McLouis 261 Electrics

playbyte · 09-05-2008, 04:49 PM

Hi. Can anyone please tell me how the leisure batteries are recharged. I have 2 batteries cabled together in series.
On the electric panel above the sink, I have a picture of a light bulb which is lit with a red light - what does this signify?
When I press the battery check it indicates only 1 rather than full so I think both bateries have suffered over the winter - am I correct?
Playbyte

American Dream · 09-05-2008, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playbyte

Hi. Can anyone please tell me how the leisure batteries are recharged. I have 2 batteries cabled together in series.
On the electric panel above the sink, I have a picture of a light bulb which is lit with a red light - what does this signify?
When I press the battery check it indicates only 1 rather than full so I think both bateries have suffered over the winter - am I correct?
Playbyte

Have you had the motorhome on the Electric hookup over the winter Guys?

I tend to turn the charger on every couple of weeks just to ensure the batteries are kept charged.

You may be able to recover them.

pappajohn · 09-05-2008, 05:01 PM

hi playbyte.

assuming you have been on hookup

have you got your charger, on the mains/powersupply/charger unit, turned on.
i dont know the mcCloius setup but you should be able to turn on/off the charger unit.

on my kontiki the unit has a rocker switch on top to turn the charger on/off. this also has a fuse which on mine was not making a contact in its carrier thus no charge.

i think the red light will just be a visual warning that the 12v power is turned on.

hope this helps.

john.

playbyte · 09-05-2008, 05:05 PM

No we didnt have it on hook up over winter because it is parked on the garage forecourt near to us seeing as we dont have facilities to park it at our house. As for a charger for them I wouldnt know where to look :(, would it be attached to or near to the leisure battery? The garage is taking them into his care and putting them onto trickle charge over the next few days so im hoping that will give us the boost to start the season with.

pappajohn · 09-05-2008, 05:08 PM

charger could be anywhere, in a cupboard, under a seat ect but its normally near the hookup socket.

sounds like they will need more than trickle charging.
connect to a hookup for a couple of days then check again and hopefully all will be ok.
or connect a normal (5 to 10 ah) car charger to one of the batteries.

john.

playbyte · 09-05-2008, 05:09 PM

We are off out this evening so I will pick up any replies in the morning, so in anticipation of the flood of help I will get - thank you thank you thank you.
Playbyte

stagman · 09-05-2008, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playbyte

We are off out this evening so I will pick up any replies in the morning, so in anticipation of the flood of help I will get - thank you thank you thank you.
Playbyte

Batteries should be in parallel not series,or did you use the wrong description.Series would give you 24v just a thought,

playbyte · 09-05-2008, 11:51 PM

aaaaah yes thanks stagman i did mean parallel. As a friend installed it im assuming that he put thae cables on correctly - i think he put red to red and black to black which if that is incorect of course, that in itself may be the reason they are run down. Electrics are not within my knowledge base so im learning as we go here

kands · 10-05-2008, 07:26 AM

Hi Playbyte
The install sounds OK, red to red and black to black or Pos (+) to Pos (+) and Neg (-) to Neg(-), this will give you 12 volts DC at the rated current of both batteries, so assume that you have 2 x 85 Amp/Hour batteries you should have approximately 170 Amp/Hours worth of supply.
Do remember that batteries do not like to be run down flat, so if you can get a multimeter and read the voltage of the batteries without the charger and they should be above 11.5 volts, if they are much below this they will be decidedly sick and probably will need replacing, lower than 10 volts and you need to go shopping for some new ones I am afraid...
I do hope that you manage to recharge your batteries but if you are in trouble please feel free to PM me as I will be having a couple of virtually brand new 85 Amp/Hour batteries to sell very soon as I am upgrading the batteries on our RV to 110 Amp/Hour ones.......
Good luck

Keith

ralph-dot · 10-05-2008, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playbyte

On the electric panel above the sink, I have a picture of a light bulb which is lit with a red light - what does this signify?
When I press the battery check it indicates only 1 rather than full so I think both bateries have suffered over the winter - am I correct?
Playbyte

The picture of a light bulb which is lit with a red light signifies the 12V system is on (on the Mclouis here is usually a button under the light to switch it on or off)

With any luck the batteries will be ok when you start using the van again.

The charger will probably be under one of the front seats and all works automatically.

Note, do not stick a knife into the charger, see Bad Liebenzell

Germany 2007, France and Belgium

Ralph