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Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:01 pm
by HangTen
I've heard that it can be done, but can any of our electrickery experts tell me if there are any drawbacks to charging the leisure battery by plugging a CTEK type charger into the cig. lighter socket?

If it's viable, then it would allow a neat and far easier (semi-) permanent installation.

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:28 pm
by g8dhe
Yes it will work, you will have to leave the Ignition on ACC of course unless you are wired for a leisure battery ? Downside is that you will have extra wiring, fuses, switches between the charger and the battery which will all help to limit the charging current, plus of course the voltage drop thru a connector never designed as a power feed so yes it will work, but it will take longer to charge and you will need to turn off everything else on the ancillaries circuit for best charging.

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:07 pm
by HangTen
Many thanks, Geoff, sounds like it will be a workable solution, especially for maintenance charging while the Bongo is sitting in my garage between trips; so a longer charge time won't be an issue - and yes, it's a fully wired leisure battery, via a Willinton kit.
you will need to turn off everything else on the ancillaries circuit for best charging
Does this mean that it would be better not to use this method when on a hook-up on site? If that's the case, I'll need to plan a better long-term solution ..... my issue is that the battery is at the front and my power sockets are at the back - it's a long way to route the cabling :?

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:13 pm
by missfixit70
What about this -
hembramacho wrote:It's one of these that I got from here at the same time as the charger.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CTEK-XS3600-XS800 ... 1c10d5e74a

I got it so I could use the CTEK charger from inside the bongo as opposed to going under the bonnet, as the electric hookup sockets to plug the charger in will be inside the van (save trailing an extension outside and under the bonnet). It also frees up the CTEK to be used elsewhere rather than hard-wiring the actual charger to the LB - less permanent.
The only thing that will fit into it as far as I can tell is the orange connector at the end of the charger unit lead.

Image
Image

Saying that, it's hard wired directly into the LB (the wire just about reaches!), with a 15amp in-line fuse, so in theory if something that needs powering had the same 'end' as the charger it should be able to take power directly from the LB. I'm sure with your expertise in leccie pimps you could come up with some kind of plan!! 8)

Andrew

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:30 pm
by HangTen
Thanks, Kirsty, that looks a neat little unit ....... only problem would be getting hold of a CTEK connector to plug into it ....... my charger is similar to the CTEK, but it's actually 'Maypole' brand and didn't come with that type of connector :(

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 4:31 pm
by dandemann8
missfixit70 wrote:What about this -
hembramacho wrote:It's one of these that I got from here at the same time as the charger.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CTEK-XS3600-XS800 ... 1c10d5e74a

I got it so I could use the CTEK charger from inside the bongo as opposed to going under the bonnet, as the electric hookup sockets to plug the charger in will be inside the van (save trailing an extension outside and under the bonnet). It also frees up the CTEK to be used elsewhere rather than hard-wiring the actual charger to the LB - less permanent.
The only thing that will fit into it as far as I can tell is the orange connector at the end of the charger unit lead.

Image
Image

Saying that, it's hard wired directly into the LB (the wire just about reaches!), with a 15amp in-line fuse, so in theory if something that needs powering had the same 'end' as the charger it should be able to take power directly from the LB. I'm sure with your expertise in leccie pimps you could come up with some kind of plan!! 8)

Andrew

Once this unit is wired upto your LB would it remain live at all times when not in use :?:

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 4:57 pm
by g8dhe
HangTen wrote:Does this mean that it would be better not to use this method when on a hook-up on site? If that's the case, I'll need to plan a better long-term solution ..... my issue is that the battery is at the front and my power sockets are at the back - it's a long way to route the cabling :?
Its not essential to turn everything off, especially when on hook-up, but anything drawing power is diverting it away from the battery! So if your just doing maintenance charge that will probably be fine, but if you get the L/B discharged and then try to charge it via that route it will take an age, especially with other things drawing power at the same time. Maintence charge is normally just 1-3 Amps normally and a lot of the small chargers are only rated for that anyway, so a couple of 20 watt lights on (40 Watts = 3.33Amps) and that's all the power from the charger going to the lights and not the battery!

Re: Battery charging via cig lighter socket?

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:51 pm
by Alison01326
HangTen wrote:Many thanks, Geoff, sounds like it will be a workable solution, especially for maintenance charging while the Bongo is sitting in my garage between trips; so a longer charge time won't be an issue - and yes, it's a fully wired leisure battery, via a Willinton kit.
you will need to turn off everything else on the ancillaries circuit for best charging
Does this mean that it would be better not to use this method when on a hook-up on site? If that's the case, I'll need to plan a better long-term solution ..... my issue is that the battery is at the front and my power sockets are at the back - it's a long way to route the cabling :?
As I'm always one to avoid anything too technical, our plan when on hook up is to use our mobile mains unit and a splitter so that we've still got power going into the Bongo but can use the ordinary mains battery charger when needed and also will have some sockets available for use in the awning. That's if I actually remember to pack it :oops: