Charging a leisure battery without disconnecting

[DDJC]

This question is seriously niche!

We have a car transporter that we tow behind the bus, fitted with a mover and battery box (Phoenix Trailers - fantastic work). The battery in the box is a new leisure battery and is recharged through the towing electrics, like a caravan does with its leisure battery.

Is there any way I can charge that battery, without disconnecting it from the battery box, using, the 13 pin towing electric socket attached to a standard 230v/12v car battery charger?

 

[jockaneezer]

I think if you buy another socket and wire pins 9 and 11 to your charger, that should do the job ?

 

[DDJC]

I think if you buy another socket and wire pins 9 and 11 to your charger, that should do the job ?

I had hoped someone would say exactly that! So my follow up question is what are the pitfalls and dangers of doing this? Are there charging settings I should avoid? Fast or slow? Trickle?

 

[Jev88]

Can't you add another direct connection to the leisure battery with a quick connect socket (like an Anderson socket) and use a modern multi stage 12v car battery charger?

 

[DDJC]

Can't you add another direct connection to the leisure battery with a quick connect socket (like an Anderson socket) and use a modern multi stage 12v car battery charger?

Probably, but I have no idea what an Anderson socket is!!

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[tony1515]

I had one on my trailer I fitted small trickle charger leads and simple plug to battery £25 takes 5 mins leave it plugged in while standing

 

[David and Sally]

Where does the 230v come into it? I read that as saying you want to run a mains powered battery charger off the 13 pin van electrics.

Edit…..others seem to know what you want.

 

[Jev88]

Two ring connectors to battery and a female connector on the other end plus a male connector on the two wires from your battery charger.

So you leave two wires always connected to your battery and a dangling socket ready to plug in to charger.

A few examples....

 

[tony1515]

Two ring connectors to battery and a female connector on the other end plus a male connector on the two wires from your battery charger.

So you leave two wires always connected to your battery and a dangling socket ready to plug in to charger.

A few examples....

View attachment 979339View attachment 979340

Simplest way

 

[DDJC]

Where does the 230v come into it? I read that as saying you want to run a mains powered battery charger off the 13 pin van electrics.

Edit…..others seem to know what you want.

My bad explanation!
I'll try to paint a better picture.

• The trailer sits behind the bus down the side of Chez DDJC, tow hitch forward.
• The bus is down the side of the house, head first, so faces the wrong way to connect the electrics. This puts the hab door down by the house back door for loading.
• Reversing out is onto a busy road, so I need Mrs DDJC to hand signal me out, and is a faff that we only really do when we are driving it away for trips, MOT or servicing.
• I have a blue commando 16a socket on the side of the house. or access to a three pin plug insidek
• We load the car onto the trailer by moving the bus out, then moving the trailer (by hand). Car on, and then we use the mover to position the trailer back where it started.
• The trailer mover battery is not going to be used often, so I want to charge the battery once a month.

So, I want something that can plug in to the 230v commando or 230v house three pin, then connect to the trailer 13 pin. I think that Jockaneezer's suggestion works best for me, but I just want to check that there are no pitfalls or noob errors waiting in the wings.

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[Speve]

I run my motor movers on my phoenix trailer with a Nocco jump starter which I can charge up in the van from a 12v socket it works a treat.

 

[jockaneezer]

The Anderson connectors are probably the easiest way if you can crimp up leads and stuff yourself, but if all you have is a screwdriver, another socket is quite easy ?
I would just get a simple smart charger or maintainer and leave that on when it's parked up.
Just be aware that the cheap small smart chargers you get from Aldi/Lidl are ok, but if the power goes off for any reason, they don't switch back on to the selected charging regime, but just sit in a "ready mode" waiting for you to select the charge sequence.