Auto-Trail Imala battery flat

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

Hiya

Anyone who can give me some tips? We have a 2018 Imala with a solar panel on it. We had the switch set to main (not leisure) battery. Last time we took it out was 26th January. It is on a storage site. Today it wouldn't start. I thought that the solar panel would charge the battery enough for this not to happen.

Anyone got any tips? We have a battery charger (where is the battery, it seems hard to get to?) or we can borrow some jump leads. How do we stop this happening again. Maybe visit every 2 weeks and start it up and let it run for a few minutes, taking it out for a spin every 4 weeks?

Incidentally we have a Phantom alarm and the battery indicator on the Phantom app has not dipped, it is more or less in a straight line - hope I am making sense!

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Zigisla]

This time of year, the solar will not produce very much at all, so if you have a reasonable drain on your battery, the solar may not put enough in to compensate. It does sound as though you have more than just the alarm running. Voltage may seem ok on the app, but if battery knackard it may not hold enough charge to start. With regards to battery position, I believe most cab bases are the same and the vehicle battery in under the floor by the passenger's feet - RHD

 

[andy63]

We had the switch set to main (not leisure) battery.

well that switch may have no bearing on what the solar charging does,
it doesn't sound like it if your start battery flattened, you don't say what size panel and is it wired directly to the leisure batteries or through the habitation power supply unit.. all that may have a bearing on what the solar charging does..
what was your leisure battery voltage at the time the van wouldn't start, you can get devices to trickle the start off the leisure batteries..
Andy

 

[TCG]

with the autotrail, don't you have the smart charger? we can start the van engine via the leisure battery at a flick of a switch, i would be surprised if you cant

 

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

Smart charger? Never heard of that. Where is the switch? Hope we have that, sounds great.

Attached is a picture of the "Battery History" on the Phantom app. The peak on 29th January is where we took it out for a run up and down 2 motorway junctions.

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[TCG]

Sargent do the electrics for Autotrail, our smart charger charges both the hab and engine battery, you can choose via the control panel which one you want to use
give Sargent a call on 01482 678981.. customer service is great

 

[rb62]

Might be wrong but I thought the switch on the control panel was for the source of your power, i.e. if your hab batteries go flat you can use the vehicle battery for a short time.

 

[TCG]

Might be wrong but I thought the switch on the control panel was for the source of your power, i.e. if your hab batteries go flat you can use the vehicle battery for a short time.

yes believe so, but i was also informed it worked the other way as well, engine battery flat and you can start with hab... i am happy to be corrected
i will put a call into sargent

 

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

We have the sargent unit. See picture attached. The switch at the bottom has three settings - I, O and II. We were told to set it at "I" to charge the vehicle battery when the vehicle is not being used. Hope that is correct! I assume O is off and II is to charge the leisure battery. Are you saying that if we switch it to the bottom setting - II - the vehicle might start off the leisure battery?

Blimey, hope I have made sense!

 

[TCG]

oopps.. just spoken to Sargent and @rb62 is correct, you can switch from hab to engine if required but not the other way around.

The smart charger will direct the charge to the battery that needs it. but you can also manually over ride this and put all the charge into either battery via the control panel.
sorry @JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants ... i gave you duff info

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[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

Not to worry, it all helps me understand things. So, do you lieave it on the "O" setting for it to direct the charge to the battery that needs it? As I say, we left it on I (top setting) which is vehicle battery but obviously not enough to keep it charged for 4 weeks in the winter.

So, how is the best way to recharge the battery and get it started again? I don't want to make things worse . . . . !

 

[robnchris]

Not to worry, it all helps me understand things. So, do you lieave it on the "O" setting for it to direct the charge to the battery that needs it? As I say, we left it on I (top setting) which is vehicle battery but obviously not enough to keep it charged for 4 weeks in the winter.

So, how is the best way to recharge the battery and get it started again? I don't want to make things worse . . . . !

The Fiat cab is quite a power hungry animal, 4 to 6 wks will flatten the vehicle battery or that has been our case, as already said during the winter months the solar panel will put little or no charge into the battery

We keep ours connected to 240v over the winter, ours being a 2013 model only chargers the battery selected so we had a Battery Master fitted by Eddie Vanblitz which now sends a trickle charge to the engine battery if it needs it.

 

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

We can't keep ours connected to 240V as it is on a storage site. Having looked around the internet it seems that connecting a battery charger (there is power point on the storage site) and letting it charge is a safer option than jump starting. It seems jump starting can sometimes mess the highly sensitive electrics up. Any views?

 

[ramsthom]

That photo is actually the mains charger. 0 is off and 1 is on. It has nothing to do with the solar charging. On the control panel you can select Veh or Leisure and on mains it will charge the selected battery. Without mains electric selecting Veh or Leisure will use that battery only for habitation use. You cannot use the leisure battery to start the vehicle it would need some mighty thick cables to do so. Does your solar have the ability to charge either battery. If not it is probable only charging the leisure battery.

 

[rb62]

If I was charging a flat battery I would remove it and charge it on the bench at home so I could keep an eye on it.Depending on how flat it is will depend on whether it is recoverable
One of these comes in handy

Amazon product ASIN B003NEGZLS

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[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

Ramsthom - "On the control panel you can select Veh or Leisure and on mains it will charge the selected battery".

Do you mean the control panel above the habitation door??? Not sure I have understood what we are doing wrong. Maybe we are not setting things correctly - the explanation I put was given to us by the salesman!

But hurrah for packaged bank accounts!! Mine includes Homestart on any vehicle and they will come along to the storage facility on Friday and jump start it for us.

We will make sure we start it and run it every 2 weeks in winter from now on and not rely on the solar panel.

 

[namwaldog]

On our 2010 Fiat based MH, as said, the cab battery is under the floor where the passengers feet are and is not that easy to access.
However to jump start there are two connections under the bonnet that you connect the booster pack or jump cables to.

Your Fiat owners handbook should point you in the right direction.



Barry

 

[Riverbankannie]

When Homestart come along, ask them to show you where the jump start /charging points are under the bonnet.


Oops - too slow!

 

[Gellyneck]

On our 2010 Fiat based MH, as said, the cab battery is under the floor where the passengers feet are and is not that easy to access.
However to jump start there are two connections under the bonnet that you connect the booster pack or jump cables to.

Your Fiat owners handbook should point you in the right direction.



Barry

In the video the guy connects the earth and then the positive. Should it not be the other way around? Or am I just being daft (yet again!)?

 

[Brucek]

Hello, on our V - line there is a switch in the cupboard above the TV for the solar panel, l to charge the vehicle battery, 0 for off and ll to charge the leisure batteries. After discharging our leisure batteries to around 20% despite the solar being switched to ll we discovered that the switch is wired the wrong way round so we had been charging the vehicle battery from the solar panel. Could this be your problem?

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[boxtraveller]

Anyone got any tips? We have a battery charger (where is the battery, it seems hard to get to?) or we can borrow some jump leads. How do we stop this happening again. Maybe visit every 2 weeks and start it up and let it run for a few minutes, taking it out for a spin every 4 weeks?

Hi, we have an 2016 Imala also in storage and following a bad experience with a previous motorhome, we take ours either away for a few days every 3 weeks or so or take it for a good run of about half an hour every three weeks, as others have said your solar panel will make little difference to the battery in the winter.
I am no diesel expert but have always been told not to let a diesel engine sit and idle just to shove charge into a battery, so take it for a run, the tyres will benefit and the exhaust wont rot through because of moisture or at least that is what I am told.

 

[Gellyneck]

Here's the relevant page out of the Owners Manual for jump starting.

 

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

Thanks Barry, very useful video.
Brucek - I will try and investigate this but I just think we left it too long before giving it a run. I was hoping that the solar panel would mean we wouldn't have to worry about the battery but apparently not.
Once Homestart have started it we can give it a run then bring it home and charge it before we go away. We have just enough room for it on our drive but only for a couple of days as don't like to annoy the neighbours!
Will update if anything interesting.

 

[clanjones]

I am intrigued by the comments re. 'Not being able to keep batteries charged with solar over winter'.

We have 200 watts of solar, an MPPT controller 2 liesure batteries (200 amps) located in Edinburgh, alarm and tracker and the batteries have always been fully charged over the winter so it is possible. (I am not crowing, just trying to show what is possible)

We do go for a run once a month as well. It would be interesting to understand what your current drain is when 'switched off' so that you can find the required solution.

 

[mitzimad]

ours is 180 of solar and when laid up keeps both batteries full

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[Blue Knight]

Janey, our first van was an Imala and it lost power quite quickly too. It didn't help that some technical 'yoof' at the factory had wired up my solar button incorrectly -- I thought the solar panel was charging the hab battery when in fact it was charging the engine battery and vice versa.

 

[jezport]

I wonder if your solar does charge the cab battery?
We have a 140w panel sending up to 2A to the Cab battery and the rest to the Leisure battery. Over 2 years it has kept both batteries healthy through winter.

 

[JaneyBMotorhomer In Hants]

BoxTraveller - good advice, we will run it every 3 weeks in future. Now we know!

Gellyneck - ta for handbook page. Personally I find the Imala handbook (downloaded) is pretty useless.

Blue Knight - you are the second person to say that this has happened to you - wired up the wrong way round. How can I check this simply?

Ours has a 100W solar panel as standard. You can switch between it charging the cab battery or leisure one.

 

[Brucek]

I disconnected the leisure batteries and used a voltmeter. Incidentally even though our van is parked in permanent shadow (of our apartment building) the solar panel has increased the charge on the vehicle battery over the past week.

 

[Louis]

In the video the guy connects the earth and then the positive. Should it not be the other way around? Or am I just being daft (yet again!)?

Yes