Charging Leisure Battery, 24v Van

bigmeeky

Guest
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Wee quick one for you MH gurus.

My old Mercedes Wagon runs on 24v, two inline 12v batteries power the van up for day to day driving.

I have a seperate leisure battery for the obvious leisure activities. There doesnt appear to be any charge going into the battery either when I am hooked up or when driving along.

To combat this I have a little battery charger that I plug in when onsite to boost the battery (this could be changed to be honest, its an old battery that looks like its been pulled from an Iveco wagon).

I need really to check what charge comes out of the alternator but I assume its 24, (any ideas??)

Just wondering if I try to fit a split charger whether or not I am going to fry the little 12v when I am driving? The other query is what would I need to fit to the van to charge the battery when its on mains hook up?

Lots of words and a few queries but thanks in advance,

Rob McM
 
Hi Rob.

Don't fit a split charge relay as you will fry a 12V battery Big Style on a 24V system:eek::eek::eek:.

There are a number of solutions, but it is getting late now, and I am most definitely a one fingered typist, so I will try and get on tomorrow and post some advice and possible solutions.
 
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Hi Bigmeeky,
Have you checked the fuse by the leisure battery (25amp probebly) and the one on the Zig unit as either of these will stop the battery reciving a charge when you are on
mains hook up.
Regards,
Chris
 
Hi Rob. As promised some ideas/possible sollutions to your problem.

1) As already suggested th simplest would be to use a 24V to 12V battery to battery charger. Disadvantages, very expensive to buy and when it fails in the middle of nowhere it is unlikely you would find anyone who could repair it or would be able to quickly supply a replacement.

1a)Variation on above, use an inverter 24V to 240V and use a battery charger.

2)Convert your living area electrics to 24V. Disadvantages, 24V bits tend to be less readily available and more expensive than 12V.

3)Convert vehicle electrics to 12V. This would normally be a non starter but in your case I would have thought that 12V replacement parts for your 24V system would be available from other models in the same range. e.g. 408. Disadvantages, lot of work and cost.

4)Connect 2 leasure batteries in series (24V), split your load into 2 halves and run each half off each battery. Could be made to work but unlikely to be very successful, precautions would be needed, i.e. insulated (from the body) and fused returns.

5)Again as already mentioned fit an additional 12V alternator. This will require a little engineering skill and some inginuity but would be my favoured sollution, I run a seperate alternator for the leasure batteries even though I don't have any voltage issues. If you consider this a possibility and need any further suggestions on how you may achieve this, or need to know how to wire it (it must be wired through a relay) just give me a shout.

I hope the above gives you some food for thought and hopefully a little help.
 
Thanks folks

As I expected I wasnt let down by your help, I really like the idea of fitting a second alternator, will have a wee look at that and see what a clever engineer friend of mine can suggest.

Brilliant gents, thank you very much Geoof your a star

Rob McM
 
I am sure some of these mercs run two alternators anyway - there may be mounting points already on the engine. ( I run a Merc 508d - 12v system though).
 
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