James Cook Forum

Hello, to see if any expert can solve a question concerning the battery charger that comes with the Westfalia series. In my case it's a James Cook model from 2006 onwards.
My question is the following, I had to change the batteries of series because they were dead. And the truth so far had not paid attention to the charging voltage when the JC was connected to 220. The new batteries that I have mounted are gel as had the previous ones. The main reason for having put back gel batteries has been that in the manual of the Furgo says that the charger is specific for batteries of gel. And the doubt is that the load recommended by the new gel batteries is from 14.1 to 14.4, but the charger is charging it to 14.7 v, instead with the alternator the batteries charge at 14, 2 v. And the truth is that before it was also charging at 14.7 v, and the previous gel batteries also had to be charged between 14.1 and 14.4.
So I do not know if I have the wrong charger or it's normal that I'm charging at 14.7 v ???
If anyone can enlighten me I would appreciate it.

Thank you very much

Spacy, thank you very much for your comment. I do not understand how Westfalia can install a charger below the needs of the batteries that come standard.
Spacy, a question, Do you know if it is necessary to make any modifications in the Zentralelektronik NCV3 to recognize the new charger. It is that I have a bad experience with the change of the heating and the Zentralelektronik NCV3. Now the Zentralelektronik NCV3 does not recognize the heating correctly, I would not want the same thing with the charger.

Thank you very much

Spacy, vielen Dank für Ihren Kommentar. Westfalen kann nicht verstehen, wie ein Ladegerät unter die Bedürfnisse der Batterien installiert, der Standard.
Spacy, eine Frage, wissen Sie, wenn Sie Änderungen in den Austausch von JC zu machen brauchen das neue Magazin zu erkennen. Ist Ich habe eine schlechte Erfahrung mit der Änderung der Heizung und der Steuereinheit. Nun hat die TK-Anlage nicht korrekt die Heizung erkennen, ich will nicht das Gleiche mit dem Ladegerät passieren.
Vielen Dank

The alternator is not designed to charge gel-batteries. Hence it charges the battery with the wrong voltage. Charging the gel-battery together with your starter-battery by the alternator is a design flaw by default.

Check the charging voltage directly at your batteries or your charger. Don't trust the central unit, its voltmeter isn't very accurate. Besides, chargers aren't that accurate with their charging voltage. I've made my experience with some noted charger companies.

You can buy a plug and play replacement here:
https://www.fraron.de/batterieladegerae ... -85859176/
It will be recognized by the central unit.
It claims to have 20A charging voltage, but in my experience it's just a little bit more than the original Philips charger. I had mine replaced by Fraron, but the replacement wasn't any better. Maybe buy the 30A version instead (but i don't know if it fits into place).

I checked the output voltage of the charger and it turns out that output 14.7v on the output of the service batteries and 13.8v on the starter batteries. At the end I took the charger to an electronics and told me that the repair is more expensive than a new charger.
Now it is a new charger, maybe I decide for the Fraron 20A for ease of installation.
Thank you very much for the information offered.

Ich habe die Ausgangsspannung des Ladegeräts und es stellt sich heraus 14.7V am Ausgang der Batterien des Dienstes und 13.8V in den Starterbatterien. Am Ende habe ich das Magazin zu einem elektronischen und sagte mir, dass die Reparatur teurer als ein neues Ladegerät ist.
weil es jetzt ein neues Ladegerät gesetzt, kann ich von Fraron 20A für eine einfache Installation entscheiden.
Vielen Dank für die Informationen angeboten.