Vehicle battery charging

[NB008]

My first post. Just to say I'm rubbish when it comes to anything mechanical, but here goes.

We have a citroen relay campervan conversion. Over the winter it didn't get much use and now the vehicle battery goes flat after several days - if we let it! A mechanic friend suggested, that as we are not using the van all the time, or not often enough, we should get a battery charger and leave it connected to the battery on a trickle charge. What we have been doing is hooking up to the mains electric, then setting the power supply to 'van', which charges the vehicle battery. Our friend said this isn't the best way as it essentially gives the battery a quick super charge, rather than a slower charge that will be more beneficial to the battery. I have no idea if this makes sense, or if it does what type of charger to get, and whether it should be left on a trickle charge for long periods.
I have seen this on Amazon, which has good reviews and is a reasonable price, but as per above, I don't know if this is the right thing to do. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0828HGG2Q/?tag=mhf04-21

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jim]

Hi

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[pappajohn]

A days charge every 2 weeks will be more beneficial than a constant trickle unless it's a smart charger.
A trickle charger give a constant voltage and amps and can overcharge the battery.
A smart charger only gives what the battery needs at any given time.
In any case your battery is permenant damaged and needs replacing.

Edit....just followed your link and that's a suitable smart charger albeit a tad expensive.

 

[RogerIvy]

That Noco charger is pretty good. Years ago I installed one in my daughter’s Sprinter conversion and it looks after her starter battery very effectively.
Yes, it isn’t the cheapest but pay cheap pay twice.

 

[Jev88]

Do you have any solar for leisure battery?

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[NB008]

Do you have any solar for leisure battery?

Yes, we do have solar panels on roof that are connected to the leisure battery. Am I right in that the leisure battery and/or solar panels can be set up to keep a charge to the vehicle battery? I oresume this will be costly to get someone to do it?

 

[NB008]

That Noco charger is pretty good. Years ago I installed one in my daughter’s Sprinter conversion and it looks after her starter battery very effectively.
Yes, it isn’t the cheapest but pay cheap pay twice.

Forgive my ignorance but a couple of questions.
- how is the charger connected to the battery in terms of power. Does the charger need to be connected to a mains source?
- does the charger need to be left permanently connected to the battery when the vehicle isn't in use?

 

[Jev88]

Yes, we do have solar panels on roof that are connected to the leisure battery. Am I right in that the leisure battery and/or solar panels can be set up to keep a charge to the vehicle battery? I oresume this will be costly to get someone to do it?

Look up Vanbitz Battery Master - easy way to take surplus leisure battery charge and give to engine battery

 

[Tombola]

Yes, we do have solar panels on roof that are connected to the leisure battery. Am I right in that the leisure battery and/or solar panels can be set up to keep a charge to the vehicle battery? I oresume this will be costly to get someone to do it?

If you have solar supplying your leisure battery, you can add a battery master between the leisure and cab batteries (about 70quid) but if you are a full member there is some discount at vanbitz who designed and sell the BM.

What make solar controller do you have. It may already have a feed for trickle charging the cab battery

 

[Jo662]

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[autorouter]

The important thing with all types of lead-acid batteries (Flooded, Sealed, AGM, Gel etc) is to make sure they are fully topped up to 100% at least once a month. If they are left for weeks in a partial state of charge, the sulfate on the plates inside the battery can crystallise and make the battery lose capacity. The idea of trickle-charging is that the charger can be left switched on, sending a tiny trickle of charge to keep the battery topped up so the plates won't become sulfated.

There are various solutions to this problem. That Noco smart trickle charger is fine, if you have access to mains power. Some solar controllers have two separate outputs, one of them can be used to keep the starter battery topped up. Another good solution is a 'battery maintainer' like the VanBitz BatteryMaster mentioned already. This connects between the leisure and starter batteries, and takes a small trickle charge from the leisure batteries to keep the starter battery topped up. It's great if you have solar or mains hookup for the leisure batteries, and is a good 'fit-and-forget' solution.

If you are going for a trickle charger like that Noco, you will see that the output wire can disconnect at a plug/socket in the middle of the wire. You can buy a plug-in wire with ring connectors on the end, that can be left permanently attached to the starter battery terminals. Then you can connect the Noco charger as and when required, and you can use it to charge other batteries if you need to. But if it's a smart charger there's no harm in just leaving it connected all the time, that's what I do with a CTEK 5A charger for my starter battery.

 

[RogerIvy]

Forgive my ignorance but a couple of questions.
- how is the charger connected to the battery in terms of power. Does the charger need to be connected to a mains source?
- does the charger need to be left permanently connected to the battery when the vehicle isn't in use?

When she plugs in (mains) it juices up the charger. Very simple connection direct to battery.
It’s permanently connected to the battery (but obviously not mains).

I installed it before I knew about the Vanbitz Battery Master. These days I’d go for that.