Conked out

[Paulie]

Hi all. Went to visit my Mercedes-Benz Autostar yesterday to find both vehicle and leisure batteries conked out fully. Tried jumping the sprinter battery from my car, which I have done once before successfully, but nothing, wouldn't even turn over. All of this despite having a solar panel on the roof. I understand that, if I plug into an electric hook up, this will charge both batteries if both switches are on to charge both. Any ideas folks? I don't understand why I couldn't jump start it like I did last time. Need advice or its time to call out the recovery men (?)

[Tracker]

The easy answer is to call out the recovery if it's free and with luck they might be able to help you diagnose any fault. At least you will be able to drive it and let the engine put some charge back in to the batteries.

It is more than likely there is no fault, just batteries coming to the end of their useful life and having been discharged that deeply they may well not ever fully recover enough to be trustworthy again.

If it were mine I would bring the batteries home and bench charge them fully with a Ctek or similar smart charger but i would be prepared to replace one or both.

I might even be tempted to replace the engine battery anyway as without a reliable starter battery you run the risk of being stranded and at least the old battery might do a turn as a back up hab battery whilst it's survival is evaluated.

Once everything comes back on you should be able to see if something had been accidentally left switched on and if you have the know how to insert an ammeter between the battery terminal and cable that will tell you how much current is being drawn even while everything is theoretically off.

Sorry I am no techy expert but I have been where you are many times over the years!

 

[Keithl]

Hi Pauline,

 

I see that Autostar have been building MH's in France since 1986 so what year is yours? This will determine which model of MB chassis it is built on.

 

And I think Richard has the best ideas, either call out your breakdown service or take the batteries home.

 

Keith.

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Pauline.

 

As has been said above, it might help to know which model of Autostar motorhome you own and its age.

 

Autostar motorhomes will be fairly rare in this country and I think there are no UK agents for the marque at present. So if you say that connecting your vehicle to a 230V hook-up can cause both the starter-battery and the leisure battery to be charged (many motorhomes’ charging system will just charge the leisure-battery using a 230V hook-up) it’s likely that no forum member will be in a position to confirm or deny this. Anyway, try connecting to a 230V hook-up for at least 24 hours and, hopefully, that will charge up the Autostar’s starter-battery enough to start it.

 

It should be esy enough with a multimeter to check whether connecting to a 230V hook-up is charging both batteries, but if you are in a hurry to get the vehicle going and have breakdown insurance, you might be better getting the vehicle looked at.

 

Guidance on jump-starting a vehicle is provided here

 

https://reviewerst.com/jump-starters/can-a-car-battery-be-too-dead-to-jump-start/

 

but the procedure is not without risks and the more discharged the starter-battery the more difficult it will be to get the vehicle with the flat battery to go.

 

 

[witzend]

Paulie - 2021-03-26 6:10 PM

 

Any ideas folks? I don't understand why I couldn't jump start it like I did last time. Need advice or its time to call out the recovery men (?)

 

When you attempt to jump start a totally flat battery its good practice once the leads are connected to allow the engine on the donor vehicle to run at a fairly high rev to get some charge into the flat battery for at least 10 mins before attempting to try to start it.

 

To keep my engine battery charged from solar while laid up I connect both battery's with a temp lead like the one in this link

 

http://www.motts.org/BRIDGING%20FUSE.htm

[Geeco]

My previous MH an Autotrail had a solar panel that charged both batteries. As I understand the way it works is that it will charge one battery then move to the other battery when the first is fully charged. I had a situation where one morning after no use for around 6 weeks both batteries were flat. What had happened I suspect was that the first battery (probably the house battery) would not take a charge and so the charger never transferred to the starter battery. The starter battery will drain down over time due to the check circuits for central locking etc.. End result both died. This could be your problem. Buy 2 batteries and problem solved.

cheers,

[Malo37]

Depends on age of vehicle but if you have had a total power loss it may mean your engine management system needs re-booting.

[Laika.brian]

Paulie,

 

if the charge in your sprinter battery is so low or the battery has failed when you attach the jump leads it will not work, my friend recently call me to help with a similar problem with his old BMW Z3, he had a new battery fitted last spring but never started the car in so long the charge went down. he had tried to jump start with out success.

I disconnected the battery leads from the Z3 battery and connected the jump leads to the leads of the Z3 to start the car, took home the battery charged it up, all worked ok.

 

As your sprinter battery will be of a much heavier capacity than your car not sure if it will start but if should make an effort to turn over the engine.

 

hope this helps

[Derek Uzzell]

As Pauline’s most recent forum login was at 7:46am on Saturday 27 March, I’m guessing that she has now managed to start her motorhome.