Separate Vehicle and Leisure battery systems

[sidorpaul]

Good Morning Fellow Funsters,

I`ve just started my self build Peugeot Boxer L4 van conversion. I have a question about the electrics:

Can I keep the vehicle electrics separate from the leisure electrics ?
The leisure battery will be charged on hook up and I`ll be fitting a 160 watt Solar Panel (110 Ah Battery) too.
Obviously I know the vehicle is capable of looking after the engine battery.

Also,

I intend to fit a compressor fridge, when I`m travelling do I just turn the fridge off (or turn the leisure electrics off)
or can it be running of the leisure system ?

We`ll probably be on hook up almost every night, almost certainly no wild camping.

Thanks

 

[Peppadog]

Yes, you can seperate them. But why not have a split charge system as well so your leisure battery is also topped up while you drive? It will give priority to your vehicle battery.

 

[sidorpaul]

Yes, I suppose you are correct. i`ve seen the kits available on Ebay. I just didn`t want the complication (for me at least) of leads from the alternator to the leisure battery.
Am I correct in thinking that a voltage sensing relay does away with the need for a wire from the alternator ?

 

[Treeeev]

Sidorpaul

Yes that is correct and the voltage sensing relay I had previously in my self build VW T4 would also operate in the reverse direction, ie when the engine started and the revs increased above tick over, the hab battery would start charging. When on a hookup and the hab battery was being charged, the relay would operate to charge the engine battery

Cheers

Trevor

 

[sidorpaul]

Thanks,

This is all good news to me.

Now for a silly question:

With 3 different ways of charging my leisure battery, will all 3 systems work together ?
What i`m trying to say is will they turn off when not needed ?

If i`m on hook up and they battery is fully charged will the solar panel sense this and not put any more juice in ?

Will the solar panel be charging the leisure battery while i`m driving around or will the split charge system take over.

I suppose that`s what the solar panel charge controller is for ?

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[Camping Gaza]

see below

 

[Camping Gaza]

Can I keep the vehicle electrics separate from the leisure electrics ?

For simplicity, and better (much better) efficiency eliminate the split charge altogether. Fit a battery to battery charger.

No connection to your alternator at all and 2 wires from your starter bat to the B2B charger and 2 wires to your hab bat (or bank)

Will condition and maintain your hab bats and give full alternator output to your hab bats when low (upto 80 to 120 amps) depending on the B2B you choose. It will even use excess charge from your starter bat even when you have switched off the engine.

Shuts off charging when your starter battery is full or the voltage level you set so your starter battery never drops below starting capacity.

Its all you need and a good investment as you will never have flat hab batteries.

You can use this with solar. solar is fully automatic, B2B is fully automatic, split charge is primitive and can overcharge your batteries as its not electronically controlled its a simple relay.

so to sum up, all 3 will charge your batteries, BUT the solar will give you a 3 stage charge, as will your B2B and REGULATE that charge ie when batts are full switch to maintenance charge and look after the batteries giving you long life.

A split charge relay will give a charge direct from your alternator using the vehicle charging parameters.

keep these separate its a good idea, as with your original question. fit a B2B

 

[sidorpaul]

Thanks very much. I`ve been thinking about this for a while but my mind has now eased.

Now I can get on with thinking about the rest of it !

Thanks again.

 

[Camping Gaza]

Unless already sorted, get one of those cheap Chinese diesel space heaters for around 120 quid. plumb it into your engine fuel line, or use a separate tank supplied. brilliant bit of kit.