Fitting a Leisure Battery to a Mazda Bongo

If you want to use your Bongo as a camper van then it's a good idea to fit a second battery to run your interior lights, radio and camping junk from. owners club here Bongo Fury

Step 1: What Exactly Are We Doing Here

First things first. When the engine is not running or the starter battery is not fully charged the VSR will see less than 14v and so won't make,van cleef arpels alhambra knock off bracelet.

Parts:1 x 30 amp voltage sensing relay (VSR)2m of 27 amp flexible red cable0.5m flexible black cable (not shown in the photo)2 x fuse holders2 x 25 amp fuses3 x crimp eye connectors1 x ve battery strap (not shown in the photo)Handful of cable ties (not shown in the photo)Various sizes and lengths of heat shrink sleevingTools:Side cuttersCrimp toolMultimeterFlat bladed screwdriverLighterThere are relays around that can deal with much larger currents,van cleef and arpels knock off bracelet alhambra, typically they are used for 4x4 and emergency vehicle applications but they start to get very expensive. Unless your leisure battery is very flat a 30A VSR will be suitable. In the worst case your leisure battery will be too flat and draw more the 25 amps. At this point you fuses will blow and the battery won't charge from alternator. You'll have to hook it up to a mains charger to give it an initial boost before putting it back in the van. In the even that too much current is drawn through the circuit the fuses will blow thus protecting all the components from melt down. By placing the fuses as close as possible to the battery posts we only have a very short length of cable that will be subject to the high current and the subsequent potential fire risk. There are many types of fuses and fuse holders available and I'd preferred to have used blade fuses. Unfortunately most blade fuse holders come pre molded with short fly leads. I don't actually know the rating of this cable, it was a piece left behind after a fitter had installed a new alarm for me. At this point there are no fuses installed in either of the red cables. To allow me to judge correct cable length I taped the VSR to the cover whilst I working. A more permanent fixing will be sorted out a little later.

Step 6: Fit the ve Leisure Battery Strap

Now you need to install the ve battery strap to connect the ve leisure battery post to the van chassis. I bought mine pre made and simply had to find a suitable place to bolt it to the chassis.

Step 7: Routing the Long Charge Cable

To route the long charge cable I remove the heater air intake scoop and followed suitable bits of the wiring loom and anything else I could cable tie to,van cleef and arpels clover replica bracelet. Check anything for faults.2) Your starter battery is very flat and pulling down the input voltage to the VSR below the trigger threshold. This is pretty unlikely since you just started the van which would imply the starter battery is in good shape.3) The trigger threshold is set too high and needs adjusting to the correct level. Turn the engine off and measure the voltage again,alhambra knock off bracelet van cleef. You will most likely find that the voltage will drop off slowly and so the VSR will not unmake straight away. This is expected. For safely remove the fuse from the starter battery end first. Now connect the charge cable to the +ve leisure battery clamp and the clamp to the +ve post of the leisure battery.

I am so confused with my leisure battery. It charges whilst driving but when parked up even when not using anything will drain flat. Also I thought when on EHU it woukd switch to that or charge the leisure battery. I have a 4 prong resistor and am sure its been wired up wrong. How can i check ?

I just done this to charge the leisure battery in my vanette. Thanks for the great instructions!Can you use this simple relay from Halfords to do this:

Would the leisure battery be a deep cycle battery? If not, wouldn a deep cycle battery be better for running accessories for long periods of time??

There are three sorts of automotive battery. Standard starter batteries that need constantly topping up (trickled if you like) to stay in top condition. Then at the other end are deep cycle batteries that can be discharged near enough fully without being harmed. In between these are the so called leisure batteries. These can be used as a sort of heavy duty starter battery or a lighter duty battery.

That a very condensed way of putting it but, in essence, to answer your question, yes, a true deep cycle battery is best but a leisure battery is fine and a fair bit cheaper.

If you are interested the difference is in the way the battery is made. Deep cycle batteries have much more heavy duty plates and some are chemically different (as well as there being specialist gel batteries).