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My dear-dear friends.

When we bought the van it hasn't been used for a long time, so the lesure batt would be low. We booked the van in for a 'good going over' re body-work which took 2 weeks so its not been run for long-enough to recharge the batt, by the way is a green power 85 amps. I am now charging. I didn't now if i took it off weather it would affect the vans running while i charged the batt.Best regards Wayne      

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Carefull with your arthritus Wayne. Better for Maggie to hump that battery up and down those flights of stairs especially with the weather getting colder. Time to check the antifreeze as well. Our van is just over three years old Dave and to my knowledge has never been topped up. Does the strength remain the same or should I add a drop more. Howard.
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Hi Howard, It depends on what anti freeze has been used. The genral consensus in the trade a few years ago was that it should be changed every three or four years (as far as I recall). The best thing to do is buy yourself an anti freeze hydrometer, they're only a couple of quid but with one of these you can check the exact strength of anti freeze and then top up if required. D.
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Ta Dave. On previous older vehicles I would have drained the system, put in a can of flushing additive, run it for a few days and then replaced it with the right amounts of antifreeze and water. Amazing what used to come out, but with these modern engines I always try to get advice before I touch anything. Howard.
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My lesisure batt has now been charged up fully, took it for a batt test and it passed with flying colours, Thanks to all on here who helped

Wayne.

Next Q.  Are inverters (12v dc to 230 ac ) any good 'ie' wild camping- hook ups, or what ever the use.

Wayne. 

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Hi M&A, your engine and leisure batteries should charge from the alternator while the engine is running. A simple test is to connect a voltmeter (digital multimeters are available for a few quid nowadays) across the leisure battery terminals. With the engine not running I would expect to see around 12.8 volts. Start the engine and almost immediately you should see the voltage rise to around 13.8 volts. If this happens then all is pretty much as it should be. If you connect a second leisure battery in paralel with your existing one then it wil charge up the same. D.
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Plenty of good advice on page three of Motorhome Matters forum Wayne (generaters/inverters. I use a small 150 watt inverter but this is only for recharging phone, camera and shaver (which I charge when on the move) and apart from this everything else comes off the leisure battery which is 110 amp. The longest period we have spent before moving on is four days, and useing the l.c.d. telly and lights etc. has never been a problem. Like us you have a van conversion and I doubt if you will be staying in one place any longer than a day or two, so once you are back on the road the leisure battery will recharge itself, and apart from the things i,ve mentioned you may not need one. See how it goes first before buying one. Howard.
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[QUOTE]Dave Newell - 2006-10-17 12:12 PM Hi Howard, It depends on what anti freeze has been used. The genral consensus in the trade a few years ago was that it should be changed every three or four years (as far as I recall). The best thing to do is buy yourself an anti freeze hydrometer, they're only a couple of quid but with one of these you can check the exact strength of anti freeze and then top up if required. D.[/QUOTE] My local garage checked the antifreeze Dave and reckoned it was down by about a quarter of its recommended strength, so i,ve added a bit more and next year will drain, flush and renew the lot (4 years old). Other than knowing its the original Fiat a/f i,ve no idea what type it is and i,m not suggesting this applies to anyone elses van. Better to check their own individually. Like most people I keep a bottle of diluted a/f to hand, but the question of strength came about because it,s never needed topping up. Another problem i,ve sorted out this week is water leaking through the skylight. Twice before i,ve applied a bead of sealant around the frame and the roof (which is profiled for strength and makes a natural place for water to collect) but this only lasts for a few months before leaking again. The right way of curing this is to remove the skylight, clean the whole thing up and reset with fresh sealant and hopefully do a better job than the converters which sometimes is not to difficult. The problem was that I do not have the facilities to do this in the dry, and with a three week wait before any repair shop could take it in I reverted back to something I used to use on my older vans which is bitumin. Not exactly high tech but with carefull preparation and taking my time i,ve sealed all round the frame and after a week of heavy downpours no sign of leaks anywhere. This is meant as only a temporary measure, but if past experience is any thing to go by then it will be there for a while. Howard.
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Hi David. The three items mentioned came without 12v connections and can only be charged useing three point household plugs. Rather than buy the separate parts I bought a cheap inverter which covers them all. We do have electric points in the van but have not used the hook up for years and while I suppose there may be easier ways of doing things this has always done the job while touring though any advice is always welcomed. Howard.
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