Charging your lesuire batteries manualy i.e no smat relay

landyrubbertramp

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Hi all I hope some one can help with this one.
Currently I have 3 110 leisure batteries connects in series I,e giving a total of 330 battry at 12 v.

Anyway as my landy is off the rad ive put the batteries in my pll carrier for my rip tp Spain next week

If I connect the it via leads to my car battery when its running manually threw a switch how will I know when there the leisure batteries are full and not over charge them, my thinking was as its connected to the car battery as soon as the leisure batteries are charged up i.w the same as the cr battery level it will shut off the current. Or am I got this all wrong as in its ok to have 12v passing to the leisure batteries at all times .
I would purchase a smart relay etc and have it installed but this is a one off trip in my people carrier

Any thoughts welcomes
 
get a smart relay,it's a matter of minutes to fit it,after all you have to wire the lb's together anyway
 
hi earth the leisure batteries then either use a jump lead from the positive of the vehicle battery or make a lead. i used to use one of those big plastic red battery cutout switches .fire up on the vehicle battery then turn the switch or connect the leisure batteries .just remember to disconect when parking up. when all the batteries are full the alternator cuts the output down. worked for me for years .
 
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I hope you mean connected in parallel and not series, unless that is you want 36 Volts of course.
 
vwalan said:
hi earth the leisure batteries then either use a jump lead from the positive of the vehicle battery or make a lead. i used to use one of those big plastic red battery cutout switches .fire up on the vehicle battery then turn the switch or connect the leisure batteries .just remember to disconect when parking up. when all the batteries are full the alternator cuts the output down. worked for me for years .
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hi alan yeh thats what ive done but not with jump pleads but proper wire i had left over. all my questions have been answered i just wasnt sure about the over loading bit, ive alread had everything connected up n brown and its a one off trip but ur right if it was a long term thing i wiuld have done it via relay, ive put a coil key ring to the switch so when i take my keys out of the igniition it remebrs to turn the swith off
 
I use a switch on mine ie No relay

I just charge mine on the journey and flick the switch to isolate after. I wouldn't worry about overcharging on any journey up to about 2-3 hours. If you are travelling longer, just switch it off after 3 hours. They will be charged by then.

This is more versatile than a relay which charges them when the alternator is running regardless. You have no control then.

Having said that, the smart relay is very easy to install. I helped whitevanwoman with hers a couple of months back - very simple to fit.
 
Firefox said:
I use a switch on mine ie No relay

I just charge mine on the journey and flick the switch to isolate after. I wouldn't worry about overcharging on any journey up to about 2-3 hours. If you are travelling longer, just switch it off after 3 hours. They will be charged by then.

This is more versatile than a relay which charges them when the alternator is running regardless. You have no control then.

Having said that, the smart relay is very easy to install. I helped whitevanwoman with hers a couple of months back - very simple to fit.
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hi firefox thanks for your reply with you and alan saying things are o i feel alot better you both have good experiance in these areas, with all the tips and advice i have read on here from you and alan esp as well as everyoone esle i will owe u a beer at one point if we hook up once my landrover is up n running,

Many thanks
 
After the firt time I flattened the start battery I got a smart relay.

Hi

I strongly recommend getting a smart relay - it keeps your start battery alive if you forget to isolate it.
I use a BEP VSR see - Buy BEP VSR Voltage Sensitive Relay Shunts & Voltage Sensitive Relays at Marine Megastore Chandlery 15% off orders over £300!*
Remember that if the leisure battery gets low, it will draw lots of current when you start-up. Check what the capacity of your alternator is - if it's 60 amp you will need at least a 8 AWG or 8 mm2 multi-strand (as in jumper-leads) - if you use normal 14 AWG you are likely to start a fire!

Good luck

cheers
 
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No problem Landy.

Like Alan I used jump leads to charge a second battery in sleeper cars for years without any permanent wiring.

One thing to remember is if you have multiple batteries it can take ages to charge espec with a standard alternator. Normally it will top up discharged engine battery in 20-30 mins but we could be talking hours with 3 leisure batteries in addition.

After switching off, isolating, and allowing you batteries to rest a few hours you can check with a multimeter to see what they are like.
 
As you said, this is a once-off setup so connecting the leisure batteries to the car system won't do any harm and in fact the only problem likely is that the leisure batteries will never get fully-charged.
Only consideration might be is if the engine battery and the leisure battery were completely different types, but even then, a normal alternator setting isn't likely to cause overcharging no matter how long you drive.
 
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