Split charge - how does it work?

[WhatsGoingOnHere]

I’ve had a search around but been unable to find what I was looking for.

We’ve today collected a van which has a leisure battery with split charge and electric hookup and I have no idea how any of it works (collectively).

We’ve got a banner starting bull under the passenger seat as well as a fuse board - pics attached.

From what we were told earlier the leisure battery is always on and ready to go but previous vans we’ve hired have had a switch to change to hookup where as this one doesn’t. Is it therefore assumed it’s automatic change over?

I assume the voltmeter displays what’s being passed through? And therefore no indication of battery levels?

Also, is it easy to swap the manual voltmeter to digital?

Is there anywhere a ‘how split charging and hookups work for dummies’?

Thanks

 

[Pete C]

There isn't a standard guide to this stuff because each van could be different.

Can the person you got it from not help ?

Someone here may recognise that white box with vents, but it could help if you can get a picture of the other sides with some branding on.

Pete

 

[Dellmassive]

A few Extra pics will help.

And some background info here:

Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.

-- Dellmassive`s -- "How I Done It" -- thread -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

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[Stay Frosty]

A read of the "seatbase battery" thread will help as will all of Lees @Dellmassive threads.
You can go bonkers, at the moment I've got too much electric but now comes the option to ditch hook ups altogether and stop using gas bottles.
The various setups you'll see being used are just the result of what direction is being taken and not a case of a right or wrong install, with the Euro 6 T6 though you will normally start the system with a battery to battery charger, not a split charge relay, due to the antics of the smart alternator.

 

[WhatsGoingOnHere]

OK so I have a 55ah battery, the silver vented box is the charger. Apparently the van when on HU just charges the leisure battery so we are running on leisure battery the whole time. Its just whether its getting an instant juice top up or not. I imagine when on hook-up its not a terrible setup, but without there isn't much power

 

[Stay Frosty]

Hopefully there's an isolator of some sort for the incoming hook up cable, possibly on that white box, it should be possible to mount an MCB into that enclosure on a bit of din rail so you can then loop out of the MCB to a twin skt to give 230 from the hook up.
Obviously if the white box is jammed full of transformer then you could always get a domestic garage consumers unit and install that, again looping the feed from wherever your hook up feed enters the van presently... bung more info into the thread for a more a more detailed ex spurt response.

 

[WhatsGoingOnHere]

I appreciate all the help. What more info can I dig out for you? Worth me taking the front over off the fuse board?

I'd assume the HU would feed the 240v socket directly via the fuse board but that would imply it wouldn't work via battery. I'm too simple for all this stuff I'm afraid.

Its difficult to see much else unless I remove the seat...

 

[Stay Frosty]

@WhatsGoingOnHere unless you pay somebody to do the job for you then you're going to have to grab the beast by the horns and plan what you want to achieve with your electrics.
Most on here are gradually upgrading stuff constantly so with a bit of reading and comparing you'll start to get a feel for what you want to power up and the kit needed for the task plus you can avoid the earlier pre upgrade spending round.
If your van is Euro 6 ie has Adblu then you're going to need a battery to battery charger rather than split charge relay due to the smart alternator, don't panic but speed read and give an idea of what you think you want.

 

[Bigsidavies]

Unless you have an inverter fitted, which will change 12v into 240v, you will only have live 240v sockets when connected to EHU.
All your 12v stuff runs from your leisure battery-lights, fridge, tap, diesel heater, usb sockets etc.
When on EHU your mains charger will charge the leisure battery enabling constant unlimited use of your 12 volt kit.
When you have No EHU all your 12v kit is draining your leisure battery. You shouldn’t run this LB down below 50% so in your case you only have 27ah to use before you need to recharge the LB. You can do this by either driving/running the van engine or plugging in to an EHU point.
If you have solar then that will be putting juice back into your LB in daylight hours.

 

[CamperBadger]

I have this setup. I’ve always wondered whether I can get away with hardly ever using the EHU and do my leisure battery charging through long drives. Any thoughts ?

 

[Jonesy123]

There's a chap called Adam who has a channel on youtube called CDAT Tutorials.
He does a great video for installing a CTEK split charger which is very comprehensive.
Incase anyone's interested