Battery dead ??

D

Dubs1953

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Fiat Autotrail
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I’m a Newbie
Hi all,
New to all this and first post ?, have been charging my leisure batteries for the last couple of days on and off, seemed like they were holding charge until this morning when I checked them again, ? only showing 3.1 poor on the Sargent control display above the Hab door.
Immediately put them back on charge via mains h/u and straight away show 13.7 good, are ok or dead ??, Thank you for any help.
 
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Hello and welcome, is the voltage with the charger connected? if so what is the voltage with the charger disconnected?
 
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Dubs1953 said:
Hi, the 3.1 reading is off charge .
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F B A R you need a new battery. the 13.7 is coming from the charger, if the battery has been on charge and down to 3.1 then totally F B A R

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looks like only one sell still working connected them and put them on to a charger that puts out minimum 14v for a few days if they don't recover new battery's :(
 
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Dubs1953 have you checked the voltage from the battery terminals with the charger turned off?
 
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Hi Guys and thanks for your input, I think I have to accept that they are too far gone and need replacing,
The 3.1 reading as I say is Off charge, and I don’t know enough about electric’s to mess with things myself ?.

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They have had it. I sympathise as I have just had to replace my starter battery which was down to 10.9v and only 325A CCA when it should be 900A even after charging. They dont last for ever.
 
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You need to be aware that the system on an Autotrail has a small but very constant drain, even when nothing is connected.. If you do have new batteries then do some research and look into a solar panel, ALSO very important you understand what setting to put the Sargent system on ensure solar charge is working. Manuals are on their website.

Even with solar, its best to have a mains hook up and EHU charger on every 3-4 weeks in winter if the van is not used.. (y)

Try a mains charge, you may be lucky but at 3v thats not good..:crying:
As mentioned the 13+ voltage will be the charging system.
 
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The question is, are the batteries dead because they are faulty/expired, or is there some other fault that's caused their demise?

There's only one way to be sure about the state of a battery, and that's to use a voltmeter directly on the actual battery terminals, preferable when it's not connected to anything else. There are so many possible faults with the connections, wiring, alternator, charger, earth strap, fuses etc. You won't be the first to buy a couple of brand new batteries, only to find that they are also flat after a week or two because of a fault in any of the above.

If you're not measuring the batteries directly there's no guarantee that the batteries are flat anyway.
 
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I could be talking out of my "B*M"! here

but something dont seem right here!!

if a battery was as low as 3.1 Volts would the charger even attempt to cahrge the battery, would there not be some sort of cut out thus preventing a charge to the batteries,and avoiding something stupid happening like a battery exploding....
 
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Phill D said:
I could be talking out of my "B*M"! here

but something dont seem right here!!

if a battery was as low as 3.1 Volts would the charger even attempt to cahrge the battery, would there not be some sort of cut out thus preventing a charge to the batteries,and avoiding something stupid happening like a battery exploding....
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Depends on the charger and what the resistance of the battery is, if the battery has a high resistance the charger voltage will look normal but hardly any current will be flowing into the battery.

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Is your system actually charging the hab batteries or the cab battery, I think some systems have a setting to swap between the 2 or some have smart option?
 
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autorouter said:
The question is, are the batteries dead because they are faulty/expired, or is there some other fault that's caused their demise?

There's only one way to be sure about the state of a battery, and that's to use a voltmeter directly on the actual battery terminals, preferable when it's not connected to anything else. There are so many possible faults with the connections, wiring, alternator, charger, earth strap, fuses etc. You won't be the first to buy a couple of brand new batteries, only to find that they are also flat after a week or two because of a fault in any of the above.

If you're not measuring the batteries directly there's no guarantee that the batteries are flat anyway.
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wot I said.
 
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Hi All,
Thanks again for the input, There is a Solar Panel on the roof and the unit in the wardrobe for it reads 12.2 volts half the reason I can’t understand why the batteries are showing what they are, wouldn’t the solar panel be keeping them charged??
 
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The display of the solar regulator should show the same voltage as the batteries.
With a good battery either the mains charger or the solar should take the battery up to 14.2-14.2 v then drop back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8v after a predetermined time (varies on the charger). However, there is not enough solar to fully charge them at this time of year.

If the battery is dropping to the 3.1v with no charging it is goosed.
 
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My batteries wouldn’t even keep the digital display live. Took them off agm batts by the way and brought them back up on a cheap lidle charger got back to 11.5 volt but low percentage fitted them back on van with ehu on now back to normal. Lucky me I hope

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Macca1954 said:
My batteries wouldn’t even keep the digital display live. Took them off agm batts by the way and brought them back up on a cheap lidle charger got back to 11.5 volt but low percentage fitted them back on van with ehu on now back to normal. Lucky me I hope
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Recovered batteries never last, I would replace them, nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no heating or lights.
 
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Should perhaps add this is an 05 plate Ducato ?
 
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Lenny HB said:
Recovered batteries never last, I would replace them, nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no heating or lights.
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Been back in storage for a week will see when I pick up on Tuesday. Hope not
 
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Was told the batteries were New when we bought the Moho, 2 years this August ?

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So, took the batteries off this morning and put them on the multimeter and Zilch!!! or near as dam it ?
as I suspected I suppose.
Time to buy new batteries ?
 
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