scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43 
|
Post by scout on Oct 9, 2010 19:37:54 GMT
Hi I have a 2003 Abby Aventura most of our caravanning is done on at vintage rallies some times three weekends in a row our van is not at home so it means taking the battery home to charge it.
Is there any way I can convert the electrics to charge the battery from the car while towing Yours Scout
|
|
|
|
Post by Trooper on Oct 9, 2010 19:52:11 GMT
If your car has a properly wired '12S' socket, your caravan battery should be charged by the car whilst towing. But unless your towing for a few hours it wont put much into the battery. Perhaps you could get a 'Solar Panel' to put in the window while the van is in storage, I'm not really up on the subject. Mike................... (Trooper) Edit If you haven't got a 'Handbook' you can download one from Here The Battery charging is mentioned on page 47. |
|
|
|
Post by Carper on Oct 9, 2010 20:20:22 GMT
I was told that the car battery will only trickle charge the Van battery. Which if your using it a lot, I would say that you will have to take it home and charge it.
|
|
boothy
Slightly Hitched
Posts: 1
|
Post by boothy on Oct 10, 2010 11:22:20 GMT
my solar panel in my caravan window kept the battery fully charged all thro the winter last year a good investment and not large one either. yours boothy
|
|
|
|
Post by dreadly on Oct 10, 2010 12:20:57 GMT
As mentioned, the 12s socket should provide the charge to get you leisure battery up to around 80% in around 20mins or so of engine running, this is dependent on the van being fitted with the proper relay and circuitry I believe though.
A 40w solar panel should provide approximately 2.5amp constant charge on a nice day I think??
A small 1kw generator would be better suited I guess, but would cost a fair bit.
A quicker way would be to replace the car battery with the leisure battery and run the car for ten mins, I do this sometimes at festivals, this will charge the battery fully. - You need to use a radio code saver or somesuch though.
You could run a 200w inverter of you car battery with the engine running and use a 10amp battery mains charger, this will take a while longer to charge though, potentially 4+hours for a 110ah battery?
Lots of possibilities.
|
|
scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43
|
Post by scout on Oct 10, 2010 16:34:33 GMT
Thanks for all the help looks like I will have to get a solar panel.
As my hand book states that when the 12s scocket is pluged into the car it switches a relay to allow 12v to the fridge only. There is a 3 way switch that can be turned to van to run the 12v from the van battery another position to run the van from a car by passing the van battery the centre for when the van is being towed
|
|
|
|
Post by jonnybudd on Mar 29, 2011 14:39:50 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by AidAn on Apr 17, 2011 22:42:56 GMT
Thanks for all the help looks like I will have to get a solar panel. As my hand book states that when the 12s scocket is pluged into the car it switches a relay to allow 12v to the fridge only. There is a 3 way switch that can be turned to van to run the 12v from the van battery another position to run the van from a car by passing the van battery the centre for when the van is being towed Your car switches a relay that supplies power to the fridge connection on your caravan socket your caravan also has relays being that its a 2003 model the relays in the caravan work from sensing the higher voltage generated when the car engine driving the alternator produces this higher voltage. With the engine running the caravan habitation relay switches off the 12 volt power to the interior lights and sockets but it allows power to the battery for charging. The caravan Fridge relay allows power to be supplied to the fridge via the fridge cable from in your case the car relay. When the car engine is turned off the relays in the caravan then prevent power being supplied to the fridge and the caravan battery (this is to avoid the fridge/ caravan battery flattening the car battery), the internal lights and sockets then run from the car battery if the car is selected on the car/caravan selector switch on the caravan control panel. As stated previously you will not get much charge from the car into the caravan battery unless you drive for a very long time. I'm in the process of putting together an illustrated article on how to survive indefinitely with out an electrical hook up which will show how to wire up the car, caravan and solar panel. It's the way I do most of my caravanning as I use rallies and THS sites which are held on fields with just a water tap and elsan disposal point. I hope thats of some use |
|
scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43
|
Post by scout on Apr 19, 2011 20:53:08 GMT
Great look forward to reading the article Yours Brian
|
|
|
|
Post by georgehuntley12 on Jul 8, 2011 10:07:58 GMT
Sterling Power are doing a Tow Charger Kit, it is part of their Wildside range. It is essentially one of their battery to battery boost chargers with about 11M of cable (in total) suitable for car + caravan wiring. So you get boost charging when you're on the move. It's best suited for topping up batteries from about 70/80% to full, as it does this about 600% faster than your standard set up, so even after a 30 minutes drive you can expect an extra 12.5Ah in your battery bank rather than about 2Ah using conventional systems.
Likewise, the conventional systems never actually come close to fully charging the batteries in a reasonable time frame, The Tow Charger Kit will charge a flat 115Ah battery to full in roughly 3 hours.
|
|
dsolds
Checking Lights
Posts: 58
|
Post by dsolds on Jul 8, 2011 11:14:54 GMT
|
|
scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43
|
Post by scout on Jul 28, 2011 21:09:29 GMT
Thanks for the information will wait until I see aidan's drawing before deciding which way to go as I am managing on a small soler panel at present Yours Brian
|
|
|
|
Post by AidAn on Jul 28, 2011 22:08:25 GMT
Thanks for the information will wait until I see aidan's drawing before deciding which way to go as I am managing on a small soler panel at present Yours Brian Sorry to keep you waiting scout I've not been in a position to take the pictures etc so far this year but it is still on my list of things to do. As to charging the Leisure Battery in the way georgehuntley12 and dsolds have indicated is not healthy for this type of battery, forcing a big charge into a leisure battery will quickly result in a failed battery that needs to be replaced see this pdf from the Camping and Caravanning club click Here |
|
scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43
|
Post by scout on Nov 28, 2011 18:59:41 GMT
have managed most of this year with a small solar panel and charging the battery at home twice during the year Yours Scout
|
|
|
|
Post by scottyboy21 on May 4, 2012 6:12:03 GMT
You cannot properly charge your battery from your car while running, as this would only provide a trickle charge, although you can probably keep a fully charged battery maintained. Deep cycle batteries require a fairly precise charging cycle and you wont get this from charging from your car electrics. You need a deep cycle battery charger this webpage provides some info on the charging cycle leisurebatteries.net/deep-cycle-battery-charger.html  |
|
|
|
Post by mrsmothy on May 4, 2012 10:25:14 GMT
If one were to use electric hook-ups on site, would this do the same as these battery chargers???  |
|
|
|
Post by Roger Thomas on May 4, 2012 11:59:54 GMT
As a Motor caravanner I suffer from some of the same problems and as an ex- caravanner have had similar problems when off EHU.
Battery charging from the car alternator is not just a matter of hooking the two together, with the long cable runs associated with a trailed combination, Voltage drop in the cables can reduce the voltage at the caravan battery to such an extent that the battery will not charge, and the drain on the 'fridge makes it even worse, the cables need to be substantial to limit this effect, the electricians out there will be able to give the correct sizes Oh and don't rely on what the manufacturer supplies, copper wire is expensive and heavy!
One trick I learnt while trailer tenting was to install a second removable battery box in the boot and charge the battery while we were out and about, when we were back on site we just removed the battery and box from the boot and reconnected it to the Trailer tent, now that is simples :-)
As for solar panels, the small in window type are fine for overwintering, keeping the battery topped up ( its as easy to take the battery into the garage and hook it up to a trickle charger and cheaper too), but for use while touring a couple of big rooftop panels are the answer.
|
|
|
|
Post by scottyboy21 on May 4, 2012 15:38:40 GMT
Yes, you can recharge your leisure battery from a mains hookup, but you still need a proper deep-cycle charger. Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged to around 50% of their capacity and then recharged, a conventional car battery is not - just used to provide a very high current for a very short time. A deep cycle battery provides a lower current over a longer period. Deep cycle batteries are constructed differently and need to be recharged carefully if you are to get any reasonable life out of them. It is worthwhile in the long run investing in a a decent charger, they can sense the state of the battery as they charge it and adjust the current and voltage to suit . A cheap trickle charger can boil the electrolyte in your battery if you are not careful. You can expect it to take around 8 hours to recharge your battery from 50% discharge. To get most use out of your battery ou should also never let it get below about 50% discharged.
|
|
|
|
Post by AidAn on May 4, 2012 17:19:33 GMT
Due to my current situation re advancing M/S I'm no longer able to do the indepth report on this
I did write on the forum some time ago how to survive with out a electric hook up Unfotunatly you'll have to do a search for it I'm struggling to find it
|
|
scout
Fully Hitched
Posts: 43
|
Post by scout on May 9, 2012 21:06:11 GMT
Thanks to all. Sorry to hear you are unwell AidAn but thanks for your help.
Most of my caravaning is on a field with no hookups as I said I managed last year so see no reason not to do the same this Thanks yours Scout
|
|
Olympus 546 (2010) towed with 2007 VW Touran 2.0 (140) DSG Sport (Just!).
