David Street Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Hi. Upgrading our caravan to a 2016 AutoTrail Imala 730, which will be kept during the winter in outdoor storage at the Hertford CC site. The caravan leisure battery never worried during the winter us as the van was towed out of storage and went straight onto EHU. However, looking for advice as to how I can make sure the MH battery will keep sufficient charge to start the engine after 4 months winter storage without any mains power available. Several ideas come to mind but would appreciate your experience: One motorhome magazine (not MMM) suggested starting the engine once a month and leaving it to idle for 15-20 minutes. I could remove the vehicle battery and take it home to charge - but at 70 years old that might get progressively more difficult. Would a solar panel be the best idea (I assume they charge the vehicle battery as well as the leisure battery) Heavy duty jump leads connected to my car battery Invest in a portable battery booster pack similar to the DBPower 600A 18Ah mentioned in another thread. As far as I know, because it hasn't been delivered yet, the vehicle and leisure batteries are the existing ones fitted by AutoTrail 18 months ago. (?) Thanks David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 For a start leaving your van parked up for 4 months is the worst possible thing you can do for its health. You risk sticking clutch, thrust release bearing & brakes not to mention all the oil draining from the bores. If not using the van you need to take it for a good drive every few weeks getting everything up to full operating temperature, better still you have spent all that money on it why not use it. As for your batteries, leaving them longer than 3 weeks and you are on borrowed time for the engine battery, leisure batteries can be left a lot longer, how long depends on the type of battery. Running the engine on idle is the worst possible advice unless you have very deep pockets, a sure way to wreck the DPF & CAT, modern diesels should be driven off immediately after starting the engine. A solar panel is the best option and if you are not camping off grid an 80 watt panel will suffice. You need to ensure it is installed to charge the engine battery as well as the leisure ones. Your control panel/distribution system may already have a built in solar regulator that will take care of charging both engine & leisure batteries. If not you can fit a single output regulator together with either a solar split charge relay or a Battery Master to take care of engine charging, or fit a dual output regulator that will take care of both batteries. Always worth spending a bit more on an MPPT regulator to get max output from your solar you can get good dual output ones for under £150. If not doing the job yourself be aware a lot of installers will fit a cheap 10 quid regulator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agaric Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 A decent dual battery MPPT solar controller like the Votronic MPP 165 is going to set you back less than £90. It's German made, so none of the iffy electronics you get in some. An 80w panel will be about £100, then all you need is fixings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 lennyhb - 2017-10-28 11:12 AM..........................A solar panel is the best option and if you are not camping off grid an 80 watt panel will suffice. You need to ensure it is installed to charge the engine battery as well as the leisure ones. Your control panel/distribution system may already have a built in solar regulator that will take care of charging both engine & leisure batteries. If not you can fit a single output regulator together with either a solar split charge relay or a Battery Master to take care of engine charging, or fit a dual output regulator that will take care of both batteries. Always worth spending a bit more on an MPPT regulator to get max output from your solar you can get good dual output ones for under £150. If not doing the job yourself be aware a lot of installers will fit a cheap 10 quid regulator. I agree with everything Lenny says, just don't interpret the paragraph above as presenting an alternative to driving the van for at least an hour roughly every month, to be sure that all the mechanical elements get properly hot and the oils etc. well circulated. It will also give an opportunity to use the heating system and fully ventilate the van to dispel damp air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 Running the engine for 15 minutes a month will put less than 8Ah into a battery which if it is discharged the usual 50%, so needs 50Ah, will make little difference to overall charge. It may initially warm and put some charge into the battery, appearing to raise it's voltage over 13v, but that will drop within hours to pretty much the same discharged (and probably damaged) state) it was before. At a the typical 15amp Alternator charge rate you would need to run the engine for 3 hours to make a reasonable impact on low batteries. As Lenny says, all you are doing is choking up the engine and it's exhaust system without any real benefit.. We therefore suggest you discount this option. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Street Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 Thank you all. It's advice like yours that proves the benefit of these forums to us newbies. Supplier, who incidentally confirmed all your points, will fit a 100 watt panel arranged to charge both batteries before delivering the van, whilst I enjoy myself planning a number of winter trips. Thanks again David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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