LEISURE BATTERY replacement (2 Viewers)

Loopy from Oz

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Apr 10, 2016
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hi, we are newbies but think our leisure battery is so flat it is not recharging. We drove around France for 3 months no problem but have now been in Spain 6 weeks. We are house sitting & so van is only "driven" once a week for approx 1 hour & every other day we were clicking over the engine- for approx half hour. We have had our GAS fridge running the whole time & only had the water pump on. All other electrics turned off.
We now have the battery not recharging - even after a 2 hour drive yesterday. According to the service book if the leisure battery charges/ works when engine running but not when engine turns off you need to see a "professional".... We are south of Valencia and need to know if anyone can RECOMMEND a reliable & decent priced van dealer/ battery place.... As far south as Benidorm...?? Or any other suggestions...?? We have a RIMOR Bluesky 2013. Thanks for any info.
 

flatpackchicken

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Can't help got local places but a couple of things here. Why are you not plugged into the house to keep batteries charged up ????
Your batterys are complete had it, try never to let your batterys go less than 50% charge as this will eventually kill it
You may need a solar panel to keep batters topped up when sitting for a long time. Sounds to me that you have let the batters go flat to many times also the fridge on all the time and nothing going back in may help drain the battery. Suggest solar panel about 100w plus gauge to see how much charge coming down and obviously new batteries. Maybe go to a local tyre dealer or motirhome depot. Good luck regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 

flatpackchicken

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This is the nearest place I can find to you at mo ok better than nothing maybe
Für die Region / For the region
46400 Valencia
Telephone: 0034 (0)
609611825
www.recaravan.es
Hope this helps
Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

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Feb 9, 2008
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Agree with above. However 100 W solar panel likely to be too small. Get the most you can fit.
A 2013 motorhome will have modern electrics including it's own charging system when on hook up. This is the main way to keep your batteries charged. The engine will be good for charging your cab battery but probably no good for keeping your leisure battery charged unless you have a B2B charger fitted. Have you read your operating manuals in detail, everything you need to know and should know is in there? I suspect your leisure battery is goosed. Allowed to be fully or almost discharged before being topped up again and probably not being fully charged as well. If you just buy a new battery and continue as before you will end up in the same position again.
In the resources section you will find some downloads about leisure batteries which will improve your knowledge on how to maintain them and also the NCC leisure battery scheme whereby batteries are independently tested and classified
Best of luck and safe travels.
 
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Loopy from Oz

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Apr 10, 2016
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Thanks heaps for the info & reference links. I prob should of mentioned the "house sit" is a rustic off grid finca without its own elect hence the need to have the MH fridge running. We don't have a numerical battery gauge or solar & wont be installing solar as we are selling the van in the next few months....so we are in a bit of a catch 22 at the moment... I will read up the battery info so we can try to keep a new battery charged as best we can. Can't be in Spain & not have a COLD BEER!!
 

hilldweller

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as we are selling the van in the next few months...

In that case go into a supermarket or wherever and buy the cheapest car battery the same size. A starter battery will be good enough for your needs and much cheaper.

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Loopy from Oz

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Sounds like a great idea! & cheaper! Thank you. Will that charge up when driving - same as the cab battery..?? Possibly a dumb question I know! We do have a generator that pumps the water well & we can hook elect up to that but only for about half an hour a day.... It didn't seem worth worrying about as it's easier to click the car over for the same time. Thanks again.
 

hilldweller

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Will that charge up when driving - same as the cab battery..?? Possibly a dumb question I know! We do have a generator that pumps the water well & we can hook elect up to that but only for about half an hour a day....

Assuming the charging circuits are working yes, an ordinary lead acid battery is a battery, simples.

Don't knock that half hour, it's better than nothing.
 

flatpackchicken

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I would of thought that cheap battery and turnover engine for half an hour at a time should do the trick as you need both engine and habitation batterys kept topped up but would not hurt to additional hook up to gennie whenever it is on (every little helps) :) to help top up the hab battery. Best of luck.
Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

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Feb 9, 2008
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Sounds like a great idea! & cheaper! Thank you. Will that charge up when driving - same as the cab battery..?? Possibly a dumb question I know! We do have a generator that pumps the water well & we can hook elect up to that but only for about half an hour a day.... It didn't seem worth worrying about as it's easier to click the car over for the same time. Thanks again.
Yes! Connect to the electrical supply and let your on board charger do its stuff. Make sure the charger is on and leisure batteries selected as you may end up just charging the cab battery. The likely hood is I fear, that your leisure battery is dead and no amount of charging will recover it. I am also of the opinion that just replacing the battery in itself will be a very, very short term fix without a regular hook up. You have already established running the engine is insufficiant. Of course this is dependant on how much battery power you will be drawing on an hourly basis. Either way, best of luck and may I suggest you let the new owner know about the battery situation when you sell so as not to tarnish the image of motorhome user's, unless of course your a dealer which sadly seems to be the norm these days.

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Apr 27, 2016
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I suggest you get a cheap multimeter, and keep an eye on the voltage of the batteries. I know voltage won't give you the whole story, but it's a lot better than nothing.

Battery Voltage should be 12.0 to 13.4 when not being charged and nothing drawing power from it.

If it's below 12.0 it needs charging ASAP.

When charging it should be 13.8 to 14.8. If it's very flat and you just started charging, it might be lower than 13.8 for a while.

A 12V battery can never produce more than 13.6 volts unaided. You can use this fact to check if the charging circuit is definitely working. If it's more than 13.6v, it's definitely charging.
 
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Loopy from Oz

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great idea for the meter - will use one & do the plug in to the gennie also.
 

Abacist

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Turn off the Van 12 volt electrics, even the pump, when not in use as the pump draws more power than you can afford in your present circumstances!

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Abacist

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Ah you've got a genny! Why not plug the van into that or is that at full stretch doing the house?
 
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Loopy from Oz

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The gennie just gets put on for about half hour - 40mins to pump the well water. Don't really want to be running it for more than an hr/ day as it chews the petrol.... & yeah all other electrics off in the van & fridge is on gas... But I have a feeling it's starter clicker needs the battery as even with a full gas bottle it won't stay / turn on gas mode. ... Heading out to buy a new battery. It's a 12 v / 105 AH ... Guessing that's a normal..??
 
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That's what you pays your subs for :) hope you will tell all your countrymen on return to OZ about us and everyone you meet who you think may benefit from MHF.
Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

MHF ? I thought this forum is MHFun - not to be confused with the Dark Side !!!

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Apr 27, 2016
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The key point is not to take out more energy than you put in, averaged over 24 hours.
Mains charger, I guess, is 20 amps max. In half an hour it will put in 10 amp-hours.
Engine alternator, I guess, is 30amps at idle speed, In half an hour that's 15 amp-hours.

I don't know how much the fridge control board takes in 24 hours but it's probably less than 12 amp-hours, I guess. So If you only use the fridge you should be OK. Keep an eye on the voltage, and make sure it doesn't get down to 12.0 volts.

These numbers are guesswork, and assuming everything is 100% efficient; in reality you need to allow a margin of error. Problem with the gennie is, if the mains charger probably only does 20A, the wattage used is only 12 x 20 = 240 watts, a fraction of the gennie capacity I imagine. It's not very efficient on petrol consumption.
 
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Loopy from Oz

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UPDATES- so we have a BRAND NEW "fully charged" battery on Monday & I have a meter. It was great the first day - husband took for a 2 hour drive & battery read 13. All electrics off- fridge on manual gas operation & we have plugged into gennie for 2 - half hour lots. The battery dropped to 12.7 & this morning 12.5.
PROBLEM is- when the CAR engine is not running the light/ electrics panel display INSTANTLY drops down to Red battery level... Even though I manually checked battery and it read 12.7..?? (According the the manual this should = full charge and all 4 battery light levels lit -which DOES happen when the engine is on)
After approx 3 hours the control panel was DEAD- no power AT ALL in Hab -& again I checked the battery with meter & it was 12.5! The chap who helped put in the battery suggested there may be a problem with the B2B charger or the current getting to the control board...? He checked the alternator ampage & said the car battery is def sending out charge. After re- reading the manual I pulled off the control panel & all connections/ wires look attached.... It mentions a FUSE next to Hab battery..?? Could this be the cause..? It seems odd that the electrics work with car running... I'm just after some tips as we will take the van to a MH repair place but don't want them to tell me I need expensive new parts if it's just a €10 fuse that I need .... ; ). Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
 
Feb 9, 2008
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You state battery went up to 13V after 2 hour drive which indicates at that point the B2B charger was working. However, when the engine is not running (B2B charger no longer supplying voltage) you eventually loose all your Hab services because no voltage available.

You may want to confirm your B2B set up is ok and start your engine to confirm the leisure battery is receiving a current from your B2B charger, (around 13.7 -14.4 V) if not, probably a fuse. If it is charging then something is drawing more power from the battery than is being put in and running it down quite quickly. Or, the battery you have been sold is not a leisure battery and is running out of juice too quickly (unlikely though!) Agree, you check fuses and to be honest I am now out of my depth.
I would be grateful if you would let me know how this is finally resolved.
 

Abacist

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Sounds to me like there is a fault in the hab system such that the hab battery power is draining away even though there is apparently no load switched on. There is something that you don't know about and which is quite powerful which is draining the battery. If the fridge was connected to the hab battery when the engine is not running it would do this.

I am struggling to think it can be a fuse. If a fuse is OK current is allowed to pass as it should do and the battery will gradually lose power as you would expect. If the fuse has blown then no current can pass and so the hab battery would not be able to go flat but you would need to replace the fuse after finding out why the fuse had blown.

There is obviously a fault in the hab 12volt electrics somewhere. One way of perhaps finding it is to meter each supply line individually on the 12v side and pulling out he remaining 12v fuses so that nothing else can work. This might help identify if current is being drawn when everything is supposed to be turned off and had its fuse pulled.

I must admit I'm scratching my head which is always the way when you can't see the problem right in front of you.

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Abacist

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I see that we don't know the make and model and year of the van or what make is the electrical control system in the van. What is the make and model of the B2B charger that you refer to? This information might help and prompt someone on here to recognise the problem.

Remember also that a battery will show a lower voltage when it is under load than when it is not under load and has recovered.
 

Abacist

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The most likely cause if not the above will be an electrical leak though not significant enough to be a short circuit and blow a fuse. A leak can be caused by damp, corrosion, poor connections or damaged insulation in cables or equipment.

With everything turned off, to check for a leak, disconnect the positive battery terminal and connect your meter, set to read dc volts between the battery positive terminal and the disconnected battery cable. If everything is turned off then the voltage should read zero. If volts are 12 then something is still turned on or there is a leak. Pull each fuse in turn and check for voltage again. The circuit showing voltage is the one with the fault and then you have to check everything back on that circuit until you find the fault.
 
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I see that we don't know the make and model and year of the van or what make is the electrical control system in the van. What is the make and model of the B2B charger that you refer to? This information might help and prompt someone on here to recognise the problem.

Remember also that a battery will show a lower voltage when it is under load than when it is not under load and has recovered.
RIMOR Bluesky 2013.

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Lenny HB

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You really don't want to be letting the engine tick over for ½ hr quickest way of killing Catalytic converter & DPF's could end with a very big bill.
As your van actually got a B2B fitted if not to charge a flat battery you would need to drive about 300 miles or more.
You say you don't want to fit a solar panel, why not get a portable suitcase one, as you are in Spain a 40 or 60 watt one would easily cope with your needs.
 

Abacist

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Let us know how you get on and if you resolve the problem!
 
Apr 27, 2016
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I agree it sounds like something unknown is draining the battery. If you've checked each circuit as @Abacist describes, I've known a faulty charger to drain a battery fairly quickly without blowing any fuses. I hope it's not your B2B, but try disconnecting it to see if it stops the drain.

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