Re-battery

[riuvax3812]

Hi I have a fiat Mondail. 09 new to motor homes 6mths went to camper van battery flat been on charge all night only on 3 on charger does this mean that I need to buy a new one and if so what is the best to get. Please :-).

[Brambles]

Can you clarify which battery you are talking about engine or habitation,

Mind you having said that it is not difficult to give a quick answer.

 

Habitation

Look at Varta LFD series for a fairly good battery at reasonable price. There is also Banner which potentially should give you a lot more cycles but is more expensive. Next step up would be to go for Exide Gel -- much bigger price and your charger would have to be suitable. Forget budget brands, they may be cheaper (not a lot actually) but are not good value if you intend to actually cycle them and not just have as a buffer for coffee stops etc.

 

For Engine look at Varta Silver or Exide Premium, both really good batteries. I prefer the Exide to the Varta though.

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forms, Carole.

 

It’s hard to provide definitive answers to your inquiry without more background.

 

As Brambles says, it first needs to be established whether it’s your motorhome’s starter battery or habitation/leisure battery that went flat and then try to make educated guesses at why this might have happened and what the likely consequences might be.

 

Were there any signs that the battery might be starting to stagger before you found that it was flat? Had your Swift Mondial been static for a long period beforehand?

 

If your motorhome’s batteries are the original ones they would now be six years old., so simple old age might have caused the battery to die.

 

If the battery is of a type that can be maintained, its electrolyte-level should be checked. If that had not been done in the past and the battery had become ‘dry’, this would eventually cause failure.

 

If it’s the habitation/leisure battery that went flat I’d guess that you’d use the Mondial’s own battery-charger for recharging. If it’s the starter battery that went flat, I’d guess that you’d use a separate charger for recharging. Charger readouts differ so I’m not sure what “3 on charger” actually indicates, but it may prove impossible to revive a completely flat battery with an ordinary battery-charger.

 

Me, I’d recharge the battery for, say, 24 hours with a good quality battery-charger able to indicate the charge-state of the battery throughout the recharging process. Assuming that the battery appeared to have recharged OK after 24 hours, I’d let it ‘settle’ for a few hours and then carry out some fairly basic tests with a multimeter to decide whether the battery is likely to hold charge in future, and if there were any doubt I’d replace the battery. But I don’t know how ‘technical’ you are and/or whether you are in a position to carry out that procedure.

 

If replacing the battery is unavoidable (or is considered wise) I’d follow Brambles’s advice and opt for a Varta LFD for a replacement habitation/leisure battery, or a Varta Silver or Exide Premium for a replacement starter battery. As you are not the Mondial’s original owner (and there’s no knowing for sure what the previous owner(s) has/have got up to!), you’d need to be careful to obtain the correct (or best) size of battery.

 

Finally - as you’ve only owned the Mondial for 6 months - is there any warranty on the vehicle that would allow the problem to be investigated and a replacement battery obtained free of charge?