Cliffy Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 We travelling up from Teraggona to L 'escala, it was 35 deg C we pulled in to a car park for a rest somewhere near Loret de Mar switched the engine off then went to restàrt it again to find a more level spot. Nothing happened not a flicker from the starter. We had a cold drink and a think what to do for ten minutes, I then gave it another try, the engine tur ed over very slowly and then kicked in to life. We were travelling with the fridge on 12 volt, the cab fan on full blast head lights on for the Tunnels, Sat Nav and dash cam on and I preume the engine cooling fan would have been running. Was I expecting too much of the battery, could there be a fault with the alternator (there wasn' t a warning light on) or could the battery be faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Sorry to hear of your problems Cliffy, but as far as I understand it the alternator output is designed to cope with that load so it does suggest a fault or a poor connection. If you have a digital voltmeter you could monitor the battery voltage and if all else fails you could switch the leisure battery with the engine battery to get you to where you can get help - or use jump leads to get you going. If your leisure battery is fully charged that would tend to rule out an alternator issue? I always have one of these plugged into the cigarette lighter socket when on the road and then into the hab 12 v socket when parked as it gives me a clue about how the battery is faring. If the is one of those 'China' stores near you they often sell them and I have seen them in Carrefour in Spain in the past. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cigarette-Lighter-Voltage-Voltmeter-BuyinCoins/dp/B0092KVYGI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436038802&sr=8-1&keywords=plug+in+12+volt+meter As ever with these issues check that the battery terminals and earth cable connections to the chassis are all clean and secure before doing anything expensive. You might like to clarify what make and year of van it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Tracker - 2015-07-04 10:53 PM Sorry to hear of your problems Cliffy, but as far as I understand it the alternator output is designed to cope with that load so it does suggest a fault or a poor connection. If you have a digital voltmeter you could monitor the battery voltage and if all else fails you could switch the leisure battery with the engine battery to get you to where you can get help - or use jump leads to get you going. If your leisure battery is fully charged that would tend to rule out an alternator issue? I always have one of these plugged into the cigarette lighter socket when on the road and then into the hab 12 v socket when parked as it gives me a clue about how the battery is faring. If the is one of those 'China' stores near you they often sell them and I have seen them in Carrefour in Spain in the past. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cigarette-Lighter-Voltage-Voltmeter-BuyinCoins/dp/B0092KVYGI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436038802&sr=8-1&keywords=plug+in+12+volt+meter As ever with these issues check that the battery terminals and earth cable connections to the chassis are all clean and secure before doing anything expensive. You might like to clarify what make and year of van it is? Tracker Our van is a 2004 AT Tracker. We have a battery \master fitted two 100 a/hr leisure batteries and a 80w solar panel so after a short time after stopping the leisure batteries recharge the engine battery. Particularly when the sun shines like it was. The van has a Sargeant control unit that displays the individual battery condition but I did not check the readings at the time and everything worked fine the remaining 5 weeks we were away. The engine battery is a Bosch and is only 2 years old. I am getting it checked out as it came with a four year warranty. I will also have the charging circuit checked If all is OK I will assume that I was trying to get to much out of the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Have you considered that, as the fault seems to have been with starting, that the starter circuit may be at fault? Bad feed connections (all, including battery terminals), or a poor engine earth path (earth strap)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 Brian I have thought about that possibility and have checked as much as I can the security of connections etc. The thing is it only happened that one time and it recovered from dead as a dodo to slow cranking the engine after resting for around 15 minutes, in which time I assumed the leisure batteries had put a small amount of charge back in to the engine battery. It could be that just cooling down could have made a difference. My best bet would be that I had too much electrical load and the alternator could not keep up with it. There were no warning lights to indicate this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capnjaj Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Try http://www.amazon.co.uk/Visua-MSMW328-Alternator-Analyser-Indicator/dp/B005OXQ58Y/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1YMD3T5YH85JHQ6Z14V1 I have just bought one. B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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