Hi,
Have got a 1995 Hymer 544 which we purchased a couple of months ago.
Been on several overnight trips both with and without 240v hook up and seemingly no electrical problems. This last weekend drove up to the Lakes and arrived to find leisure batteries extremely low even though the van had been hooked up at home for about 3 weeks and engine had been running for over 3 hours.
I have only recently learnt that the fridge can operate on 12v whilst driving since it should be powered from the engine battery and will not operate when the ignition is off. For the last two trips this is what I have done and I have not turned off the 12v switch to the fridge when stopped. The previous owner had installed 2 gel leisure batteries and (I think) a new charger/transformer. When hooked up now the charger whirrs on regularly and the batteries are getting quite hot and seemingly not holding charge.
I 'm pretty certain that the batteries are now damaged which is a bit of a sickener but even more frustrating is not knowing how they got so low in the first place!
Should 12v be switched on at the control panel when travelling and using the fridge? Is it possible to cook the batteries by leaving them on charge for too long? Should I be looking for a blown fuse somewhere in the system or have I just made a glaringly obvious mistake. Any advice would be greatly appreciated since we go away for a couple of weeks soon and this one needs to be sorted first. Thanks
Have got a 1995 Hymer 544 which we purchased a couple of months ago.
Been on several overnight trips both with and without 240v hook up and seemingly no electrical problems. This last weekend drove up to the Lakes and arrived to find leisure batteries extremely low even though the van had been hooked up at home for about 3 weeks and engine had been running for over 3 hours.
I have only recently learnt that the fridge can operate on 12v whilst driving since it should be powered from the engine battery and will not operate when the ignition is off. For the last two trips this is what I have done and I have not turned off the 12v switch to the fridge when stopped. The previous owner had installed 2 gel leisure batteries and (I think) a new charger/transformer. When hooked up now the charger whirrs on regularly and the batteries are getting quite hot and seemingly not holding charge.
I 'm pretty certain that the batteries are now damaged which is a bit of a sickener but even more frustrating is not knowing how they got so low in the first place!
Should 12v be switched on at the control panel when travelling and using the fridge? Is it possible to cook the batteries by leaving them on charge for too long? Should I be looking for a blown fuse somewhere in the system or have I just made a glaringly obvious mistake. Any advice would be greatly appreciated since we go away for a couple of weeks soon and this one needs to be sorted first. Thanks