[drucouloir]

2002 2.5 TDI ACV

Hi all, anyone any experience of this please?

I've been putting off the instillation of the whole leisure system as I've not been able to find an answer to this question hoping that you good folks can help please?

I've a 110 A/H AGM battery that'll be fed via a fused feed from the Durite voltage sensitive relay.
From the leisure battery to a 6way fuse carrier and then on to V basic stuff - Waeco CF25, underseat active sub, a dozen small LEDs, a couple of usb sockets and a 12v cigarette lighter that'll runt a small 350A inverter or a portable dvd player.

At some point I'd like to put a small PV panel on the roof to top up both the batteries when we're parked up.

We don't do many camp sites so have no plans to fit 240v. On the very rare occasions when the stars align, I've charged the leisure battery with a CTEK MXS 5.0

The question is, will the standard alternator regulator/Durite combo do all the funky stuff that I don't understand but that AGM's seem to need, or do I need to install a DC to DC charger between the vsr and the leisure battery?

Is there a charge controller that'll deal with a feed from the vsr and a PV panel?

Any thoughts or experience gratefully received. TIA

T

 

[Or_GazM]

Your best bet it to contact "upspex".
He used to be very active here, but I think recently he's been overworked sorting T5 and T6 electrics out for people

www.travelvolts.net is his website.
Martyn is his name.

 

[Hoovie]

All a VSR does is strap the starter battery and the leisure battery together when the alternator is running. It is not a battery charger or has any other real functionality.
And with a VSR, you are relying on the output of the alternator to charge the battery. And the alternator is not a battery charger, it is a current provider.

So if you are looking for a way to boost the batteries charge, than a VSR setup can be fine - as long as you have another way to finish the job and fully charge the battery (maybe a mains charger like your CTEK, or a decent Solar Controller.
It sounds like you are really relying on getting your battery charged by driving alone - in which case a B2B charger would be much better than using a VSR as it will take the output of the Alternator and convert it to a charging profile that is much healthier for the battery. Downside is cost - looking at around £200 more than a basic VSR system. But on the plus side, you have all the cabling in place virtually to change from a VSR to a B2B so all you need to buy is the B2B charger itself and a suitably sized -ve cable.
If you stick to the VSR setup, your battery will get charged, but not fully ever and you will not get the best out of it.

 

[drucouloir]

Thanks,
I'll see if I can get hold of him.
T

 

[Or_GazM]

Yeah, or Hoovie....sorry, keep forgetting you do this stuff too. :*

 

[drucouloir]

Thanks Hoovie,
I nice succinct explanation that even I can understand.
Might have to wait a while as just had to spend all my pocket money on getting through the MOT
Cheers,
T