[88726]

hi guys

i bought a battery saver plus to keep my starting battery topped up , two weeks later i went to start the camper and the battery wouldnt light a bulb , :evil: :evil: i bought it from maplins but lost the receipt so im stuck with it , these things should be fitted with a one way diode so this dosent happen so im going to take it apart and see whats in there. ive recharged the battery and its holding so far so fingers crossed .

cheers
kenny+stella

 

[spykal]

Hi Kenny

Is it one like this

ICP Battery Saver Plus ....on offer at £14.99 at the mo

I'm interested because I have just bought one earlier this week for my sons Campervan which I am working on at the moment, he will be keeping it on the street so charging from the mains is not on.

I have had it connected for a couple of days and I can honestly say I am quite impressed, the charge rate is minimal but good enough to keep a good battery at its maximum. There is a diode fitted to stop any discharge overnight or on dull days. When i connected the battery to it the voltage was 12.60, after a one good sunny day the voltage is now at 12.80 so it must be doing something.

Are you sure that you do not have something on the van which is drawing current while standing, immobiliser, alarm or ??...maybe you need a bigger panel. They do make one twice the size.

Are you sure that the charge from the panel is getting to the battery? is the cigar lighter on with the ignition off?

Is the battery in good nick? A failing battery will self discharge at an alarming rate.

Hope you get can get it sorted, Maybe it really is a faulty One, take it back and try to blag your way to getting a replacement.

Mike

 

[88726]

hi mike

yes it's exactly the same and i also think its a great idea , my battery is 9 months old and in very good cond , ive left it for 2 months over winter and it still starts the mh like it ran yesterday , the batt was in excellent state of charge and my cigar lighter is live when ignition is off .

ive changed nothing in my set-up for 3 weeks prior to buying this and the vehicle started easily just before i fitted it, it had been connected for 2 weeks , i went out yesterday to check it and the battery wouldnt even light a tiny bulb it was completely lifeless , its also got a red flashing led to tell you its working so im assuming it sucked every last bit of life from my batt during darkness. as ive lost the receipt im going inside it for a look around, i may replace the diode as ive got hundereds lying around . im also thinking of trying to test it on some other battery to see if it does the same to that. hope yours stays healthy mike .
cheers
kenny

 

[Paulway]

Maplins have always been pretty fair with me and have exchanged stuff for me before, even though they were not faulty, without a receipt so I would go and speak to them were it me.

 

[dodger148]

A few options here,
The Panel could be faulty, if you have a multi meter check accross the terminals you should get a reading of 14 to 20 volts with no load
The diode could be us and allowing the battery to discharge.
I experimented with our panel a few years ago, its a bit bigger than than the battery saver type and it blew a fuse in the T4s ciar lighter circuit. If something like this has happened it wouldnt charge the battery
As Paulway says, Maplins arnt bad if you have faulty gear they will normally sort no probs

 

[88726]

tested the panel today , its outputing power and reads about 13.8 volts , my cigar lighter still works stuff so fuse is ok , im going to replace the diode myself just have to check the reverse breakdown of the ones ive got to see if theyre up to the job.
thanks for the replys

kenny+stella