vw Trident charging system

Hi,

Sorry to ask this daft question but my bus is new to me, I have a caravan also and when on the mains hook-up it charges the leisure battery up,,could one of you please inform me on the trident 1993 system.
I have bought a new battery for the motor and a new leisure battery for onboard electrical gear ,does my van charge the leisure when on hook-up? is there a hidden switch to flick on?
The van lives on my drive next to my garage and I've been putting a trickle charger on both battery now and again to keep them topped up, but I suppose if the system looks after itself on the mains I'll make a lead up to make it easier for me.

Thanks for you help,,

When on hook-up it's unlikely that the charger will charge your engine battery unless you have a switch on the control panel to select which battery you want charged. As regards a switch for the charger, that again depends on your control panel. If you have a switch on there then that obviously needs to be on. You may find a switch in a cupboard under sink or in wardrobe or you may have to switch it on at the charger itself, again that could be in wardrobe or under sink, in which case a light to show it's on will also be on the charger.
To keep my engine battery charged when unused for a length of time, I use a solar panel on the dash, plugged into the cigar lighter which must be live without the ignition being on (in fact I use 2 solar panels, one for each the engine battery and the leisure battey so I don't have to trail the hook-up lead down my drive.)

I read somewhere that a battery charger was an optional extra on Tridents. Without one, the leisure battery only charges when the engine is running.

I think (again from something I read on a post somewhere) they were fitted in a few different locations. Ours in under the food cupboard next to the carver heater. In the bottom of the cupboard there is a little 'flap' and through that you can see the on/off switch of the charger. But yours might be in a different place... under one of the chairs possibly?

HTH

Steve

Thanks,,,

I'm off out the front door in a minute to check, I know I have the consumer unit under the cuboard where the gas valves are fitted I suppose if there is three toggles one for the fridge one for the lighting and one for the charger,,but again I think the solar chargers straight to the batterys looks like free battery conditioning.


Gaz,, just on the drive.

I have a 2007 trident which has a switch in the control panel which allows charging car or leisure battery. It is handy for keeping. Batteries charged. I'd guess if there is not an obvious switch visible you maybe can't do this.

One way to check what is happening is to put a voltmeter across each battery when on hook up and see if the voltage rises when your plug in.

Hope you manage to resolve.

Silver