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Hi...

We've got a VW T25 camper van and the electrics have been put in by one of the previous owners and they're obviously not right.  They've put in one of those hookup things with the three plug sockets (I think they're aimed at tents rather than campervans!) then the 3 way fridge is plugged into one socket, etc.

How are they supposed to work?

The lights and radio are running off the leisure battery and if the battery is flat they don't work even if we're plugged into a hookup, I thought the hookup was supposed to "override" everything if you were plugged in?

Plus I don't think the engine running is charging the leisure battery, we've been told its wired so that the engine charges both the van battery and the leisure battery at the same time so theres no need to switch between the two.

Help??!! Any ideas...

It sounds as though a fuse has blown in the charge circuit to the leisure batteries - assuming of course there is a split charge system in place to charge the leisure batteries when traveling.

Electric hookup will only charge the leisure batteries if there is some sort of charger in place.  Don't just buy a cheap trickle charger.  Much better to get a 4 stage smart charger of sufficient capacity relative to your leisure batteries.  In general aim for 10% of the battery capacity.  So if you have, say, 2 x 110 amp batteries look to get a 20 amp charger.  This will charge your batteries from 50% capacity to full in a little over 5 hours.  If your leisure batteries are old they could well need replacing as they will not hold charge.

John

Thanks that helps a lot!