Heavy duty battery question.

[qwark]

Sorry if this is a bit obvious but we are new to Motorhoming. We have 2004 Peugeot Boxer Compass Amazon GT 200. Anyway when you travel I believe the main battery is charged folled by the leisure battery.

So when you are on site and hooked up to the mains electric is the leisure battery and my Heavy duty engine battery get charged also?

Thanks for any help

Tom

[lennyhb]

Hi, & welcome you need to give us a bit more info need to know the make and model number of the charger. Some vans do charge the engine battery when on hook up, an educated guess I wouldn't think a 2004 Compass would be one of them.

[qwark]

Thanks Lenny I will search through my manuals for said info, the motorhome is stored so not at hand.

Thanks anyway

Tom

 

[747]

Your van will only have the leisure battery charged on hookup. All models made by Elddis around that time were the same.

 

There are various bits of kit you can buy in order to charge both batteries. CAK tanks had one on their website for around £20 I think.

[Derek Uzzell]

747 - 2013-03-18 8:59 PM

 

... All models made by Elddis around that time were the same.

 

There are various bits of kit you can buy in order to charge both batteries. CAK tanks had one on their website for around £20 I think.

 

I believe you are correct, but there's no knowing whether or not a previous owner of qwark's Compass motorhome has modified the vehicle to allow the engine-battery to be charged via a 230V mains hook-up.

 

The CAK product is the "Battery Charge Manager BCM12" and is currently priced at £27.53. Other options are the "Battery Master"

 

http://www.vanbitz.com/product/battery-master/

 

or (for charging while a motorhome is static for long periods) Clive Mott-Gotobed's inexpensive 'bridging-fuse' arrangement:

 

http://www.motts.dsl.pipex.com/BRIDGING%20FUSE.htm

 

For qwark to be certain of this, it would be best to test the voltage of the engine-battery when the motorhome is on 230V hook-up and the on-board battery-charger is operating. If the voltage rises when the battery-charger begins to operate, then the engine-battery is being charged: if it doesn't then it isn't. (If the motorhome's control-panel has some sort of battery selection switch, it would be sensible to play around with the switch positions to see if that makes any difference.)