lancepar Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (?) Mine, Maxi chassis BTW, has what appears to be original and unused heavy duty cable ending in a connector. I've always thought it was there to add another leisure battery into the system. Now I am not so sure. I've had differing answers from both Sargent and Autotrail as to the purpose and installation of this cable, so now I'm wondering if anyone on here can put me out of my misery (lol) . Is it for an additional leisure or starter battery for example, have others the same set up and maybe added another battery? Cheers B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 On vans supplied for motorhomes Fiat supply a hd 12v supply for the coverters to pick up it usually ends with a fuse behind a plastic panel at the bottom of O/S door pillar which is close to where you've found your wire is it permanently live Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 witzend - 2016-04-06 5:34 PM On vans supplied for motorhomes Fiat supply a hd 12v supply for the coverters to pick up it usually ends with a fuse behind a plastic panel at the bottom of O/S door pillar... Was that the case for a 2005 pre-X250 Ducato? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Not for Heated Seats is it ? A lot of vehicles have the same wiring loom for different models which have provision for optional extras, not fitted and some times not even available in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 The cable is located in the void beneath the seat and it's a 2005 X244. It's a bit hefty for heated seats. (^) Just had a thought.......if I measure the voltage and compare it to the existing batteries, whichever the voltage roughly matches should give me the answer I'm looking for. Adding an image showing the two part plug, using the forum method, which I assume I have to tick "Attach file after posting" if it fails I will use my usual method (lol) Cheers B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Derek Uzzell - 2016-04-06 6:53 PM witzend - 2016-04-06 5:34 PM On vans supplied for motorhomes Fiat supply a hd 12v supply for the coverters to pick up it usually ends with a fuse behind a plastic panel at the bottom of O/S door pillar... Was that the case for a 2005 pre-X250 Ducato? No X244 version Ducato has a 70A Midi Fuse (F73) at battery positive pole. In my PVC this was ignored by the converter, resulting in about 1metre of unfused cable in the engine bay. I have rerouted the cables to bring F73 into the circuit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 It is an auxiliary power connection for charging additional batteries or supplying power for auxiliary equipment. You cannot just go connecting a battery straight to it as it will in effect be in parallel with the Engine battery and blow a large midi fuse in the battery connection box on the positive battery post , when you start our engine. Some Motorhome converters use this connection to pick up power from the engine battery/alternator for charging the leisure batteries etc via slave relays and additional fuses. Others run their own set of cables from the engine compartment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 lancepar - 2016-04-06 12:10 PM (?) Mine, Maxi chassis BTW, has what appears to be original and unused heavy duty cable ending in a connector. I've always thought it was there to add another leisure battery into the system. Now I am not so sure. I've had differing answers from both Sargent and Autotrail as to the purpose and installation of this cable, so now I'm wondering if anyone on here can put me out of my misery (lol) . Is it for an additional leisure or starter battery for example, have others the same set up and maybe added another battery? Cheers B-) We had a KonTiki fitted with the same plug under the seat I was puzzled like you but I found out from Fiat that all the base vans are fitted with this facility to be used where the base vehicle is used as ie ambulance/police vans etc; to supply power to emergency equipment. john. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I notice that this underseat socket has been asked about on-line before: http://www.clubmotorhome.co.uk/forum/14-batteries-and-electrical/4819-ducato-accessory-plug-under-seat It is said in the link that there is a reference to the socket in the relevant Ducato manual. This seems to be correct (with an associated drawing), but its location is a mite ambiguous. The description given is SPECIAL VEHICLE SETUP SOCKET Under the foot-board there is a special connector (fig. 116) that can be used by those companies that modify vehicles to connect an additional battery for specific equipment such as ambulances, mobile offices, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 Seems I can't use it to install my extra leisure battery then :'(. Thanks to all for contributing. B-) Lance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Lance, If this is a second leisure battery then AT already install the wiring alongside the first battery. All you need is the 'special' harness which plugs in and connects to your second battery. They are around £20 from Sargent... http://sargentshop.co.uk/epages/eshop328964.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/eshop328964/Products/WB1022 Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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