Technical Leisure Battery not charging

[Robert56]

The leisure battery on my 2002 Fiat Ducato is not charging. I have a new battery on order as the old one looks to be deep discharged.
I have identified the cable which feeds the charging current to the leisure battery at the battery end.
However I am struggling to find the other end of the cable in the engine compartment.
I understand the current will be fed via some kind of split charge relay, so if I can locate that then I should be able to check the relay and also the wiring.

I've attached a photo of that side of the engine compartment. Can anyone help spot the split charge relay in the picture? or give me an idea of what it looks like and any other possible location.

Many thanks

 

[Communicator]

The leisure battery on my 2002 Fiat Ducato is not charging. I have a new battery on order as the old one looks to be deep discharged.
I have identified the cable which feeds the charging current to the leisure battery at the battery end.
However I am struggling to find the other end of the cable in the engine compartment.
I understand the current will be fed via some kind of split charge relay, so if I can locate that then I should be able to check the relay and also the wiring.

I've attached a photo of that side of the engine compartment. Can anyone help spot the split charge relay in the picture? or give me an idea of what it looks like and any other possible location.

Many thanksView attachment 466596

I would consider the two relays located on the bulkhead below the inertia switch. One could be the split charge, and the other the fridge relay. However as the relays seem to have integral fuses of either 7.5A, or 10A, perhaps these are not the relays, and are for something else. The adjacent 20A fuses could be part of the split charge circuit as 20A is a more appropriate fuse rating. Do the wires for these fuses connect to what appear to be three items visible over the top of the battery, or are these maxi blade fuses.

Relays themselves rarely fail. It is the connections to them, that can suffer from corrosion.

 

[Robert56]

Thanks for your help. It was one of the relays on the bulkhead. The 10A fuses you could see were just the relay operate fuses. There was a 20A in-line fuse near the leisure battery end of the switched feed. Replaced the fuse and all is well1
Thanks again
Robert

 

[Communicator]

Thanks for your help. It was one of the relays on the bulkhead. The 10A fuses you could see were just the relay operate fuses. There was a 20A in-line fuse near the leisure battery end of the switched feed. Replaced the fuse and all is well1
Thanks again
Robert

It is good practice to have a fuse close to the positive terminal of both batteries. This protects against any possible short circuit beyond the fuse, which could otherwise be a fire risk. The 10A operating circuit fuse seems quite high, 5A should be adequate.

 

[Robert56]

Thanks for the advice. I'll replaced the replay operate fuse with a 5A. Regarding the van battery, do you mean a fuse between the van battery and its side of the relay operate contacts?

 

[Communicator]

Thanks for the advice. I'll replaced the replay operate fuse with a 5A. Regarding the van battery,cont do you mean a fuse between the van battery and its side of the relay operate contacts?

Yes. Fuses should be as close as reasonably practicable to battery terminals. If you use smaller than 5A fuses in operate, but fuse elements more lilely to degrade and fail. The operating circuit for the relays is D+ which is the alternator field circuit. I think that Schaudt who are a popular supplier to continental converters e.g. Hymer, Burstner, etc use a 2A fuse.