[shep]

is there any reason why i shouldn't charge a deep cycle battery via the rear accessory socket ?

[Gwagensteve]

A lead acid battery will draw whatever its internal resistance will permit when charging, so whilst the rear accessory socket has a 120W rating (and maybe a 15A fuse?) the battery can draw far more than that. I reckon the fuse will blow if you hook a partially discharged battery to the accessory socket.

Steve.

[Built4thrashing]

Yep what he said ^^^^^^

[royce]

resistance might mean it wont blow the fuse as most batteries are flat out taking more than 20 amps with a decent cable feeding them

better to run something to the rear with an anderson plug or something, there for next time then

[britvit]

We have a large industrial type battery charger here with an ammeter on it, I've never seen a lead acid car battery take more than about 15 amps. The twin battery set up in my car is fused at 20 amps and has never blown the fuse (4mm cable- conductor size). I think a deep cycle battery will draw more current though.
You should only use sealed batteries in the passenger compartment.
You could try running the battery flat at home before you need it then plug it in and see if it blows the fuse.

[shep]

the battery i want to use is a sealed 30amp jobbie. it is a nightmare trying to get cable through the fire wall
so i would rather avoid having to.

[dhula]

would the waeco or engel battery packs be suitable for your needs

I picked up a weaco one for $240ish I think it was only a month ago.

[shep]

how about
12mm cable from battery to the boot, Anderson plug to a battery box with a isolating solenoid
and a plug into the accessory socket to act as a trigger for the solenoid?

[britvit]

From the links that dhula posted- The maximum charge current for the waeco 36ah battery pack is 14.4amps. Its just a battery in a flash box. Your 30ah one should be fine just plugged in. Run it flat and give it a try- the worst that can happen is a blown fuse.

[shep]

this is what i ended up doing

poked 8mm2 cable through the guard to the battery.
pulled the kick pannel, door seal and whatever the bit along the bottom is called then ran the cable through
to the back. takes less then 2 minutes to remove the cable and stick everything back on.



50 amp anderson plug on the end of the cable



put a isolating solenoid in the battery box with the battery.



solenoid is triggered by the accessory socket.



just have to get some more cable to finish it off.

[Dr_Snapid]

Dont connect that wire without a fuse man

[shep]

Dr_Snapid wrote:

Dont connect that wire without a fuse man

what wire?
there is a circuit breaker on the battery wire

[royce]

stick a circuit breaker at both ends, not going to say that cable might get caught in the door jam and burn the car to the ground, but if it does you want both ends fused so it removes both potential supplies

[shep]

royce wrote:

stick a circuit breaker at both ends, not going to say that cable might get caught in the door jam and burn the car to the ground, but if it does you want both ends fused so it removes both potential supplies

Haha I didn't consider the second battery. Thanks

[royce]

you cant rely on the solenoid to be an effective isolator in case of a short either, high current can weld the contacts together

also, grab a surge protector thingy and stick it across the solenoid trigger terminals, when you turn them things off they generate some awesome shit that might upset the electrics.

[TheOtherLeft]

shep wrote:

this is what i ended up doing

poked 8mm2 cable through the guard to the battery.
pulled the kick pannel, door seal and whatever the bit along the bottom is called then ran the cable through
to the back. takes less then 2 minutes to remove the cable and stick everything back on.

Just an observation, but rain/water will find it's way into your interior by following the cable thru the door seal. I've had this happen and it took me ages to find the source. I rearranged the wiring so the cable enters the door seal from below, not above like in your case.

[shep]

TheOtherLeft wrote:

shep wrote:

this is what i ended up doing

poked 8mm2 cable through the guard to the battery.
pulled the kick pannel, door seal and whatever the bit along the bottom is called then ran the cable through
to the back. takes less then 2 minutes to remove the cable and stick everything back on.

Just an observation, but rain/water will find it's way into your interior by following the cable thru the door seal. I've had this happen and it took me ages to find the source. I rearranged the wiring so the cable enters the door seal from below, not above like in your case.

It is just for camping so is only temporary. I would like a permanent second battery but unfortuanally there is nowhere to stick one.

[got_bar_work]

The cable should always loop down then back in to where ever its going so that water will run down and drip off not run in to the hole

[got_bar_work]

The cable should always loop down then back in to where ever its going so that water will run down and drip off and not run in to the hole

[Dr_Snapid]

I take it you never tried just using the accessory socket? I was interested to know if that worked ok for a camping battery

[dhula]

Dr_Snapid wrote:

I take it you never tried just using the accessory socket? I was interested to know if that worked ok for a camping battery

It's how I charge my Waeco battery when driving. Battery plugged into acc socket in back, fridge and DVD screens plugged into battery. When car switched off, fridge and DVD screens still have pwr to run.
I've not sat still overnight with it yet, only day trips. Longest I've been with engine off is 4 hours. So far no probs and Waeco battery shows full charge.

[Dr_Snapid]

thx dhula

[got_bar_work]

Does the waeco have some sort of charger in it
I charge mine off the lighter plug some times aswell
I know the old engle wouldnt charge off a lighter plug and u needed there loom that ran back to the main batt and steped the voltage back up where u pluged the batt in to

[shep]

i didnt want to use the accessory plug because i didn't know what would happen when the 2nd battery feeds back into the accessory
socket when the motor is off.

i may be wrong but aren't those waeco batterys just a nicad?

[Munster]

This is what you need - I have one in my GV.
http://www.engelaustralia.com.au/cgi-bin/product.cgi?item_id=12vdcbattcharger&item_string=&category=Off%20Road%20Accessories