Guest Bryan Blow Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 On my new Mercedes 316 motorhome I had a Radio /CD player installed by the dealer, fitted to this was a screen mounted Bosch Ariel booster. I have had a problem since new that the vehicle battery would run down in three to four weeks whilst standing, I visited my local Mercedes garage that checked the battery and tested for any discharge with all systems off, they said that it was OK and normal for this vehicle. During a recent very cold spell with frost covering the windscreen I noticed that about a 75mm circle around the Bosch Ariel booster was free from ice. It would appear that the booster must be connected to a live power connection and is on all the time, instead of being connected via the ignition key, the radio will only work with the key in the No.1 position. Has any one had this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Will Redfearn, Wirral Motorhome Club Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 What you need to do is this. If your radio has a connection for a powered aerial, connect the booster to this (the installer should do this). It is obvious that the booster is permanently on and draining the battery. Alternatively and more cumbersome, intercept the power feed to the booster and insert a switch, and switch on when required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Docted Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Bryan You have not said if an alarm is fitted to your motorhome, if you have this could be the source of the problem as the garage will probably not test with the alarm on. This would be more liable to flatten a battery than an ariel booster. Regarding the ariel booster the live supply should be fed via a fuse the next time you are leaving the van remove the fuse. In the event of this being the source of the problem rewire it take its feed of the leisure battery this will enable you to start your 'van. Good luck Docted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 My vote goes to Will. Alternatively the booster should be wired to the key switched supply (that also feeds the Radio) However, if your van has many electric gizmos its woth giving it an equalising charge regularly, in your case once a fortnight! I would normally recomment once a month unless its fitted with a Cat 1 alarm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mel E Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 All our vahicles (cars, motorhome) generally suffer from flattening batteries, even when the battery is new, in around 3 to 4 weeks, mainly due to the drain from alarm systems. I use a high quality battery charger to keep the batteries topped up when they are unused for a while - the type that sense the battery voltage and switch themselves on and off whennecessary, so they do not gas the batteries dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PeteC Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 hi Dont think its the alarm our MH has stood for 3 weeks (once)with alarm on without the battery going down if the frost etc melts round the ariel it sounds more likely to be some sort of short round the ariel (agree the ariel shouldnt take very much urrent - unless there is an insulation fault near the place where it passe through the van roof) than the alarm (which should only take mA 0.001Amp) (on an 80Ah battery it would take months to discharge) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest David Powell Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Along with all the other good advice, consider- engine management computer, and if automatic, the gearbox computer, still being fed whilst standing, not forgetting the dashboard clock which sometimes can be a heavy user.Add everyones suggestions together and you have a lot of power running away.Have you thought of a solar pannel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Blow Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Thanks everyone for your help and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Bryan, New electronics are a little trickey. Yes your ariel booster is on all the time This should turn off. the wiring connection blocks on the back of the new radio may look the same but in fact may be connected differently leaving you with power on to the ariel AMP which will drain down your Battery over 2 weeks or so. You may also have power on other Aux as well. Radio changes cause major problems on late V.W and Merc.s Get it checked out by a good auto electrician or dissconnect the radio. Regards. Brendan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net-traveller Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 You mention that you have had this problem since new. We had the same problem on a 2002 Merc 316. Despite investigation by the dealer and Merc agent, including changing the engine battery, the problem remained. In the end we got a vehicle electrical engineer in (Lucas UK) and he found the problem. Most motorhomes have an additional circuit installed to allow heating of the rear whilst travelling but this should be controlled via a switch on the dash. In our case the circuit had been wired to be permanently on whether or not you hit the switch to warm the back. Once this circuit was rewired to work with the switch the problem went away. This circuit was found under the dash in the driver area and it was a big blue plastic block. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Bryan, Yes Julie is sending you down the correct path, dont forget all the motorhomes are converted from pick up's. I have also seen on some converted Merc's where the heated rear window wiring had just been cut and left that way. It was shorting out now and again as the switch was on always. In your case it is the Radio, I have come on this problem quite often. By the way if you have to have your Merc diagnostics checked you will have to remove or disconnect the radio. Go back to the dealer and get it all checked out to prevent further damage along the line. Great post by Julie keep up the good work. Regards, Brendan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwaviation Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I fitted a 'cheap' chinese radio/dvd/cd thingy to my 2007 Pug primarily because it had one of those slide out 7"monitors that I could use as a rear view mirror come reversing camera monitor, all of this was wired to the leisure battery- First thing I noticed was that after 10 days or so the leisure battery was flat.... I discovered that even while the radio was off it had a drain of about 0.3 amps which equates to about 8.0 amps per 24 hours and 80 amps over 10 days = flat battery. My solution was to fit a switch between the leisure battery and BOTH the live feed and IGN feed on the radio. Problem solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Bryan Did you solve your problem of battery drain? Do not attempt to add anything extra to your radio ie switch that operates from your main battery. Can cause a lot more problems in the electronic dept Keep us informed, Regards, Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.