Bongo Fury

If I leave my bongo for a while the battery runs down, after putting the jump leads on and recharging this time i've got no internal lights / electric mirrors / radio / central locking / electric blinds and the glow-plug light is continually flashing.

I've tried replacing some of the fuses that relate to the above, but no joy.

Any ideas gratefuly received!

Do you have a leisure battery set up?

Yup, it all points to those items having been transferred across to a leisure battery, did you charge the battery in front of the driver or the one in front of the passenger seat ?
I suspect that perhaps you discharged the L/B and then you may have poped the charging fuse, so its never getting a re-charge - assumes of course that it was working before ?

A quick search bought up THIS, some maybe useful pointers at the bottom of the page.

mister munkey wrote:Do you have a leisure battery set up?

Hi there, yes got a leisure battery, but I recharged the main battery, the leisure battery was working before.

mister munkey wrote:A quick search bought up THIS, some maybe useful pointers at the bottom of the page.

Makes sense that it could be the LB - any ideas how I check the relay?

Start with checking fuse 18, that seems to control that stuff IIRC.

mister munkey wrote:Start with checking fuse 18, that seems to control that stuff IIRC.

Will do - I'm just gonna pop out and replace each fuse one by one at see if that works, thanks

Check the fuses which link the two batteries together via the charging relay, the fuses will be close to the batteries, in-line type normally. When the L/B gets totally discharged then the when the relay closes the surge will blow one of the two fuses after that there is no carging taking place and the L/B stays flat.

g8dhe wrote:Check the fuses which link the two batteries together via the charging relay, the fuses will be close to the batteries, in-line type normally. When the L/B gets totally discharged then the when the relay closes the surge will blow one of the two fuses after that there is no carging taking place and the L/B stays flat.

Look like it must be this, although haven't got a spare fuse for the relay - anyone know what amp fuse this is / can I get this from anywhere?

Also - can I recharge the LB from the main battery?

There not standard as they will have been fitted with the conversion, or when the L/B was installed, they will be AT LEAST 20Amps, but could be larger, depends on the cables they fitted (the fuses protect the cable nothing else), typically they would be 20-40Amps but you need to take them out and see how they are marked, I would also suggest replacing both if one has gone, as both will have started to glow but whichever one blows first will have then protected the other one, but it may blow at a later time.

The L/B is best charged via the charger whilst you are replacing the fuses, as otherwise the fuses will blow again, then when there is a reasonable charge in the L/B the surge will be much less than the fuse rating and it will charge from the alternator the same as the Starter battery.

g8dhe wrote:There not standard as they will have been fitted with the conversion, or when the L/B was installed, they will be AT LEAST 20Amps, but could be larger, depends on the cables they fitted (the fuses protect the cable nothing else), typically they would be 20-40Amps but you need to take them out and see how they are marked, I would also suggest replacing both if one has gone, as both will have started to glow but whichever one blows first will have then protected the other one, but it may blow at a later time.

The L/B is best charged via the charger whilst you are replacing the fuses, as otherwise the fuses will blow again, then when there is a reasonable charge in the L/B the surge will be much less than the fuse rating and it will charge from the alternator the same as the Starter battery.

brilliant - thanks for your / everyone's help

At least it sounds like its gonna be a cheap fix .

pman wrote:

g8dhe wrote:There not standard as they will have been fitted with the conversion, or when the L/B was installed, they will be AT LEAST 20Amps, but could be larger, depends on the cables they fitted (the fuses protect the cable nothing else), typically they would be 20-40Amps but you need to take them out and see how they are marked, I would also suggest replacing both if one has gone, as both will have started to glow but whichever one blows first will have then protected the other one, but it may blow at a later time.

The L/B is best charged via the charger whilst you are replacing the fuses, as otherwise the fuses will blow again, then when there is a reasonable charge in the L/B the surge will be much less than the fuse rating and it will charge from the alternator the same as the Starter battery.

brilliant - thanks for your / everyone's help

Case Closed - brilliant! Thanks very much all sorted - it was the 32A fuse in the reay between LB and main battery was blown.

So, for anyone reading this thread with a similar problem: Flashing Glow Plug light + no elecs (that are connected to LB) = check 2 x fuses on relay connecting LB to main battery

Good news