Calex Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Hi all, fairly new to motorhoming and have enjoyed my time so far but I seem to have run into a problem whilst the van has been wintered on my drive. I have been checking it each week just to make sure all is ok which it was until 2 weeks ago when I go in and find both the engine and leisure batteries totally flat :-( I did check every lamp and switch in the cab and van but everything was off and could find nothing out of place with the wiring I have since put the leisure battery on charge via the hookup but it seems reluctant to hold a charge but have only just been able to charge the engine battery and am waiting to see how it holds up. Just hoping some one will have a simple solution to this situation. Steve By the way its a 56 reg Elddis Autoquest 400 with a rear lounge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hi and welcome. If you have totally flattened both batteries they will probably need replacing. You may get away with it but the capacity and life of the batteries will be servilely reduced. Most of us keep the van plugged into the mains when on the drive to keep the batteries topped up. Also you should take the van for a 10 -20 mile & get it up to full operating temperature drive every 3-4 weeks to prevent "Sleepy van syndrome" clutches, brakes and various other bits tend to seize when left standing for long periods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Steve A motorhome in hibernation needs to have its batteries maintained in a well-charged state to avoid the possibility of them being frost-damaged. My own experience is that a fully-charged battery (vehicle or leisure type) in good condition should be able to hold that charge for several weeks without too much loss. This assumes, of course, that there’s nothing significant continuously draining current from the battery (eg. a drain from an armed alarm system), when the battery would need to be re-charged more regularly. Although many motorcaravanners (like lennyhb) leave their vehicles on charge at home at all times, I’ve no idea if “most” do. Certainly I don’t, preferring instead to put my motorhome on charge for 12 hours or so once per month. (At-home battery charging has been discussed on the forum in the past, but it really boils down to personal choice and/or convenience.) I don’t know why your Autoquest’s batteries suddenly went flat if their charge-state was otherwise OK when you checked them previously. It might be worth asking how you had been checking them (with a voltmeter?), whether you knew their electrolyte levels were correct, and whether or not you had been recharging the batteries at all. However, as lennyhb advises, if your batteries have become totally discharged, there’s every chance they’ll need replacing. Assuming that the batteries are the ones originally installed in your motorhome, they’ll be (at least) 5 years old, which is not an unusually short life-span. I think you’ll probably have to bite the financial bullet and replace both batteries, and, once they’ve been charged up to maximum, then keep a very close eye on them after they’ve been re-installed in your motorhome. If there is some sort of electrical glitch that’s caused your present batteries to rapidly discharge completely, you definitely don’t want to give it the opportunity to strike again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Prob knackered due to complete discharge, new batterys required. I run ours for 30 mins or so every other week incl eberspatcher and to date had no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calex Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Thanks for your replies so far, looks like I may be looking at replacing batteries :'( the thing that worries me is that both went flat at about the same time! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Steve If you follow this link, http://tinyurl.com/79fzu7e you will find a huge amount of information on the subject of batteries in general, plus some useful links to other sources. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hi Calex OH has a suggestion that may work for you but it may not. We have suffered from a flat engine battery and have ended up replacing it recently. That too was on a motorhome on a 56 Plate. His suggestion is: You need to remove your batter from engine/motorhome. If you have a fully charged battery then link the two together and then put the charger onto the flat battery so that it charges both and it may pull up the flat one. This may be worth trying before you rush out to buy a new one, but then again you may only be putting off the inevitable. Hope this works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calex Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks for your replies and I'm still investigating things further, Brian thanks for the link I'm curantly working my way through all the postings 8-) Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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