Bailey Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I have just taken my motorhome out of storage after the Winter to find the control panel inside the door is dead - this shows all water, battery levels plus some more. I must admit I know nothing about the internal workings of my motorhome. I have it plugged in to the mains in my driveway for the past 4/5 hours and still nothing. There are no lights working either. Does everything work from the leisure battery and if so am I looking at a completely dead battery. Will the mains connection eventually charge it or should I drive it - if so will that charge it either. i have checked the main control switch which is under the sink and it is on. Any advice would be welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Have you checked your split fuse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 I just found a 'Fuseless switching motorhome power unit' whatever that is - with lots of cables and plugs. I pushed them all in as snug as I could and guess what - the control panel is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Usually driving it only charges the STARTER battery and runs the fridge. Daft question but "Have you missed a switch somewhere?" Check your hand book. If you have doubts about your battery try a jump lead from your starter battery + to your domestic battery +. Mains hook-up cable usually only charges the domestic battery. Just read your latest you found the problem ! good forget what I said, best of luck, David........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Ranger, just to correct you there if I may. When driving the starter and the leisure battery should be re-charged, as well as supplying the 12v for the fridge. On hook-up both the leisure battery and the starter motor should be re-charged. If your Autosleeper doesn't do this I suggest you get it checked out as I believe it should, it certainly has always done so in our various vans. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Thanks Mel B, That is why I said "USUALLY" as I have never had a van that both ways charge both batteries, that is why I use Clive Mots system to overcome that problem. It is on his web site. But I do not have the fuse that Clive advises, just put a jump lead across until I have the power I need incase the starter battery runs down on site, so I can start up to go. Mind you I am 77 and have a van in keeping with my age, so perhaps modern vans charge the way you say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Just for the record... If a motorhome is fitted with a leisure-battery, then the norm is that, when the vehicle is driven, the vehicle's alternator will charge the leisure-battery as well as the starter-battery. (In fact, I'm tempted to say this will ALWAYS be the case.) When a motorhome is on 230V mains hook-up and its on-board battery-charger is operating, it will ALWAYS be possible to charge the leisure-battery. A facility MAY be provided to permit the motorhome's starter-battery also to be charged via the hook-up, but there is no standardisation. Some electrical systems (like my Hobby's) automatically 'trickle charge' the starter-battery once the leisure-battery has attained a certain state of charge; other systems require a switch on the motorhome's control-panel to be used to select starter-battery charging; many systems (particularly those of older motorhomes) offer NO starter-battery charging capability whatsoever. The electrical system on Auto-Sleepers motorhomes fell into the last category until relatively recently (up to 2003?), when a starter-battery charging capability was introduced. I think this involved a manual selection-switch and I well remember that it caused owners plenty of confusion and was inadequately described in the A-S handbook. No idea what charging arrangement A-S uses today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.