Zyroman Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Hi guys, new to MH and have what might be a silly question. Our van will be in storage on and off and I wonder if I can charge the leisure batteries with my little 650 W generator via the hook up point ? Just thought I could run it for a couple of hours while I am fiddling. While I have your attention we are looking for a barbecue and the Cadac ones seem pretty good, anyone got any feedback? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Your genny will charge the battery(s) via the on board charger. Check the voltage after charging, it should be 13v + if not it needs more charge. I think two hours might not b e long enough to reach full charge. A small solar panel will keep the battery topped up even in a British winter, and they don't smell or make a noise! H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Re BBQ, to us purist's of the BBQ then only charcoal will do :D The Cadac is a gas cooker >:-) Back in me foxhole quik, to avoid the flack (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Unless you need yoru leisure battries connected for some reson then fit a switch to isolate them. Fit in -ve line as safer usually. Where you might get problems is if you have a solar panel regulator which auto selects 24 or 12 volts charging or have an alarm fitted which is conneted to the leisure batteries. If you give them a full charge and switch off then they should survive months so a once monthly top up charge for an hour or two will be more than adequate. When charging, give your electrics a power up to check lights and run the water pump and any fan motors for a few seconds only, to stop them seizing up. It is importamt you charge the engine battery, you can do this on some vehicles via the control panel and on board supply, on others you will need a seperate charger or if your generator has a 12 volt output for batteries you can use it. Problem is with modern vehicles the engine battery gets drained by standby currents over time and Alarm sytems. Whatever you do a very useful item for the Motorhomers tool kit, almost a must, is a multimeter. A cheap one will do. With this you can check charge in batteries by measuring volts and also use for fault finding. A must just like a tyre pressure gauge. As you are new you will have lots of questions and things to learn so to answer another possible question you may raise...tyre pressures? Do not run at max PSI on labels or handbook. 80psi is far too high. Load up van as you will for a holiday in running order and take to a weigh bridge and weigh the axles. Contact tyre manufacturers and they will supply recommended pressures. They are ulikely to be above 60 front and 65psi rear as that corrosponds to most max laden weights for the supension. So if you currently have at 80psi, you can certainly drop the front to 65ps and rears to say 70 psi, and possibly 60 and 65 rear but do seek more advice and weigh the vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyroman Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Thanks everyone, I think I might have made the problem worse because I left electrical box thing in the side locker switched on. I have charged it a bit today and turned everything off so hopefully it will be ok now. I will look at the tire pressures next time I go to the van and I just thought a gas Barby would be cleaner and safer if used on a site, no waiting for the embers to cool etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Gas BBQ, we certainly wouldn't go back to a charcoal one now, gas is much easier, you can control the heat, they are cleaner and quicker, and if you get the right type you can't tell the difference between a charcoal one and a gas one. By right type I mean the ones that look like a charcoal one without the ... charcoal! Not a Cadac etc, they are basically griddles/frying pans as people only tend to use them with the ridged griddle plate or flat surface, not the same as a BBQ which just has the bars. We prefer the type with a lid which you can put down over the BBQ, it makes the food cook much quicker, which also has a warming rack, like the one in the link below: BBQ0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Your battery question has been answered so I won't waste tryping time on that one. As for the Cadac we have one and it is fantastic. No its not a BBQ in the traditional sense of the word, more a gas powered griddle but it does take cooking out of the motorhome which obviously means fewer smells inside. Even though the cooking method is similar to frying because you rarely if ever need to add oil or fat it is a healthy type of cooking. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.