Can I charge the leisure battery by plugging it into the mains?

[scimmiamagia!]

Or is it best to use a battery charger like a Ctek?

I have the orange 3 pin cable and an adaptor to a standard U.K. socket.

 

[Perfectos]

You can charge leisure bats by plugging into a 13a 3 pin 230v socket via the appropriate adaptor and cable attached to the charging point on your van

recommended to do so every month

 

[scimmiamagia!]

Great. Van has been unused for a month and the Ctek is flashing red so figured it needs charging asap! All hooked up via mains and hookup adaptor.

 

[Perfectos]

What is the Ctek doing ?
do you have a factory charging point ?
or has the ctek been added to compensate for no factory charging?

 

[scimmiamagia!]

The Ctek is just to check if the battery needs a charge. Have not used it to actually charge the battery. The hook up cable is far easier but was worried that there might have been some sort of energy management going on in campsites when using the hookup and was worried connecting direct to mains would knacker the battery.

How long on continual use with the floor mounted vw cool box should I expect?

 

[Perfectos]

The Ctek is just to check if the battery needs a charge. Have not used it to actually charge the battery. The hook up cable is far easier but was worried that there might have been some sort of energy management going on in campsites when using the hookup and was worried connecting direct to mains would knacker the battery.

How long on continual use with the floor mounted vw cool box should I expect?

connecting to mains via the hook up will not knacker the Batteries , VW charging system regulates the voltage etc. when 80% charge achieved The the charger will go into trickle mode, the Cali batteries love being trickled charged.

cool boxes are not a fridge, they are not as efficient as a compressor fridge , they remain on 100% of the time , they cool the box contents to a few degrees below the ambient temp,
which means when it’s hot the contents are not cold like a fridge.
I don’t know if the cool box has a voltage guard to prevent the LB being depleted fully ?
I would expect a couple of days use from the LB with a cool box connected , but if you connect anything else or turn on lights etc, that will be reduced proportionally

 

[Ch1pbutty]

The VW coolbox is a battery drainer! Sell it and replace with a Dometic CFX35.

 

[happyjames013]

connecting to mains via the hook up will not knacker the Batteries , VW charging system regulates the voltage etc. when 80% charge achieved The the charger will go into trickle mode, the Cali batteries love being trickled charged.

cool boxes are not a fridge, they are not as efficient as a compressor fridge , they remain on 100% of the time , they cool the box contents to a few degrees below the ambient temp,
which means when it’s hot the contents are not cold like a fridge.
I don’t know if the cool box has a voltage guard to prevent the LB being depleted fully ?
I would expect a couple of days use from the LB with a cool box connected , but if you connect anything else or turn on lights etc, that will be reduced proportionally

Plenty of cool boxes have compressors now. Alpicool are a good place to start and for comparison.

 

[Grumposaur68]

That's how you are meant to charge it

 

[Kayleigh]

The VW coolbox is a battery drainer! Sell it and replace with a Dometic CFX35.

Definitely sell the vw cooler! The CFX35 is discontinued according to Dometic.. so get any compressor fridge of your choice to replace. A decent economical model should last a couple of days on the Beach battery.

 

[Blue Yonder]

Plug in the electric hook up to trickle charge AGM engine/leisure batteries up to 100% state of charge. All lead acid batteries should be routinely charged to 100% to help promote their longevity. The van’s charging system is designed to charge to 80% state of charge because the other 20% is used to store scavenged charge produced by engine braking. If you run the batteries totally flat then using a smart charger would be the better way to recover the batteries

 

[Perfectos]

Plenty of cool boxes have compressors now. Alpicool are a good place to start and for comparison.

A compressor with refrigerant makes it a fridge , a fan and heat sink makes it a cool box.
a compressor is only required to pump the refrigerant!

 

[happyjames013]

A compressor with refrigerant makes it a fridge , a fan and heat sink makes it a cool box.
a compressor is only required to pump the refrigerant!

I was about to disagree, but checked and you are right. The things commonly referred to as cool boxes with a compressor, are actually called car fridges and those with Thermo electric, cool boxes.
I stand corrected.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Perfectos]

I was about to disagree, but checked and you are right. The things commonly referred to as cool boxes with a compressor, are actually called car fridges and those with Thermo electric, cool boxes.
I stand corrected.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You canny beat the laws of physics

 

[scimmiamagia!]

For sale, one VW Coolbox! ;-)

How does the Dometic fix to the floor, or does it not? One of the useful things about the VW one is that it fixes to the floor. It is also annoying thing abut the VW coolbox is that you cannot mount it laterally in the van.