Decision made, and here we are

[Mike Frost]

Hello one and all,

Jude and I have been mooting campervan purchase, off and on, for about 15 years. We are both retired so outside lane blasts from hotel to hotel in Jude's convertible, or on my BMW RT are being probably in the main replaced by the more rounded experience option of a California SE - Barbara Ann - a 2009 T5 baby with very good specification and 36K on the clock.

We look forward, like I daresay many others, to benefitting from reams of good advice from the more experienced members of the club!

Here's a simple question for starters; does the alternator charge the two leisure batteries, as well as the giant lump under the bonnet please? I'm going to set up winter charging points, one for the side socket that services the leisure batteries, and a smart charger for under the bonnet - am I duplicating effort here?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[calikev]

Hi Mike welcome yes the alternator will charge your van battery first when it gets up to a certain voltage a relay will switch over to the leisure batteries again if your van battery starts to drop it will switch back.

 

[GrannyJen]

The alternator charges both although I believe it only charges the leisure battery up to around 80%.

The recommendation from VW Is a 24 hour mains charge at least once a month to give full 100%.

Oh, a big welcome by the way

 

[sapto]

Welcome Mike!

I charge both from time to time and no problem so far (batterie itself is about 5 years old or older...)

 

[Mike Frost]

Thanks Granny Jen and Sapto, I inferred from a common sense standpoint that this was the case, but just wanted a confirmation, for which I am obliged. Day after we got her home the under the bonnet battery died, not surprising as it was the original, and was replaced by a Yuasa monster, VW having nothing on the shelf, the vendor very decently went halves with us on this. I was advised to charge once a month, and I have always had my motorcycle hooked up to a smart charger for the winter, so Barbara Ann will be getting the same treatment.

We are hoping to bimble down to Munich for the last week of the month, but despite extensive online searching, I cannot find a site that a) hasn't shut for the winter the day after Oktoberfest finishes or b) accepts campervans/caravans rather than just tents. Once again, I would be greatly obliged if anyone could advise on either a) a reliable up to date source of this sort of information or b) a site they can recommend, or ideally both!

Many thanks,
Mike

 

[sapto]

We are hoping to bimble down to Munich for the last week of the month, but despite extensive online searching, I cannot find a site that a) hasn't shut for the winter the day after Oktoberfest finishes or b) accepts campervans/caravans rather than just tents. Once again, I would be greatly obliged if anyone could advise on either a) a reliable up to date source of this sort of information or b) a site they can recommend, or ideally both!

Many thanks,
Mike

Hello Mike

Does the site has to be in Munich itself? There are a lot of great places just an hour away from Munich (for example: Kloster Andechs, small community site or around Garmisch the perfect-camping.de). The Camping Thalkirchen is open till 31st October (however I've never been there).

 

[Kmann]

Hello one and all. Jude and I have been mooting campervan purchase, off and on, for about 15 years. We are both retired so outside lane blasts from hotel to hotel in Jude's convertible.

Welcome ;-)

Was it you we shared a table with in old town Nürnberg this summer? We meet a couple hotel hopping in a Cabrio a talked about the pleasures of a campervan?

 

[Mike Frost]

Iben and Henrik,

No I'm sorry it wasn't us this year. We were intending to take Jude's SAAB convertible on the road this autumn, but look what happened!

Sapto,

Many thanks for your suggestions. i'll get in touch with Thalkirken and see whether they can accommodate us. We'd love to go to Garmisch, but the object of the exercise is to celebrate my birthday in Munchen itself, so while somewhere a short ride on the U Bahn is ideal, an hour away would be a little too far out. Thanks for the suggestion though, we intend to get into Bavaria in the future as well; I have stayed in Garmisch on 4 occasions now, for the BMW Mottorrad Days party on my bike.

 

[Hotel California]

Welcome allong!

 

[parrot2]

welcome

 

[sbmcd]

The alternator charges both although I believe it only charges the leisure battery up to around 80%.

The recommendation from VW Is a 24 hour mains charge at least once a month to give full 100%.

Oh, a big welcome by the way

We are just back from 8 weeks in Europe almost all without hook up, use the van mostly after 3 days to top up food, fridge, wine and beer. On the rare occasions I have checked after a food run leisure batteries are back to at least 90 perecent. Just over 3 years old van.

 

[WelshGas]

Hello one and all,

Jude and I have been mooting campervan purchase, off and on, for about 15 years. We are both retired so outside lane blasts from hotel to hotel in Jude's convertible, or on my BMW RT are being probably in the main replaced by the more rounded experience option of a California SE - Barbara Ann - a 2009 T5 baby with very good specification and 36K on the clock.

We look forward, like I daresay many others, to benefitting from reams of good advice from the more experienced members of the club!

Here's a simple question for starters; does the alternator charge the two leisure batteries, as well as the giant lump under the bonnet please? I'm going to set up winter charging points, one for the side socket that services the leisure batteries, and a smart charger for under the bonnet - am I duplicating effort here?

Cheers,
Mike

The Alternator question has been answered.
The Built in Mains Charger will charge the Leisure Batteries to 100% AND post, I think, 2006 will also trickle charge the Engine Battery.
The only way to check this properly is to measure the Voltage of the Leisure and Engine Batteries before connecting the vehicle to the Mains and again 12hrs later. The Charger trickle charges the Engine Battery once the Leisure Batteries are fully charged and so the Engine Battery should show a Voltage in excess of 12.7 volts, nearer 14.4 volts, whilst on the Mains Charger with fully charged Leisure Batteries.

 

[Mike Frost]

Thanks one and all for comprehensive advice on battery charging, both on the road and while 'resting'. I have acquired a camper outdoor charging point through the club shop, which I'm going to install in the garage, and was going to add an outdoor electrical point for charging the engine battery too, but that now looks to be superfluous, so thanks for saving my time WelshGas!