Most of the sites I visit are likely to have electric hook up available. Where this is the case I would like to leave my leisure battery at home to save weight. However, when I’m on 240v hook up, the onboard charger will still be operational. Is this likely to damage the charger, i.e. because there is no battery present? I assume also that I should insulate the cables that would normally go to the battery to stop them shorting? I have a 2010 Puck L. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

Great, thanks. I’ll try not to blow any fuses in the process.

Just a thought: Our 2002 310 requires a battery in place in order for the road lights to operate when towing, or at least the circuit complete. I am not electrically minded ( black art ) but to overcome this I fitted a small motorcycle battery and reduced the battery box volume with 50mm polystyrene. Works great for us, we never stay except on Elec hook up and the small battery does actually operate the interior lights / water pump just for checking things before we head off. This was originally suggested by a helpful gent on the forum here .
If the battery is removed completely is it necessary to complete the circuit when connected to the tow car ?
Chris

That’s interesting Chris. I’ve tested our road lights without the battery in place and they are all working fine, so it seems we don’t have this problem.

Generally speaking, when you operate equipment in a mode it wasnt designed for you are increasing its risk of its failure.

You may well be able to keep a charger online without a battery but why run the risk when all it takes is a switch to turn off the mains supply to the charger?

By installing a battery with a much smaller energy capacity than that the charger was designed for, the 12V system will work but if something goes wrong with the battery the charger could try to pump energy into it thinking the battery that is connected is low on charge rather than faulty.

I can't vouch for side lights operating off the battery on your van but if wired to current 13-pin conventions the side lights, brakes, fog light and reversing light are all powered off the car not the caravan battery: at least that's how my van is wired.: thats why I always check they work when connected to the car for the first time. Maybe older vans were wired differently?

Two points.
.Surely the road lights have to be powered by the car, that's what the power connection to the car is partly about. It would make no sense putting in a complex system where instructions from the car went to somewhere in the van which then caused the road lights to operate on the van's battery. AFAIK the road light circuits have no connection with any power source in the van.

Secondly, always remember that the battery AND charger are not standard fit on Touring vans, they are a cost option when new. Also different specs of electrical system have been factory fitted to fulfil such cost options as the years rolled by. Plus many vans have had batteries and chargers retro fitted by dealerships, caravan techs and DIY, meaning there are a whole host of different systems installed, connected in different ways, so there is unlikely to be a definitive answer to such questions