Leisure battery kit

[Sparticus]

Hi. I want to fit a leisure battery for general, light camping use. Last year I asked the question and was pointed to a chap on ebay who would supply a complete kit with instructions, but he seems to have disappeared.

Currently on ebay there are a couple of self switching kits. Ones £17 another £79. I can wire a plug, but know little about car electrics.

Could anyone advise me which one I should go for, or if there is another better system.

I will also be needing a tray.

[scanner]

This is the chap you want...........his name is Martin.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/willinton/m.html

He seems to have altered his range of products lately but it could be worth contacting him and asking what, if any, he can still supply.

He has just supplied me with a replacement relay because I had fried mine.

[g8dhe]

I think he has stopped doing the kits, but there are a couple of others on FB and other forums who are doing bits.

[BongoKiwi]

Hi Sparticus,

I've got one of the Willinton kits from my old bongo going spare, and a battery tray. You need an automatic Bongo (it uses the hole the clutch runs through to get the wiring inside) and it's simple to fit. I fitted mine with only an adjustable spanner and a screwdriver!

It means your radio, lighter, interior lights and blinds run off the secondary battery.

How to fit it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzJx6dk7rg0

If you want to pick it up I'll help you fit it and you can have the battery I was using with it (it's not a leisure battery, but a standard car battery)

I'm in Somerset, TA7, just off J23 of the M5.

Make me an offer!

Brendan

[Sparticus]

Hi BongoKiwi

Sounds good.
I'm not able to get around much at present, but if I could make you an offer for the kit and tray (leaving the battery out) and you wouldn't mind boxing it up, I can get a courier to pick it up.

As for price, I don't rally know, as I said above I've seen kits for £17 and £79. New trays seem to run at about £40 (old at £20)

[Sparticus]

I contacted eBay Member: willinton
He conformed he no longer makes the kits.

[peanutcrusher]

I have one of the Willinton kits on my bongo at the moment which does seem to do the job however I'm looking to upgrade the system to one of these.
http://www.barden-ukshop.com/ctek-d250s ... 2033-p.asp

This system gives a boosted charge to the battery as well as enabling you to add a solar panel to your system. have read up on it you may want to use this system i will still be using part of Willinton system to tie back into the fuse box hopefully if i can take the Willinton system apart.

currently i keep the bongo plugged into the house of one of these when I'm not going to use it for a few weeks.
http://purchasenet.com.au/shopping/ctek ... -1670.html

hope this helps

[Sparticus]

Sorry to be a pain, but I'd like to ask the original question again:
Does anybody know if there is any difference between these two kits:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-Bongo-L ... 7675.l2557

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BONGO-VAN-SEL ... 2a2e061ff5

[g8dhe]

The first one includes the fusebox to connect the rest of the circuits around the Bongo, the second one appears to be just the split charge relay itself.

[dave_aber]

Not seen either of these in the flesh, but here's my view (other views are available!)

The cheap one is a 30A relay. It uses 30A cable, and 20A Fuses. This is sound enough, however a flat L/B will draw way more than 30A on charge. Your alternator will happily supply 70A or more if the battery requires it. If this is the case, the 20A fuse will blow, and the L/B won't get charged.

This cheap one is also just a charging solution - it doesn't include any DC distribution from the L/B or DC injection into the van's original circuits.

The dear one doesn't state the relay, cable or charge circuit fuse ratings. The cables look on the thin side to me, and the fuse holders look like the regular type with yellow fuses, so are 20A. Same flat battery charging issue therefore applies as with the cheap kit. However, this one does include a DC distribution panel, and a loom designed to plug into the original fuse panel, which is a very neat and easy way to swap circuits of your choosing over from main battery to leisure battery.

The original Willinton kit used a 100A relay, 70A cable and 50A fuses, so there is no chance of overloading the relay or cable, but gives you the ability to charge a very flat battery (I have done with mine, and nothing blew). I have worked on a Bongo with another (£17 style) system, which kept on blowing the charge line fuses until you charged the L/B in the house on the mains and refitted it.

As with everything - you pays yer money etc. (The Willinton kits were around £100)

Now, if you have a solar panel as well, you 'should' never have a flat L/B, so will never need a heavy-current charge system.

If you want to do leisure batteries on the cheap, you can buy a marine isolator, and wire it up with suitably heavy cable. This allows you to start on the starter battery, run on both (to charge them) and then go onto the L/B only when parked (and isolate both if required, like over winter) Like this. Of course, you have to mount it somewhere, and it's a faff.

Even simpler - you can just link the 2 batteries together with a suitable heavy duty cable, and fit a single line isolator in the main battery earth line. Simply isolate this when you park, and everything will work off the L/B with no chance of flattening the S/B.

For what it's worth, I have a 113Ah L/B, Willinton kit, 80W solar panel & charge controller, and a mains PSU / charger for hook-up.

[Sparticus]

Thanks Dave.

So the answer for me is neither of these. I feel I need a Willinton kit.

I use my petrol/lpg Bongo almost daily. About once or twice a week I find myself sitting in the back for a couple of hours writing or reading whilst my daughter is at drama. So I would like to be able to use the radio, lights and blinds without the faf of switching anything over. Also in the summer we are intending to camp for the odd long weekend. I have no plans to add a solar panel as long camping is unlikely.

I contacted Willinton, and he has confirmed he has no intention of making/selling them any more. BongoKiwi has offered me a secondhand one which seems like my best bet (BongoKiwi, I have PM'd you).

[Jinsin456]

I made my own split charge setup as I wanted to tailor it to my needs.

I used a 100amp relay, 100 amp cables and a 70 amp fuse based on the things I was reading on here.

This splits the batteries and the relay is controlled by an ignition live and earthed to the second battery as the relay is mounted about 8" from it. I've also got a 10 output fusebox that only takes 1 100 amp input, this differs from the ebay kit where it's just a loom with fuses. This means I can run 10 items (Up to 10 amp each) from one fusebox (Under the dash).

The original fusebox is tapped into using male 2.5mm spade connectors with the constant lives coming from the fusebox. This feeds blinds, cig lighters, lights and cd player & sink with the option to add another 5 items.

I bought all the kit for this (100 amp relay, cable, mega fuses, fusebox, connectors, and all wire) from ALM solutions (No affiliation to customer just satisfied). for around £70 and I'm happy with it.

I'm also quite confident with wiring though but it's not a hard job.

[peanutcrusher]

I still say you should like a what I'm planning to do with my bongo

[vanvliet]

I have a brand new Willington kit which I never got around to fitting and I will be selling my van this summer . It is a nicely made item and fits any diesel auto. I am asking the same price as I paid for it from Willington.

[Sparticus]

Thanks vanvliet

I've already made BongoKiwi an offer, so I'll have to wait for his reply first.

Although mine is a petrol Auto; not sure if that makes a difference.