In dash radio connection to leisure battery

1996 Duetto.

As I am worried about draining the van battery if we listen to the in dash CD/Radio I am considering one of two options.

Change the wiring so that the CD/Radio and factory amp are powered by the leisure battery. I appreciate this will involve tracing the power + leads, cutting then installing inline fuses before connecting to + terminal on leisure battery and no doubt will incur a fair amount of cursing.

OR

Do I just invest in a small battery monitor/charger for the van battery like this

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Would use of a charger do any harm to the van battery as unlike the leisure battery it is not designed to be charged/discharged regularly ?

This may be a hypothetical question as I am going to monitor the situation as we travel

Why not fit a Battery Master? This will also top up the engine battery when on hookup with out the need for an additional charger and is fully automatic so will not allow overcharging. If you keep your 'van on hookup at home too, then this will avoid the engine battery losing charge due to powering the alarm, radio standby, etc if unused for a while

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Its actually pretty simple to connect direct to the leisure battery. Did this on my previous van, great success. Run the radio as long as you like, knowing that you will always be able to start up in the morning. Peace of mind on the cheap.

Thank you................. don't really want to go spending £70 ish this early in our tour, but will look into this further.

Something you may want to consider before linking the radio to the leisure battery is (on my van anyway) when the ignition is turned on and engine running, all power from the leisure battery is cut off. If this is the same in your van you wouldn't be able to use the radio whilst travelling.
Unless you can bypass this somehow.

Enn

rogerblack wrote:Why not fit a Battery Master? This will also top up the engine battery when on hookup with out the need for an additional charger and is fully automatic so will not allow overcharging. If you keep your 'van on hookup at home too, then this will avoid the engine battery losing charge due to powering the alarm, radio standby, etc if unused for a while

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Could you explain where the battery master is fitted please. I see there is a red, black and brown wire. Is it fitted near the leisure battery?

moggyminor1966 wrote:

rogerblack wrote:Why not fit a Battery Master? This will also top up the engine battery when on hookup with out the need for an additional charger and is fully automatic so will not allow overcharging. If you keep your 'van on hookup at home too, then this will avoid the engine battery losing charge due to powering the alarm, radio standby, etc if unused for a while
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Could you explain where the battery master is fitted please. I see there is a red, black and brown wire. Is it fitted near the leisure battery?

Yes, ours is fitted by the leisure battery in connection with the split charge relay/fuse block for the hab area 12V, under the driver's seat towards the front so you can see the red/green LED status easily.

Here are supplier's instructions:
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why not buy a small radio and just plug in to plug socket when you are on site.easier and cheaper all round.

Hi

fisherman3 wrote:why not buy a small radio and just plug in to plug socket when you are on site.easier and cheaper all round.

Yes, we have a DAB radio but perhaps I should have explained that the main reason for this post was that I wanted to increase the sound volume of our "Celo TV/DVD" which I do so by connecting a jack to jack lead from the headphone socket on the TV to the AUX in on the in dash cd/radio player hence the concern about draining the start battery and the preference for using the leisure battery to run the in dash CD/Radio player

I don't think there is a cut out on the 12v (leisure battery) when the vehicle is in motion as we can have the 12v hab lights on whilst moving but will check it out

Tim gee wrote:Hi

Hello, don't be shy

Sorry about that ,started to post introduction in wrong section,but hallo anyway