yrebud76 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Hello, we may be buying our first motorhome tomorrow which has no solar panels. I have storage sorted out a few miles away as I have no space at home, but am confused what to do with the leisure battery. I have heard not to let the battery drain and there is no electric hook up at the storage site. Can I flip the battery isolation switch and leave the van for a few weeks with no problems? Or just leave it as it is? Eventually I aim to get solar so I can charge the battery but for the next few months it won't have solar. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Depending on what your battery will be running, ie alarms and trackers, it should be quite happy for a couple of months. If you're that worried then take it for a drive every month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Hello ,Which make and year of Motorhome have you purchased ? you will more likely find that the leisure battery stays up ok but the starter battery is the one that goes flat due to very small , but constant, drain by ecu, radio, tracker etc. over 3-4 weeks (or less). Some later vans have an engine starter battery isolator system fitted also when you fit / have fitted a solar panel make sure that it charges both batteries with a split charge regulator or fit a Vanbitz battery master to link the starter and leisure batteries and keep them both charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 A simple solution is as shown below. I have done it with an Autosleeper Duetto and it works very well. http://www.motts.org/BRIDGING%20FUSE.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 spospe - 2020-08-21 9:09 PM A simple solution is as shown below. I have done it with an Autosleeper Duetto and it works very well. http://www.motts.org/BRIDGING%20FUSE.htm Me to very simple cheap solution, as for your battery's until you get the solar fitted better to disconnect them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolyan Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 yrebud76 - 2020-08-21 7:47 PM Hello, we may be buying our first motorhome tomorrow which has no solar panels. I have storage sorted out a few miles away as I have no space at home, but am confused what to do with the leisure battery. I have heard not to let the battery drain and there is no electric hook up at the storage site. Can I flip the battery isolation switch and leave the van for a few weeks with no problems? Or just leave it as it is? Eventually I aim to get solar so I can charge the battery but for the next few months it won't have solar. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated. For a few years I used an AA dashboard solar panel, abut £35, that plugs into the OBD port. This kept the engine battery topped up, and I never had a problem with the leisure battery. Just plugged the panel in whenever we parked it up in storage after a trip away. Never had a problem, often leaving it 6 weeks over winter between runs. Others may disagree but I can only speak from experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 We have never had a problem with leisure battery (van is left parked under cover, so solar doesn't work), it has always been the vehicle battery that causes problems. I think this always applies to x250/290. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 When a motorhome is static it’s to be anticipated that its leisure-battery will not need to power anything electrical, but (at least with a modern vehicle) the starter-battery will normally maintain ‘dashboard’ electrical equipment and perhaps power an alarm system. So it’s to be expected that starter-battery ‘drain’ will be higher than that of the leisure-battery. There were complaints that the starter-battery of some Ducato X250-based motorhomes had an unusually high discharge rate, but I don’t think the cause was ever identified. My Ducato X290’s starter-battery does not run an alarm system and - when the motorhome is not in use - discharges slowly at a rate that I would expect to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 I've got one of these solar maintainers to keep the starter battery topped up whilst the van is laidup: https://www.halfords.com/motoring/battery-maintenance/battery-accessories/ring-solar-power-240-battery-charger-196471.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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