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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
 
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My new caravan has 12v lights that run off the towing vehicle.
I want to fit a battery to the van. Does anyone have a wiring diagram
and/or know what else ill need, will a small trickle charger be
suitable to charge the battery when connected to 240v Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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 Sun Aug 31 2008 9:48am |
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TDMP
Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Location: South Gippsland
Posts: 382
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guess that means you didn't come home empty handed...
 Tristan
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| Sun Aug 31 2008 11:42am |
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caverD3
Joined: 02 Jul 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 2159
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There is a permanent 12v supply to the trailer socket I believe, rated at 40amps.
I could be wrong but it would mean you could cahrge a battery that could take the D3s high voltage.
Others might know better though.  Getting there is half the fun
TDV6: Adaptive Headlights, Electronic Rear Diff.ARB Bar.Blaupunkt Speakers, JVC Powered Subwoofer, Removable Snorkel, Mitchell Bros Tow Hitch, Pioneer After Market Head Unit, Zenarc Touch Screen, In Car Laptop.
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| Sun Aug 31 2008 12:26pm |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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Bought a 2004 Coromal excel 511 , as new, for $19000
er indoors is happy Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Sun Aug 31 2008 10:20pm |
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catweasel
Joined: 05 May 2006
Location: Back Home
Posts: 4248
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only cause she thinks you'll be away more often 
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| Sun Aug 31 2008 11:04pm |
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PBob
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: Mudgee NSW
Posts: 129
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The Auto Elec ran an extra wire (20 amp I think) through my chassis and down into the round plug to charge the batteries in my camper. It may depend on what battery you use (deep cycle etc) in the camper, but look really hard at the battery charger, as it is important that you use the correct charger for the type of battery. A lot of chargers are crap and take ages to bring up the full charge. You should be able to fully charge a battery with the D3 alternater in about I think 5 hours running. Also, if you use a deep cycle battery in the van, never allow the battery to drop under about 50% or you apparently stuff them. (Quoting Kimberly Kampers, they are paranoid about this stuff and reckon 90% of failures are due to mis use). 2006 HSE TDV6 Bonatti Grey, ECB bull bar, tropical roof, LG Next G car kit, Tom Tom GPS, UHF, Mitchell Bros tow bar, Kimberley Kamper Limited Edition camper trailer and 23 foot Haines Signature half cabin (Towed separately!)
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| Sun Aug 31 2008 11:34pm |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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catweasel wrote:only cause she thinks you'll be away more often
What are you trying to say 
PBob
The caravan will have a deep cycle...how do you know
when it has reached half of its power Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 2:41am |
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PBob
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: Mudgee NSW
Posts: 129
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Norto,
I think you need a voltmeter to tell you this stuff. I can go and get the book out of the camper and maybe scan some bits for you and email it if you wish.
I do know you need a different type of charger to properly do up the deep cell battery - that is one that starts charging and alters its charge as the battery starts to fill. There is nothing fancy about this - just that you need a better (read a bit dearer) type of battery charger than the cheap and nasty ones. Also, it is imperitive that the wire you run back to the round plug needs to be heavy enough to carry a decent voltage (I think min 20amps). It actually has to read min 20amps at the plug outlet on the D3.
Also, if you go to the oz explorer forum, there is plenty of info on this topic, although some of it gets a bit over the top I think.
Let me know if you need anything sent - a pm and an email address would sort that out. 2006 HSE TDV6 Bonatti Grey, ECB bull bar, tropical roof, LG Next G car kit, Tom Tom GPS, UHF, Mitchell Bros tow bar, Kimberley Kamper Limited Edition camper trailer and 23 foot Haines Signature half cabin (Towed separately!)
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 4:07am |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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PBob
Thanks for that Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 4:22am |
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drivesafe
Joined: 23 Feb 2006
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Posts: 272
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Hi norto, there are a couple of different ways to provide power to the van.
If you only intend to have the van connected to the D3 while driving and only want to charge the battery in the van, then the power coming through the existing plug will do although the D3’s cable supplying the plug is not all that thick so there is going to be a bit of a voltage drop. This just means it will take longer to fully charge a low battery.
If you intend to leave the van connected to the D3 over night and/or want to run a fridge while you drive and while parked park, then you really need to fit separate thicker cables to run from the D3’s cranking battery, via a circuit breaker and a VSR type isolator, back to the rear of the D3, to a separate 50 amp Anderson plug and then similar cabling needs to be fitted to the van.
The problem with using the powered cable in the D3’s plug is that if you don’t disconnect the van once you get to where you are going, you run the very likely risk of flattening your cranking battery. 2007 TDV8 RR Lux + 2005 D3 SE V6 Petrol
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 4:54am |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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Drivesafe
Ive flattened the D3 a couple of times by leaving the van connected with the
fridge on 12 volt.
The battery in the van will be a deep cycle, what sort of charger will be best
to wire in to charge the battery when the van is on 240v power. Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 7:11am |
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drivesafe
Joined: 23 Feb 2006
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Posts: 272
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Hi norto, unfortunately the name “Deep Cycle” has been done to death and actually means nothing. This is no reflection on you what so ever, but the fault of the know it all know nothing battery sales people.
If you can find out what type of battery it is, EG, Flooded Wet Cell, Sealed Maintenance or AGM, I can then give you a better idea of what you need but most two or three stage chargers will do an excellent job so don’t panic.
As for your battery, most AGMs are called “Deep Cycle” and although this is PARTIALLY correct, there are also Deep Cycle Flooded Wet Cell batteries and they are two totally different types of batteries, with different charging requirements.
The Flooded Wet Cell type batteries are easy to identify, they have caps on the top of them to allow the electrolyte to be topped up with water.
AGMs, Gel Cell and Maintenance Free batteries can all look alike, so see if you can get a brand name and a part number off your battery and then it should be easy to identify what battery you have.
Cheers. 2007 TDV8 RR Lux + 2005 D3 SE V6 Petrol
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 8:14am |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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Tim
I agree...you talk to 5 battery "experts" about deep cylcle batteries and you
get 5 different answers.
The battery in question is a Century with caps. Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 11:09am |
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drivesafe
Joined: 23 Feb 2006
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Posts: 272
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norto wrote:The battery in question is a Century with caps.
Good stuff, it’s an original DEEP CYCLE battery.
Your battery is a flooded wet cell type battery.
The down side to these types of batteries is that they must not be left for long periods of time with out being charged, so you must cater for this when ever your caravan is not in use, something that your are already planning to do.
They also take longer to charge than AGMs do.
The up side to flooded wet cell type of batteries, they are very robust and will easily take everything the D3 can produce in the way of the D3’s variable voltages.
Unlike most AGMs, flooded wet cell batteries are current self regulating which means you can not damage them if you have a high voltage, high current power supply, again like the D3s can produce.
Most people are unaware that AGM batteries are not self regulating and can take full inrush currents and most ( not all ) AGMs MUST NOT BE CHARGED with full inrush current as it will shorten their operating life span, this is not a problem when using flooded wet cell batteries
Another good point is that any three stage 240 vac battery charger will easily charge and maintain your battery.
Hope this is of some help to you. 2007 TDV8 RR Lux + 2005 D3 SE V6 Petrol
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 11:57am |
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norto
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Location: batemans bay
Posts: 1146
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Tim
Thank you.
Sounds like you know your stuff. Peter
"Global Warming" The religion of the left
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| Mon Sep 01 2008 9:47pm |
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