eddieandsue Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We are new to motorhoming and notice that our vehicle battery and leisure battery on our Autocruise Starburst 2006 are both losing charge which they did not do before. We have checked to make sure nothing has inadvertently been left on. We have also been advised that we do not need to leave the motorhome connected to the mains whilst it is on the driveway at home, we thought we had been told to connect it for 3 days on and 3 days off. We are totally confused now so any help would be greatly appreciated :$ *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 The first thing to be asked is how long have they been on your van ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddieandsue Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 HI thanks for replying. Not sure, as we did not have Van from new. We have had no problem before, it seems really strange that both are losing charge when nothing is drawing from them, or at least we don't think anything is drawing from them. Also am I right in thinking if mh is connected to home 240v supply it still will not charge vehicle battery? Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 It would help if we what charger is fitted, some trickle charge the engine battery once the leisure battery is charged some only charge the leisure battery. You can leave it hooked up to the mains as the chargers are designed so that once the battery is charged they fall back to a maintenance charge of 13.8v so that the battery does not gas. If they are the original batteries they are probably at the end of their life. Do you have an alarm fitted? These are often responsible for discharging the engine battery. Would expect the leisure battery to gradually discharge over 2-3 weeks, the control panel will probably consume about 30-50ma in standby, the water dump valve on a Truma combi heater will draw 35ma, if the radio is wired to the leisure battery that will zap a few more millamps. Easy to check the current drawn form the leisure battery with a multi meter, if it's more than 100ma with everything off you will need to investigate what is drawing the current. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddieandsue Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Hi Lenny No we don't have an alarm fitted and all the switches on the control panel are off. Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 From the limited info available I agree that it seems most likely the batteries have reached the end of service.A cheap multi-meter is the easiest way to tell what charges what. Set to a suitable dc volts range and put across the battery terminals directly, it will allow you to see the voltage at the terminals with the hook up on, and off - and similarly with the engine running, and not. In both cases you should see an increase in voltage across the battery(ies) receiving a charge.I'd guess you batteries are pooped. For future info, it's best to keep them in as high a state of charge as is practicable without gassing them, and never discharge them too deeply.When the 'van is stood, as long as there's no drain, hooking up for about 24 hrs once a month is enough to keep them in good nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Have you checked the electrolyte level lately? It could simply be that they both require topping up. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 crinklystarfish - 2011-07-12 9:27 AMFrom the limited info available I agree that it seems most likely the batteries have reached the end of service.A cheap multi-meter is the easiest way to tell what charges what. Set to a suitable dc volts range and put across the battery terminals directly, it will allow you to see the voltage at the terminals with the hook up on, and off - and similarly with the engine running, and not. In both cases you should see an increase in voltage across the battery(ies) receiving a charge.I'd guess you batteries are pooped. For future info, it's best to keep them in as high a state of charge as is practicable without gassing them, and never discharge them too deeply.When the 'van is stood, as long as there's no drain, hooking up for about 24 hrs once a month is enough to keep them in good nick.Don't mess about, do exactly as "Crinklystarfish" say's. If the batteries have been on since 2006 they will be at or near the end of their useful life, I change mine every three years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheetahdavie Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 My battery is a new Elecsol..it loses its "charge" in about 2 days on the motor home,even when the "isolation"switch..inside the door [Eldis..but badged compass 130] is turned to off. Taking the battery out of the vehicle and charging [on the bench] using a Ctek 7000xs..it holds its charge and at the end of 8 days on the bench it still shows 12.78V...but back on the "van" after 2 days it is down to 7/8 v..weird? Checking all the fuses i get zero drawings..apart from "vehicle battery" that shows a drawing of 0.05Amp..which doesn't seem a lot..never the less the battery still ..and yet.. the battery has held up on 4 day trips to the MMM shoes..weird things these batteries?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 cheetahdavie - 2011-07-13 12:36 AM My battery is a new Elecsol..it loses its "charge" in about 2 days on the motor home,even when the "isolation"switch..inside the door [Eldis..but badged compass 130] is turned to off. Taking the battery out of the vehicle and charging [on the bench] using a Ctek 7000xs..it holds its charge and at the end of 8 days on the bench it still shows 12.78V...but back on the "van" after 2 days it is down to 7/8 v..weird? Checking all the fuses i get zero drawings..apart from "vehicle battery" that shows a drawing of 0.05Amp..which doesn't seem a lot..never the less the battery still ..and yet.. the battery has held up on 4 day trips to the MMM shoes..weird things these batteries?? My guess it could be your on-board voltage monitor / display could be giving a duff reading, why not get a cheap multimeter and check it with that, also if it's holding up when in use that kind of gives a clue the battery itself could be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 cheetahdavie - 2011-07-13 12:36 AM My battery is a new Elecsol..it loses its "charge" in about 2 days on the motor home,even when the "isolation"switch..inside the door [Eldis..but badged compass 130] is turned to off. Taking the battery out of the vehicle and charging [on the bench] using a Ctek 7000xs..it holds its charge and at the end of 8 days on the bench it still shows 12.78V...but back on the "van" after 2 days it is down to 7/8 v..weird? Checking all the fuses i get zero drawings..apart from "vehicle battery" that shows a drawing of 0.05Amp..which doesn't seem a lot..never the less the battery still ..and yet.. the battery has held up on 4 day trips to the MMM shoes..weird things these batteries?? What you think is an isolation switch probably just puts the system into stand by, for your battery to loose it's charge in 2 days there is something drawing a fair bit of current if it's an 80A/H battery it would be over 1.5amps being drawn. I would not expect with the panel off the standby current to be much more than 50-70ma, 10-20ma for the control panel/charger, 35ma for water dump valve & and 20ma for the radio if wired to the leisure battery. A battery is completely flat at 10.5V if you value your battery you should never discharge it below 11.5V preferably 12V. If the battery is charging OK after removing from the van the 7/8v reading can not be right as that would indicate a totally shot battery with 1-2 shorted cells. As suggested it sounds like your panel is giving false readings, you need to check the voltage across the battery with a multi-meter after it has been on the van a couple of days also check the current with a meter in series with the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur49 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 A few years back I lashed out and fitted a BM1 Nasa Battery Monitor. They're not cheap at £100+ but, I've found it accurate and reliable and I always know the state of charge of my leisure batteries. If I'm bored (not often!) I can even sit and watch the solar input rising and falling as the sun rises etc!! *-) Easy to fit direct to the leisure battery/batteries. http://www.nasamarine.com/proddetail.php?prod=BMN-1_Battery Arthur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 You have made the statement that your batteries are losing charge, but have not stated how much over what time period. For anyone to give any meaningfull answer they would need to know this info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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