Can i charge my 2nd Battery with my Inverter

Leon
What you have there is not an AC to DC inverter but a DC to AC, ie, DC12v to SINE WAVE AC power, ie 240v AC. Well, that is what it looks like to me! IF so, No, you cannot charge the battery with it!
It USES DC input to it from the battery to change it (INVERT IT), to 240VAC for use with relatively small 240V AC appliances.

To charge the battery, in addition to the solar and engine systems you mention, you would require a 240Vac input Battery charger, preferrably a multi step charger which will stop charging when the battery is fully charged. example: a 5 ampCTEK multi stage unit would do the job. There are bigger sizes at additional cost.

Using the inverter you have, running off the ORIGINAL battery, it's 240v ac output could be used with the above mentioned 240v ac battery charger to charge an auxiliary battery. Not a recommended method though. Ony for emergencies and well monitored for safety and duration of drain on OE battery.

Agree with first post, but more pertinent to me is that the battery doesn't look to be secured other than by the cut outs in the wooden beam above? Is it secured any other way?

You need an 240 volt battery charger. You need to ensure the charger is suitable to the 'chemistry' of the 12v battery (ie. lead acid vs lithium etc), and then you need to determine how much current it needs to deliver (ie. how big it needs to be). With those 2 parameters you can go shopping and I'm sure there will be plenty of suggestions of specific products here.

Chargers delivering higher current (amps) take less time to charge the battery. In general, chargers with higher current ratings are physically larger and more expensive.

You should be driven by your use case. Essentially, do you want to 'trickle charge' it over a few days or longer (in which case <=5A would probably do), do you need it to charge overnight (in which base maybe 10A would do for a 120AH battery), or do you want to be able to charge it in a few hours - in which case you might want something larger.

You can have the charger permanently connected to the battery there with the inverter, and just plug it in to 240V mains when available.

Back when we first got interested in RV's, before dc to dc charging of aux batteries became common the standard way most folk charged their aux batteries whilst driving was to have an inverter connected to their crank battery (often via a VSR ' Voltage Sensitive Relay to ensure that the crank battery would not be inadvertently flattened after the ignition was turned off) & a 240v mains charger plugged into the inverter, to charge the aux batteries.

The risk with this is there is a live 240v cable between the the inverter & charger whilst driving, & potentially in an accident scenario if this cable were damaged it could make the entire metal body of the vehicle live, possibly 'frying' anyone who came to the rescue.

This potential was reduced greatly by a) making sure the cable between inverter & charger was as short as possible & b) by taking steps to protect it from possible accident damage.

To charge your batteries from external mains power will require a 240v mains battery charger.

Congratulations on your campervan purchase! It sounds like you've got a great setup with the second battery, solar power, and an AC/DC inverter. Generally, it's possible to charge the second battery using external power through the inverter, but it depends on the specifics of your current electrical setup.

To give you accurate advice, I'd need more details on your inverter's capacity, the type of charger you're considering, and the overall electrical system configuration. In some cases, an additional charging controller may be needed to regulate the charging process and protect your battery.

It's recommended to consult with a professional or someone experienced in campervan electrical systems to ensure a safe and efficient setup. Feel free to provide more details, and I'll do my best to guide you in the right direction!

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Hi Leon,
What you have appears to be rather basic. Your photo shows a battery and an inverter which takes 12vdc from the battery and outputs 230vac (as RMD said). The white cable obviously plugs into the inverter to take the 230v to who-knows-where. I can see no controller for solar input although it may be hidden. There is no provision to charge the battery from the 230v mains and you would need to add a suitable charger to achieve that.

But of more concern to me is that the installation is poor with the battery and inverter being apparently unrestrained, wiring floating around, and no fuses in sight. It really should receive attention from an electrician, at which time a charger could be properly installed. It may cost a few dollars but what price do put on your life or a fire?

Do you know how your second battery gets charged from the car and from solar??? There are several ways to do the job. The 2nd battery may be wired through an isolation relay (controlled by the ignition) so that the 2nd battery is charged by the alternator when the car is running, but isolated when the engine is stopped, so that the car's main battery doesn't get drained when you are camping. The 2nd battery might be charged via a DC-DC charger which contains its own isolator (more expensive, but a much better way to charge the battery).
For solar, there should be a PWM or MPPT solar inverter fitted either to the panels, or close to the 2nd battery.
If there is a DC-DC charger, these usually have 2 inputs, one for 12V from the car and one from the solar panels. In this instance, the DC-DC charger contains the solar inverter inside the box, so you can feed unregulated solar panels to the DC-DC charger.
If you have a DC-DC charger, you can buy a correctly-sized 240/12V power supply and hook it up to the 12V input. Plug the power supply into the mains when its available, and the 2nd battery will get charged.