Discuss How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter battery? in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Re: How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter batte

the set up looks something similar to that used in rac vans, Firstly you cannot charge a 24v set up from a 12v alternator well you can but you need a lot of heavy relays and it all gets very complicated, second remember that an alternator on a vehicle must run at a minimum or 1500 rpm to put out charge so it isn't going to charge on tickover and finally there is no need to fuse the negative side of the supply as most negatives are in contact with the chassis anyway ( negative earth) as others have said either use a small genny or go to an auto electrician,if you have a go and it catches fire you may find your car insurance not paying out.
 
Re: How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter batte

indeed - you have to remember that there may well be multiple live connections off the battery

Yes but in this instance there seems to be a single circuit added where both live and neutral are fused which is not required all live connections from the battery should be fused normally the terminal clamp also has several large fuses built in so that all circuits are protected as close to the source as possible. Also its very rarely necessary to connect back to the batteries negative as the vehicle chassis should be used,
 
Re: How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter batte

Phil,

When extra alternators are added to vehicles to run auxilliary devices, such as freezers in an ice-cream van or RF amplifiers in TV satellite uplink trucks, they are usually fitted with pully ratios that ensure the alternator will run at a suitable speed to provide rated output whilst the engine is at tickover.

There is most definitely a need to fuse both negative and positive connections in certain circumstances, for the very reason Sean explained. And the example in the picture that ahtyrrell commented on is ironically a perfect example of exactly when it is necessary and has been correctly done.
 
Re: How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter batte

for what it's worth I think those pictures generally show an installation that has been carried out by someone who does know what they are doing, the invertor is of poor quality and there's a fuse cover and battery terminal cover missing, but the mounting of the fuses, the containment of the wiring and the general layout looks very good - nothing is perfect in this world
 

Reply to How do I charge 2 12V leisure batteries connected in series from my starter battery? in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock