Welcome to Motorhomefacts, we are a thriving motorhome community (Largest in Europe). Why Not JOIN NOW and get instant access to more of the website. It costs nothing to join and only takes a few minutes. We have 200,000 different people visiting our site monthly and this amount of motorhomers in one place guarantees a fast response to any questions you may have. We also have unique facilities not found elsewhere such as our Online Logbook, stopover tracker, Motorhome directory with Ebay type feedback and the largest repository of motorhome campsites reviews found anywhere
Can anyone with a Van M or Twin (I'm guessing the electric panel will be the same) tell me if you need to press anything to have the leisure battery charge whilst driving? I assumed it would be on a relay but as the battery is now flat, perhaps I'm wrong
Pressing the battery level indicator whilst the engine is running, shows it at full strength, but within 10 minutes of stopping, the red light is flashing to say the battery is discharged. I'm going to get into the battery box (it's in a silly place) tomorrow with a volt meter and try to see what's happening, but just thought I'd ask here first. Thanks
-H
"tell me if you need to press anything to have the leisure battery charge whilst driving?"
I don't have either but I think it fair to say it would be a pretty unique feature
The multimeter is the next step, though if you have mains to the van you could ensure it has a full charge that way if you haven't driven much after the leisure battery were flat. You can still do your multimeter checks for alternator charging afterwards.
Thanks Dave, unfortunately we can't put it on hook-up (though we can take the battery off tomorrow and charge it in the house), but we drove 75 miles yesterday, stopped and put one light on for five minutes and that was it - tea in the dark, and the red light on the panel again.
1) Volts at the leisure battery when you get there with no loads.
2) Ditto once the engine has started.
3) If not significant difference, check the fuses in the thick vehicle battery/ alternator/ leisure battery leads (can be a set at each end).
4) Once you have a reasonable charge into the battery (whether then or after a charge at home and placement back in the van) optionally measure the current in series between the disconnected negative battery lead and the negative battery terminal with engine off and all loads switched off. Should be zero or around 0.2A if control panel live.
A quick Thought - As the battery is so difficult to get too, Is there any water the cells?
Michael
Hi Michael,
I'll let you know that tomorrow too I would certainly hope so, we picked the van up, new, 5 weeks ago. But... one never knows! We won't be doing complicated sorting of this issue, obviously because it's under warranty, but I'd like to have some idea of what's wrong before I take it in!
-H
1) Volts at the leisure battery when you get there with no loads.
11.14
Quote:
2) Ditto once the engine has started.
14.32
So didn't do 3!
Quote:
3) If not significant difference, check the fuses in the thick vehicle battery/ alternator/ leisure battery leads (can be a set at each end).
4) Once you have a reasonable charge into the battery
I decided that since it's a warranty issue anyway and it was freezing today, I couldn't be bothered to take the battery to the house to charge so will call about it tomorrow.
Thanks Dave, and all for the suggestions - I'll keep you posted on what the outcome is.
Bit disappointed to find that there's not room to install a bigger battery. The fitted one is only 70Ah
-H
hi Relay,
I think you will find the battery is a gel type so sealed. once totally discharged they take longer to recharge. the one in our twin took 3 days to totally flatten under heavy usuage. when you statr the engine in automatically charges the leisure and engina at the same time , taking into account the battrey discharge rate. ie if it flat it gets a fast recharge then a trickel charge.
when on mains it charges both the engine and leisure again. one very important thing to check is that someone hasnt set the charge rate to acid when its a gel and vice versa .
your handbook should say which model of charger it is "probably German" then do a search on the net, if battery not holding charge its knackered - maybe dealer swaped it to someones new van and didnt replace hoping you wouldnt notice it happens all the time.
Thanks for that. I did check it was set to gel, that seems ok. Regarding the charging, should 75 miles ought to have put enough in (even if it was flat) to have one light on for 10 minutes? (we'd only been stopped long enough to boil the kettle - on gas, I hasten to add ). It's a nuisance that we can't put it on hookup to try till we go away
The EMS is an Elektrobolck EBL208 S, according to the manual.
The battery does look new and had a booklet taped to it (when I could get at it - you have to remove the table and 6 screws to get in there )
-H
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
All times are GMT + 1 Hour Page 1 of 2Goto page 1, 2Next
Norway
I would certainly hope so, we picked the van up, new, 5 weeks ago. But... one never knows! We won't be doing complicated sorting of this issue, obviously because it's under warranty, but I'd like to have some idea of what's wrong before I take it in!
)
