Planning a Leisure Battery - Phase Three

So by this stage I will have a leisure battery wired into my electrical system. It powers all required accessories and will not drain the driving battery when it runs out of juice. It can be charged by driving or by plugging into the onboard charger. At the moment getting mains power into the van entails running a power cord in through the window. Cheap, not very tidy and not great when it rains. The next step is to sort out a mains hookup.

I need to look further into this when the time comes but in a nutshell it seems you get a socket attached to the body of the van - preferably under the van so as to not cut into the paintwork. The outside mains plugs into this. This gets passed into some safety circuitry and then connected into the internal wiring of the van. In this way you can power everything and charge everything simply by plugging the van itself into the mains.

At this stage it would probably become sensible to put a ZIG panel into the mix. This is an LCD readout showing the state of all the electrics in the van. It would be built into the side panels somewhere.

A HUGE thanks to the members of the Brick yard forum for their help figuring all this out, especially EnergySolutions, McGuyver, T5-KTM, ECB and Acijai!

Planning a Leisure Battery - Phase Two

The next phase is to build all the phase one stuff into the electrical system of the van. This will need a professional outfit to do and will require that I pick a location for the battery and charger to live permanently inside the van. Picking that location will be key as it needs to be as efficient as possible in location.

In order to make sure that the appliances which are plugged into the leisure battery don't drain the driving battery you need a split circuit relay. This stops the main battery from being used to power your fridge and stuff and costs about £30. This gets added in when the leisure battery gets wired into the main wiring system.

So now when driving the alternator charges both batteries but when stopped the leisure battery disconnects from the rest of the system and powers all the accessories connected into it. The charger is still only connected to the leisure battery and only charges that battery, but the main battery is charged when driving as it always was. When the charger is hooked up all the accessories running off the leisure battery run effectively off the mains power.

At this stage I'll need to decide exactly how many 12v sockets I want and where I want them and have them wired in place in the back of the van. I'd also like the light circuits to be connected to the leisure battery so that I can leave them on for long periods of time without risking the driving battery. Same applies to the stereo so this can be left on for hours whilst parked up without affecting starting the van. Again this is stuff the pros will have to do.

This phase will cost about £30 in parts for the split charge relay and then I expect fairly large costs for a professional to wire everything up. I'll also no doubt need to pay a bit for the housing to hold the battery and charger in a permanent place inside the van. Some thought needs to be given to exactly where this is going to go.

Once this phase is complete I'll have not much more than at the end of phase one apart from the fact that everything will be built into the van and neatly tidied up and invisible, plus the leisure battery will also automatically be charged when driving but will still have a mains charger available built into the van.

Planning a Leisure Battery - Phase One

Something I like about campers is the ability to run lights and fridges and laptops and such all without the chance to drain the driving battery. I've been looking into this. It seems there is a lot to consider here. You need a secondary battery which is not the same type as the main driving battery. This leisure battery is designed to cope well with slowly being used up and going comepletely flat and then being recharged. It is very different to the starter battery in cars which deliver huge power for a very short time and then like to be recharged straight away by the alternator. The Leisure battery will cost about £95 including delivery.

In order to safely connect 12v appliances to the battery you need some addons: I'm going for some Quick release terminals which are very secure once fitted, safe and will allow multiple sockets to the attached to them. These are about £7 for the pair. And then to enable my 12v appliances to be plugged in I'm going for these water proof 12v double sockets. They have an inline fuse built in and simply attach to the battery via the terminals. They are about £10 each including delivery.

All that gives me a standalone leisure battery which I can plug two appliances into safely. However after a few hours this battery will eventually run out of steam. So I need a way to charge it. As a first step I'm not going to plug the leisure battery into the van's electrical system, it will be standalone. So it won't get charged by the alternator. I'll need a separate charger for it. I'm going for this ring smart charger which will enable me to charge the leisure battery by connecting it up to the battery with jumper leads (and with something more permanent later) and then simply plugging it into the mains. With the help of a mains hook up cable (see Accessories) I will be able to charge the leisure battery and power all the 12v accessories I connect to it from the mains when on a campsite. The charger is about £59 including delivery.

Once this phase is complete I'll have a leisure battery which can be charged from the mains, is totally independent of the driving electrics, is safe and which has 2 x 12v safely fused sockets attached. And I can leave that all at home when driving around and pop it into the back of the van when going camping, along with the 12v coolbox and other accessories on the list.

Total cost of this initial outlay would be about £95 + £7 + £10 + £59 = £171 parts. There is no labour charge as nothing is being done by anyone save me.

The trouble I'm having here is trying to source the specific leisure battery I have my eye on. It always seems to be out of stock. So I'm now looking around the net to find a suitable replacement to this battery.

Camping in Pevensey

This August we took the van to Pevensey for the bank holiday weekend. We decided that as there were no sleeping facilities in the van we would take the small 2 man tent and sleep in it but use the van for living in - when we weren't outside.

We arrived at the campsite to be told we couldn't bring a van onto the site. Quelle Disaster! But after chatting to the landlady for a while it dawned on her that we had a Kombi, not a panel van, and suddenly all was well with the world. We booked into a lovely campsite and found our way to a pitch overlooking the duck pond. As you can imagine, it being August bank holiday it was very crowded.

We pulled up, threw the tent up, chucked the blow up matress and duvet inside it and were set within about 2 minutes flat. Got to love that Kyam tent with the built in poles that virtually puts itself up! We took the table and chairs out and arranged them so that they overlooked the pond and the nice view and then took the bikes out of the back and tied them to the fence next to us. That left the van mostly empty on the inside. But we still had a bike box and a couple of camping boxes and a bag with our clothes in strewn about the back of the van. This led us to realise that a box rack which we would slot our bike/camping/surfing boxes into when we needed them would be very handy. I need to get on to Terry and see about making one.

The captain chairs in the front were swivelled and with the rear doors opened they also afforded a view over the duck pond. This was when it was apparent that rear windows would be a good idea. However at £330 plus an extra £60 for tinting they weren't cheap!

We spent most of the evenings either sat outside cooking, or sat in the captains chairs inside. The table was easy to move in or out and it was simple to eat at it when it was inside which was a bonus. Our camping light lit up the inside nicely and the Blue Cat heater took the chill off when it got cold.

It was quickly apparent that a raising roof would have been a real bonus. Forget sleeping in it, just being able to stand would have made a huge difference. Also, we missed curtains, for cosyness and privacy both. And a rack to tidy the back of the van from boxes and bags would have been useful. In fact, I think had we such a rack it would have been easy to throw the blow up matress in the back and sleep in there once all the bits were off the floor out of the way.

The one thing which was quickly apparent would have been most welcome when camping was a Leisure Battery. It would have been nice to have been able to have the van lights on, although our camping light was handy, and it might have been nice to have the radio on at times. Also, I had to unplug the side door light to stop that draining the battery when the door was open - which was often.

All in all our first camping trip with the van was a great success and it showed us exactly which things we needed to get for the van to make it more comfortable.

Mountain Biking in Wales

The same day I picked the van up from Bilbo's I took it home, packed it full of mountain bikes, surfboards and kit and headed off to Wales to visit some friends. It was a great way to really find out if the van would do what I bought it for. And the answer was emphatically yes.

It was a sinch to stack the bikes and boards in the back. No need to take any wheels off, just slide the bikes in, turn the front wheels sideways and they just fit. A quick hook up to the rear loading lash and to the rear seat headrests using bungees and the bikes were secure and didn't move around during the whole ride. I can see I'll need to have a think about how to secure them if we're away and have taken the rear seats out however!

The first long drive of the van was an absolute pleasure. The driving position, especially with the arm rests, is like being in an armchair and being sat up that high makes it all less stressful as you can see what is going on ahead much easier. I definitely missed cruise control however and that upgrade has moved much higher up the list of future modifications as a result!

We arrived at the Severn Bridge toll faster and much more refreshed than expected and joined the queue. As we moved up to the barrier the man punched us in as a class 2 vehicle - with a toll of £10. He then spotted the seats in the back and dropped the toll back down to £5. Result. Remember to leave the seats in when taking the van to Wales whenever possible!

The next day three of us loaded our bikes and gear into the van and set off for Afan bike park. We had a very wet ride around the hills and forests and then came back to the carpark. The van proved its use again as we were able to clamber into the back to get changed in some privacy and out of the rain. We then loaded up the bikes and got into the front. Swivelling the front seats around we had a sociable lunch with the three of us all sat together facing each other, rather than all looking the same way. Small touch but a nice one.

Upon getting home we cleaned out the van. It was dead easy with the floor being rubber and simple to sweep out. Also my seats are currently covered with vinyl which makes them a little sticky to sit on but they cleaned up in seconds from all the dirt on them from biking. Very handy!

Overall the first voyage was a great success. We spent more cash on diesel than we would have done in our car, of course, but it was the little touches which made a difference - being able to shelter and change inside, being able to just throw the bikes inside without sticking a bike rack on, being able to swivel the seats for a more sociable lunch. These were all good things.

The next big test will be when we take it camping! Hopefully the end of the month...

Insuring The Van

Blimey. This was harder than I thought. If you own a car you go to about three different web pages, stick your name, address, occupation and the car registration into the web page and you get your quote. Simples. However with a T5 it appears it's not that simple. No web page knew of the van's registration. And when you try and tell it what T5 you have there are a bazillion different options for a T5 SWB T30 window van/kombi. Add to that the fact that it's a tiptronic gear box and it seems that half the web sites don't believe such a van exists.

In the end a call to Direct Line managed to get things sorted, including all the exterior bodywork modifications for what seems like a very good price. I hope they don't put their prices up too much next year as I deffo just want to renew my policy and not go through that hell again.

Whilst I was at it I picked up gold standard breakdown cover from IC Breakdown - recommended off www.moneysupermarket.com. That covers me for just about everything you could hope, home and abroad for the tiny figure of £68 a year.

Buying the Van

Bilbos is not far from where I live so I tend to keep a half eye on their web page. About this time a Black Kombi came up which looked perfect - until I spotted it was an automatic gearbox. I've never liked the idea of driving an automatic so I just dismissed it. Then one night, searching the web looking for Black Kombis I thought of it and so I posted on the Brick-Yard about the tiptronic gear box and what people thought about it. I did some research on the net and found to my surprise everyone had nothing but good things to say about it. So I had another look on the web site and the van was still there. It looked great and just what I was after. I phoned Bilbos to see if it was still available and it was so I went for a test drive.



The van looked amazing and the test drive went great. I was seriously interested so I was cheeky and asked the salesman if I could take it home for the evening. A quick form signing, hand over some assurances (plus my car) and I was off home! That gave me the chance to drive it for a good few hours and really get used to it. I was able to take it to Andy's house for him to have a look over and comment on. I was able to take it home, show it to Lou and also to prove I could get bikes and surfboards straight in the back. Lou and I went for a spin as the sun was setting and agreed it was a shame we weren't off camping for the weekend! I was sold. So I went back to Bilbos the next morning and paid a deposit for the van. Did some haggling and managed to convince them to reupholster the two front seats in leather, and fit swivel bases to them both. They're also sticking a safe under the passenger side seat.



I pick the van up on Friday 14th August 2009 and am taking it off to Wales that same day for a mountain biking weekend. Can't wait.