Pc Plod Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Advise sought, I have a chausson flash10 with factory fitted cbe battery charger. This charges the leisure battery at 14.14v, and the starter battery at 12.56v,which i have left on charge for 48hrs .i then left the batteries for 24 hours and the leisure battery drops to 12.78v and the starter battery to 12.26v. Is this normal or is there a fault somewhere. Your thoughts please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Hi and welcome to the forum. (The mad house) I hope you enjoy and benefit from There are a number of threads on this forum about charging of batteries.Use the search facility and you will find a wealth of information. Basically what I have found is that first of all to get accurate readings the batteries need to be disconnected from the van. If you check them while the charger is on you will get a reading from the charger which will be around 14 volts. Once switched off the volts will drop rapidly. to between 12. 5 and 13 volts and probably settle at the lower figure. If the batteries are still connected to the van they will (probably supplying power to electronics, alarm, clocks etc this will show a reduction in voltage being measured and will also be draining the batteries over the 24 hrs that has past since switching off the charger. The above is just the BATTY ramblings of a lay man You will find much more qualified people and some more BATTY ones discussing the topic if you use the forum search facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 OOPs sorry Double post I said I was batty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I agree with Cliffy. You need to charge the batteries, then disconnect them and check the voltage with a Voltmeter after 24 hours. If the batteries are holding their power for 24 hours when disconnected but loosing power when connected something is causing a drain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Cliffy - 2014-01-22 9:39 PM Hi and welcome to the forum. (The mad house) I hope you enjoy and benefit from (?) Thought he'd been here for years. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 But 12.56 volts is not high enough to charge a battery :-( You really need minimum 13.5 volts or possibly higher. As you are not fully charging your starter battery it is showing as discharged far sooner. What you need is a good quality stand-alone charger (like a CTEK) to connect directly to the starter battery and fully charge it. THEN measure the voltage drop over a day or two with no load. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pc Plod Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 I also thought that the charging voltage from the mains charger was low as when the engine is running it goes up to 14.14volts. I am wondering if the charger is faulty or if it is designed to be like this.Hope some one can come up with a suggestion which might solve the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 The cbe-system on my Transit-based Hobby acts similarly. The onboard battery-charger provides a high(14V+) voltage/high amperage charge to the leisure-battery and a simultaneous low amperage/lower voltage 'maintenance charge' to the starter-battery. The leisure-battery gets charging priority when the onboard battery-charger is operating, while the starter-battery gets charging priority from the alternator when the vehicle's motor is running. Makes some sense... As has already been advised, if a battery has anything running from it when a voltage reading is taken (as will be the case with a modern vehicle) this will affect the reading. I do as Keith mentions and directly charge the starter-battery occasionally using a CTEK charger, but - even after the charging period is over and the starter-battery has been given time to 'settle' - its voltage reading will still be significantly lower than that of the leisure-battery in fully-charged state. Assuming your starter-battery is OK (if it's a 'maintainable' type you'd be wise to check its electrolyte level, especially as it's probably under a swivelling seat and difficult to get at!) and as long as the battery proves easily capable of starting the motor in cold weather, what's happening is probably normal (If you do plan to disconnect the battery to take a reading, don't forget you may need to recode the radio.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pc Plod Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Thankyou Derek for your detailed reply. I will do as you suggest and charge the engine battery with a separate chargeras and when needed. Again many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 You don't say the age of your van, which I assume is probably the same age as your batteries. This may have some bearing on how the batteries are performing. I'm not sure if I am misunderstanding your last comment, but I don't think Derek is implying the CBE unit is the problem. I think he is saying that it seems to be working as intended. This may depend on the age and type of the CBE unit. Early units may not be as "smart" as those made over the past 6 or so years. I'm assuming it is a "smart" unit. However, the starter battery voltage does sound low: 12.3V equals about 50% discharged, which is low for a starter battery. However, it may just be showing a low reading because the van has been standing with no charge, so driving or mains charging may be all that is required to bring its voltage back up. Either disconnect the mains and the battery, and try charging it independently as suggested above, or else try taking the van for a longish run to let the alternator do the charging. Then disconnect the starter battery (or or leave it disconnected) and let it stand for 4 - 6 hours after driving/charging, and then check its voltage. It should be near 12.8V. Leave 24 hours, and then check again. If it drops, it may be that the battery is failing and should be tested. If the starter battery is failing, the CBE unit won't be able to charge it, as the assumption is that it will be in good condition and at near full charge. As Derek says, the assumption is that the vehicle alternator will be the main source of charge for the starter battery when the vehicle is driven. When stopped and on mains, the CBE is the main source of charge for the habitation battery while also keeping the (presumed near fully charged) starter battery topped up on a maintenance charge. If both batteries are in good condition, the charger can be left permanently connected to mains and will not over-charge either battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Pc Plod - 2014-01-23 3:46 PM Thankyou Derek for your detailed reply. I will do as you suggest and charge the engine battery with a separate chargeras and when needed. Again many thanks. If you do, have a care... I connect my motorhome to a 230V power supply in my garage via a normal hook-up cable and then power the CTEK battery-charger from one of the motorhome's habitation-area 230V sockets. But, before I connect up the CTEK charger, I make absolutely certain that the cbe onboard charger is turned off. Without doing this there'd be two battery-chargers operating - the CTEK charger charging the starter-battery directly and the cbe onboard charger charging the starter-battery automatically via the cbe Distribution Box. I don't know if this would do any harm, but it's doubtful that cbe will have had 'double-charging' in mind when they designed the system. The simplest way to check if double-charging would cause harm would, of course, be to try it, but I ain't going to! (Just in case there's any confusion, I do NOT disconnect the starter-battery before charging it. I just connect the CTEK battery-charger to it via crocodile clips.) I think your Chausson probably has a cbe PC-200-based system, where battery voltages can be checked via a digital display on the control-panel. If that's so, you might find that the readout is inaccurate. If you have a digital multimeter, it would be worth comparing readings taken at the battery terminals with the control-panel readouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 So how much is Nora Charging? :-S.........................By eck things must be tough up North (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 pelmetman - 2014-01-23 7:14 PM So how much is Nora Charging? :-S.........................By eck things must be tough up North (lol) (lol) I don't understand. Is this a joke? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Derek Uzzell - 2014-01-24 8:03 AM pelmetman - 2014-01-23 7:14 PM So how much is Nora Charging? :-S.........................By eck things must be tough up North (lol) (lol) I don't understand. Is this a joke? He has a habit of inserting infantile jokes into every thread I'm afraid. There's a typo in the thread title 'Batty charging'. There's a woman in a sitcom called 'Last of the Summer Wine' whose name is Nora Batty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I believe the title is deliberate, cleverly suggesting that the battery-charging process is peculiar (ie. "batty"). Typographical errors are usually obvious (eg. "erors" not "errors") but It's a big leap from "battery" to "batty". (It's so hard to know with this forum whether participants are taking the piste.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Derek Uzzell - 2014-01-24 8:39 AM I believe the title is deliberate, cleverly suggesting that the battery-charging process is peculiar (ie. "batty"). Typographical errors are usually obvious (eg. "erors" not "errors") but It's a big leap from "battery" to "batty". (It's so hard to know with this forum whether participants are taking the piste.) You're right of course and it had occurred to me earlier and my use of 'typo' was in error. I'm sure it's a deliberate witticism. As you say, it's difficult to get from battery to batty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Had Enough - 2014-01-24 8:11 AM Derek Uzzell - 2014-01-24 8:03 AM pelmetman - 2014-01-23 7:14 PM So how much is Nora Charging? :-S.........................By eck things must be tough up North (lol) (lol) I don't understand. Is this a joke? He has a habit of inserting infantile jokes into every thread I'm afraid. There's a typo in the thread title 'Batty charging'. There's a woman in a sitcom called 'Last of the Summer Wine' whose name is Nora Batty. By jove he's got it :D......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pc Plod Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Good morning one and all. The batty charging was a typing error. I am recovering from a stomach operation and as i am in a bit of discomfort i asked my wife to take the motorhome (which is only 4 months old) out for a run to charge up the batteries.The vehicle would not start so the rac came and jumped started it.My near neighbour came and put it on charge and checked the charging voltages (he works for ford cars) and he could not understand why the engine battery was charging at such a low voltage,hence my post. As usual thanks for the detailed reply from Derick and Brian who seem to strive in giving helpfull replies to all postings, the forum would be lost without them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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