Electrical help (1 Viewer)

[darklord]

Oh the joys of motorhoming,.....our "pup" is going well, things are getting doen/bought/repaired hopefully faster than the finds are depleting, however, some advice is needed. At the moment, the electrical (12v) is all run off of the engine battery, backed up by one other starter battery which does,nt look to be connected properly.

I have, one 110 amp leisure battery, and two new car batteries. I intend using them for the 12v supply an leave the engine battery to do its own job. I have a heavey duty split charger that will do the job with no problems, what i need to know, is will I have to do anything special to make sure all three battery's get charged once ive connected them together? I seem to remember from somewhere, that maybe the first battery in the "chain" will get charged before the others, is this true, and how do you get around it apart from having all batteries on "quick release" connectors so they can be swapped around. your advice would be welcome.

 

[Jim]

Hi Darklord

Take a look here, it was posted a little while ago, i'm sure it will help

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

 

[pappajohn]

the problem with car batteries is the 'chemistry' is wrong for leisure use.
they arent designed for deep discharge.

they are designed to be fully charged at all times and their main function is for the starter...short bursts of high current.
with the engine running all other electrical items are powered by the alternator with the battery acting as a 'buffer' for the power produced.

a leisure batteries main function is for long, slow discharge and frequent charging.

car batteries will work fine on hookup, as they are constantly fully charged, but if no hookup is available for long periods of use the batteries will eventually suffer and fail.

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[darklord]

Cheers jim, i'll follow that advice.