Battery problem

Im with Stewart, ive not heard of plugging into the diagnostic socket... this suggests something under tha bonnet?

also, now youve taken the extra charger route, while on site with ehu, youre going to have to plug in a seperate charger (wires traiping under the bonnet?) to stop your vehicle battery running down.

these chargers are good, but this sounds a bit cumbersome...perhaps it could be wired in permanently so that, once on hook up, it just works?..

IMHO, much better to just have a Battery Master which will do exactly this, charge your vehicle battery when on ehu....

£69.99 from Vanbitz....fit and forget....

I agree too, Battery Master is the best option. I fitted one to my first new MH way back in 1997 and then transferred it to my next van. My current van has a smart charge system so doesn't require one. Mind you, it's not that smart as it needs some manual intervention where the leisure batteries are concerned, but that's another story.
I too am confused by the "plugging in to the diagnostic socket", not heard that one before. Perhaps the OP was advised to do so as the cigar lighter sockets are only ignition fed. I wouldn't want to plug anything into that socket without being 100% sure it was safe to do so.

It uses a Scart lead to plug into the socket that the garage uses to run the diagnostics programme on the engine.  Ours is just the the right and below the steering wheel under a plastic cover.

Battery fully charged now and we are due to go to family in Bristol in 2 weeks so van gets a good run then.

Diagnostic sockets are required to be within the 'passenger compartment' fro cars .... not sure about vans/MH base vehicles

It's an EOBDII lead/plug ..... but I know what you mean 

Same here, flat battery. Sorted with jump leads. Had been on 240V on the drive and thought vehicle battery was charged. ON reading manual (Autocruise) I found that the charging defaults to leisure battery. but you can change to vehicle by pressing centre button. Looks that there is no need for separate charger. Have look at your manual.  Mind you I cpuld not find the vehicle battery at first with 2 leisure batteries under the front seats. Vehicle battery was under the passenger footwell.

Fish, autocruise will probably have a Sargent PSU.... as you say you can change the charge direction by using the button, but there is a better way...

the PSU is user controllable, and there are options to change the charging regime....from memory of our Bolero, it can be Leisure (priority to leisure batteries), Vehicle (priority to the cab battery) or Smart, which should check all batteries and charge accordingly.

the same settings are available when prioritising solar commected via the Sargent unit.

setting required would be 'charging to Smart'

There is a discussion going on about this on the Autosleeper owners forum........apparently on the lower specced sargent units you have to select manually whether you want the charge to go to cab or hab battery, on the higher spec Sargents it is automatic (or "smart").

On my previous Elddis M/H I just hardwired a Ctek from one of the additional sockets I had installed to the cab battery (with an inline fuse obviously). With careful shopping around at the time I got the Ctek for £30 (you dont need an expensive one for trickle/maintenance charging). Then whenever the van was on EHU (on site or at home) both batteries were being charged.

I use my van as a large car - especially for the fortnightly shop.  I feel that not only does it keep the battery topped up, but keeps the mechanics, brakes etc.. in good order too.

Some time ago I bought a small charger from Lidl.  OK for small batteries, but isn't at all happy trying to top up the van's starter battery.

Battery’s like engine fuel are the life blood of a motor home and unfortunately most motor-homes don’t have an accurate voltage meter fitted as standard, usually just a couple of led's or a meter that is marked red and green.   For a pound or two you can buy  a  voltage meter modal from China on Ebay,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-4-5-30V-2-Wire-Blue-LED-Panel-LED-Display-Voltage-Meter-Voltmeter-New-Arrival/321963303535

This would allow you to check the battery voltage and as it draws next to nothing itself you can leave it on all the time, I have mine visible through the windscreen.

You may have to wait a week or two before it arrives.