taking charge from the engine to charge a battery in the back but not drain engine battery?

Question

I'm converting my van into a camper and was wondering the best way to chare batteries in the back while driving but not draining my engine battery when I'm parked up. Also how would I rig a couple of batteries together in the back so they work as one :-)

Answer 1

There is something called a battery isolator which will keep your engine battery from being depleted when the engine is not running. To connect two battery's together, just connect positive to positive and negative to negative. This will keep the voltage at 12V but double the available amperage.

Answer 2

You will need to get a split charge relay from either an electrical supplier like Lucas or from a good caravan spares supplied

Will only charge whilst motor running and when stopped will prevent the "home" electrics from taking power from the engine battery

You can link more than one battery to the "home" electrics in parallel that is + to + and - to - this will give a 12 volt potential at all times. The more batteries the longer the engine will take to charge them but you could install a charger for the home batteries to charge whilst sited and hooked up to the campsite power

Answer 3

What you need is known as a 'split charge relay' and is commonly used in the application you describe and in vehicles with big stereo systems.This when wired correctly will allow the vans alternator to charge the main battery first and will only allow the charge to go to the second battery when the first is at full capacity.When the vehicle is parked the relay will not allow the second battery to drain any current from the main battery.
Hope this makes sense!

Answer 4

Alternator

Answer 5

Look into dual batteries and a battery isolator. You can run your external power from the second battery without effecting the first. The battery isolator's circuitry monitors both batteries and charges each per demand. Only drawn back is you might need to upgrade your alternator because of the higher amperage demands. Fairly easy to install by yourself. Deep cell batteries are also a must for external apps. Little bit more expensive but worth it.

Answer 6

Use a change over switch which is a circular looking thing that you can buy in a good boat chandlers. I would suggest that you use two "leisure boat batteries" for the living accommodation as you need a different specification then ones that start the engine. They should be wired into the change over switch in parallel. You need to read up about it a bit but it is not difficult. If you don't live near a boat chandlers try a caravan place

Answer 7

There are charge controllers specifically for this purpose. A caravan/camping shop or marine chandlers should have them. You'd also want "leisure" batteries for in the back, they have different discharge characteristics from the "car" type.

Hope that helps.

Answer 8

To charge batteries get a bigger alternator.... like a 100 amp or more.... then for hooking up the batteries, like 2 or more.... just maker sur you hook the positives together and the 2 negatives together.

Answer 9

There is a type of muti-battery charg controler available. it will charge one battery and then auto switch to a second to charge that one. Try a caravan and camping store for more info. I know they exist though. my dad had one set up years ago

Answer 10

J.C. Whitney has what you want along with many more "camper accessories". The alt. must be upgraded along with belts and pulleys for maximum dependabillity and performance.Fuel mileage will suffer somewhat because of the extra work the engine must do.