To keep or to swap?

Davor Butkovic · May 1, 2019

Having accepted the fact that my old leisure battery charger was broken, I decided to splash out on a new genuine Westfalia charger from Gunzl
I’d rather not talk about how much it cost me! Most of you guys will know.
While trying to set up my new charger and receiving lots of good advise and help from you guys as well as trawling through countless forums and links to various websites I actually found an article, please see below;

https://translate.googleusercontent...700259&usg=ALkJrhhd-r6_yLttpYEXHjsCLM4mpn5WmQ

[/URL]

Where it mentioned a fault that my charger had and it also explained how to fix it.
So there was me with a soldering iron, borrowed from my dad, trying to fix my charger.
To my amazement it actually works now.

So my dilemma is do I keep running the old one and run it into ground or install new one and link it to the starter battery too?

bxl_lad · May 1, 2019

The URL from above is corrupt... Could you re-post?
Though personally, I would ask myself the question "am I comfortable sleeping in my van (or just leaving it plugged in) with a 'fixed' though previously fried, charging unit that is hooked up the mains power..."
If there is any chance this thing could go pop and potentially start a fire, then I'd be wary of the DIY fix (not having seen what the fix entailed), but from the pics it looks like a bypass of some sorts...

When ours went pop we didn't really have a choice, we were on holiday and needed to get back up and running, so an express delivery to the campsite of a new Fraron charger did the trick. Price wise it was a fraction of the cost of an original Westfalia unit, but it gives the added advantage of being able to charge the starter motor too - a bonus if you ask me... But I did give though to getting the old one fixed and keeping as a possible spare/backup, but the same question from above comes to mind... Would you trust a 20+ year old repaired unit - is it worth the worry?

Davor Butkovic · May 1, 2019

https://translate.googleusercontent...700259&usg=ALkJrhhd-r6_yLttpYEXHjsCLM4mpn5WmQ

[/URL]

Hope this link works better.
You are very right with regards to reliability, would like to make a trip and the unit fails when there is a new one gathering dust somewhere.

With regards to repair it’s s new link on the underside of the PC board instead of the one above. Biggest appeal would be wiring up to starter battery.

bxl_lad · May 2, 2019

Link still not valid, maybe post the untranslated version of the site...

mrcheesbrough · May 2, 2019

bxl_lad said:
Link still not valid, maybe post the untranslated version of the site...

Ladegerät A10 – T4-Wiki

www.t4-wiki.de

ArcticMatt · May 4, 2019

I gave my old one away from nowt. I wasnt having it anywhere near the van. Too much risk. Old technology and a known source of failure. Out of curiosity, Why did you go for the Gunzl charger? The FraRon was way cheaper with dual output.

Davor Butkovic · May 7, 2019

ArcticMatt said:
I gave my old one away from nowt. I wasnt having it anywhere near the van. Too much risk. Old technology and a known source of failure. Out of curiosity, Why did you go for the Gunzl charger? The FraRon was way cheaper with dual output.

I think my old one is going on the shelf in garage until either someone is desperate for one or it gets skipped.
Looked at both chargers indeed and given the fact that my old one lasted some 28 years and that I would have start to alter wiring to accommodate FraRon I went for one from Gunzl.

ArcticMatt · May 7, 2019

Davor Butkovic said:
I think my old one is going on the shelf in garage until either someone is desperate for one or it gets skipped.
Looked at both chargers indeed and given the fact that my old one lasted some 28 years and that I would have start to alter wiring to accommodate FraRon I went for one from Gunzl.

I see. There wasn't any wiring mods as such for the direct swap. Just some additional wiring to get the dual output function to the starter battery.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Davor Butkovic · May 7, 2019

I guess I thought that there is more wiring to alter.
Perhaps should have looked at it in more detail but some of the previous posts suggested that original chargers were silent and purpose built.