now got up to fuse board and think the buzz bar goes in the bottom with live but where to put the earth im not sure
The earth from the battery goes direct to the bodywork like the starter battery, and bodywork is earth for all you run on the battery, so there is no earth wire to the fuses.
Marc, after many months of putting it off, I'm now at the same position as you. Where do you plan to site your hook-up, fuse box and charger?
i did think that each item is just earthed to a good solid metal and my big earth on battery but i saw a earth on pic above
Some fuse boxes have ground terminals so you can run dual core wiring to each component. However the fuse box would then normally be grounded locally.
i tend to run earths from all the equipment to a stud near the fuse box that way you only have one hole and means you can mount lights etc to wood, it also makes testing easy. http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/leisure-electrics-12v.5390/
I am using flexible 2.5mm armoured cable – unlike the normal armour cable – this stuff is nice and easy to bend and looks good. Gone for 2.5mm as you never know what may get plugged into the thing – may be a fan heater when it gets cold. The Armoured cable has a steel woven sheath as its protection and that is what I will be using to run the earth to the sockets and the outside socket I am having in the engine bay for the 12v charger – doing this because I may want to use the charger on different cars etc. The one got a is a water proof consumer unit with a main switch and 2x 16 amp RCDs – One for the plugs in the van and one for the charger. I will use the van body for the earth and I hope that the main feed in will be earthed as well. If not I can always take a cable off the back plate and put it in the ground with a screwdriver!! I have robbed a pic of EBay to show you what the cable looks like – As for the fixing of it all – it’s going to be in the engine bay by the Leisure battery and I will make a 2mm back plate and put the whole lot on it- and make it so it will move so I can get the battery out – may be fixing it with wing nuts (I have to make it first so it may not work) but here is my idea. Also the pic is not my camper just found it on the web and put the location of the main board on it. The Battery charger and maintainer is going to be CTEK Multi MXS 7.0 Battery Charger – this will only do 1 battery – but the advantage is that when the camper is at home and not going anywhere – I can switch the leads to maintain the Van battery. Well that’s the idea – when I have done all the bits I will post the pics – may do it this weekend – cos its fun!!
Have you bought the Ctek yet? Because by the time you buy that and a couple of fuse boxes you are up near to the price of a Sargent unit and they are very neat and you can get an optional plug in doobrey (technical term) for switching stuff on and off. this extra little panel also has a battery volt display on it for checking both batteries and also switching between them it really is a very clever piece of kit. http://sargentshop.co.uk/EC155-Power-Supply-Unit
I have also been collecting the bits to sort my leisure system & split charge, had a message yesterday from my mate that the low height 110ah battery has arrived (I ordered a standard one previously but it didn't fit in the engine bay under the spare wheel well). I have also gone with a ctek unit but planning to have this inside the van & run cables from both batteries into it, I've bought these I have mentioned this in another thread but when you unpack your ctek you will notice it has a plug and socket on the wires going to the battery so with the above I can move the plug between without actually disconnecting the battery terminals. It was also mentioned on the other thread by someone that you could fit a switch to switch between but I like the plug idea as they have led's to show you how much the battery is charged & you can also unplug and fit the set of crocodile clips to use on a separate battery. I like your idea of the panel in the engine bay, was thinking something similar to mount my split charge relay & a battery isolator switch on the cable feeding the starter, but I want more of a box so you cant get to the back of the isolator to bridge the contacts.
I fitted mine a little over a year ago, and i'm really impressed by it, but i do love a gadget, the only thing to buy to go with it is a pair of bare wire crimpers as it comes with a plug and crimp pins for all the connections, but this just makes it all the neater.
The Sargent unit looks good - but is it waterproof as I want to keep all the stuff in the engine bay? (apart fro the volt meter) The thing is I want to be able to take out the charger and use it on other cars. The cost for all the bits inc the charger is for my set up is £150.00 the biggest cost being the consumer unit £36.00 and the Ctek charger- £85.00 - the rest is cable and sockets. Marc - oh yes like the look of the Ctek comfort battery indicator that Robo up - so that takes it up to £170.00
The Sargent's not for you then as the charger is inbuilt and its not exactly waterproof, and i doubt you could put it in a waterproof box either as it needs a bit of ventilation to keep cool.
make sure you earth the body to the earth post in the fuse box have a read http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/leisure-electrics-230v.5526/
