Westy Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Just returned from taking the motorhome on its 1st 2wk trip abroad. Although have driven a car abroad loads of times, the unknown of reveresed polarity stories, security and safety issues etc was a bit concerning, but we survived. Our 1st problem was unable to fill up with fuel in France on the Sunday morning when the stations we found were closed apart from the automated ones. The machines would not take our credit cards and had to get a nice French man to do it for us on his card and I gave him the cash. Drive all through France, Belguim had a 4 day stop in Luxembourg - great, drove to Germany. stayed for another 4 days. This time the van stayed on site for the 4 days. 2nd problem totally flat battery. Why when we were on mains? Can anyone advise on that. Drove back up into France after calling out the breakdown people and getting us going again. No problems in any country with reversed polarity our little gadget assured us all was ok. No problems with any safety or security, the sites we stayed on all had gates that locked at 11 which made us feel safe. No problems with the ferries. We did arrive over an hour early for our ferry but we were just put on an earlier one which was great. So after 2 slight hiccups had a great time have now the confidence to go further and for longer and met some lovely motorhoming people along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapple Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Which battery went flat? The vehicle battery or the habitation battery? The main charger usually only charges the habitation battery. Alarms, radio etc often take power from the vehicle battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 It is the vehicle battery that goes flat. There is no alarm on and we don't use the radio whilst stationery just in case it does drain the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zulurita Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The vehicle battery shouldn't go flat if you are touring and only stopping at a site for 4 days! Ours can be parked at home for 3 or 4 weeks and not go flat. Is it a new MH or new battery? Perhaps it needs checking to see where the drain on the battery is occuring. We had a battery mate added to hours when Van Bitz did the alarm, as we have a solar panel this helps maintain the leisure battery and the battery mate helps the vehicle battery. We find its worth having. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share Posted September 1, 2006 The MH is a Swift Bessacarr and is now just a year old. The battery has been replaced once already as the original went flat twice within the first month of purchase. This has happened about 4x since then with the new battery, which makes us now think there is something draining it then from somewhere. Will look into the battery mate idea though for reassurance. We have had no problem with the leisure battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 Something must be wrong for battery to drain, one thought are you leaving cab doors open or otherwise using cab interior light for extended periods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy Posted September 5, 2006 Author Share Posted September 5, 2006 I know we have never left the cab doors open and we have never used the cab lights at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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