A different leisure battery charging solution

[Nasher]

I came across this on another forum & would be interested in other's opinions/views (I have no intention of changing my current set up )

Get a decent AC-2-DC mains charger so that takes care of your hookup side and connect that to your LEISURE Battery.
Then get a small inverter - say 500W model and connect to your STARTER Battery via a relay controlled by the D+ signal from the alternator.
Then when you drive you plug the mains charger into the Inverter; and when you are parked up you plug the mains charger Into your hookup.

Over to you.....

 

[hilldweller]

I think that is a poor man's B2B, if you buy a second mains charger you don't need to do any plug swapping.

Just a hint of doubt if the engine battery gets charged properly if you don't drive far.

 

[eddie]

I came across this on another forum & would be interested in other's opinions/views (I have no intention of changing my current set up )

Get a decent AC-2-DC mains charger so that takes care of your hookup side and connect that to your LEISURE Battery.
Then get a small inverter - say 500W model and connect to your STARTER Battery via a relay controlled by the D+ signal from the alternator.
Then when you drive you plug the mains charger into the Inverter; and when you are parked up you plug the mains charger Into your hookup.

Over to you.....

Completely pointless, making 12 volt from 12 volt, via an inverter, to power a charger

 

[pappajohn]

Completely pointless, making 12 volt from 12 volt, via an inverter, to power a charger

And incase you can't follow that.....
12v alternator providing 12vdc to an inverter providing 230vac to a mains charger providing 12vdc to a 12v battery.

 

[pappajohn]

and when you are parked up you plug the mains charger Into your hookup.

Which is what people do if hookup is available And strangely they seem to manage without additional mobile charging.

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[Lenny HB]

Sounds like a plonkers solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[hilldweller]

Completely pointless, making 12 volt from 12 volt, via an inverter, to power a charger

But it's not. Some voltage from 14.6 down, variable comes out of the engine battery. The inverter conditions that to steady 230V or so. The following mains charger takes the steady 230V and provides a regulated 25A or so to properly charge the leisure battery.

Quite cunning really.

 

[autorouter]

This is more or less what a B2B does. It takes a variable voltage from the alternator, and boosts it to some intermediate voltage, which feeds to a proper multi-stage charger. Many of them have a switch to set the charging profile to the battery type.

A B2B would be better in that situation, but if you already have an inverter and a mains charger, it will do the job.

I have used a similar setup to keep leisure and cab batteries charged up during storage, using a 150 watt psw inverter and CTEK MSX5.0 charger. I could easily transport a single battery from the MH storage site to home for charging, then back to the MH to charge up the other batteries.