Battery flat can anybody help ? (1 Viewer)

[Aerialmark]

Hi
We are currently in northern Spain and have a problem. The cranking battery on the MH has gone flat in a matter of minutes when I plugged into the mains on the campsite. The onboard charger is saying that there is no mains connection when there is, the battery test lights on the panel are showing leisure battery fully charged but cranking battery is in the red and the 12v system ok light is flashing. I have disconnected from the mains but it’s still the same with the main battery. Has anybody any ideas ? . The engine will not now turn over in fact no lights will now come onto the dash and it looks like we will have to call for breakdown assistance.

 

[Landy Andy]

Great news and well done for having a go and sorting it. It’s all part of the fun. I bet you thought this sort of fun only happened with our Land Rovers. Nice to see you this forum too.

Andy

 

[Spriddler]

Result! Well done. Very satisfying.
As said by others a multimeter (test meter) is an essential onboard diagnostic tool. Always carry one. Cheap as chips.

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[Jev88]

Lots of mysterious electrical problems go away with a couple of additional earth straps.
For instance on older Ducato's the main earth strap runs from gearbox to wheel arch (passenger side) and looked like an old piece of leather after 20 years, so much that you wouldn't notice it was meant to be an earth strap. Replace it and sandpaper the connection bolt points. Then add another strap from engine block (nice lifting ring on mine to use) to gearbox. Then for good measure add another from battery to bodywork if you are able.
PS Only 13 volts from your alternator doesn't sound healthy either - should be 14+

 

[Locoman]

After reading all the threads/Reply's Im just off to put my multi- meter in my van before our trip to France .?

 

[gwyntaxi]

Fixed it ? I had nothing better to do yesterday so I took the onboard charger apart with my own limited tools and thought I found a dry joint. I managed to borrow a soldering iron this morning and resoldered the joint and it worked !!! Thankyou to all for your time and input as I would not have attempted it without a little prior knowledge. Let’s hope the second part of out hols goes better than the first. Thankyou all.

Hi Aerialmark, glad you’ve got it sorted, there’s no better feeling, as others have said on here, when using breakdown companies abroad, they don’t seem interested in sorting a problem even if their capable of doing so, they are only interested in recovery which earns them BIG money, I mean if you’ve got a choice of sorting a problem for 150euros or 900 euros the choice is obvious, anyway, enjoy the rest of your holiday.

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[pappajohn]

Fixed it ? I had nothing better to do yesterday so I took the onboard charger apart with my own limited tools and thought I found a dry joint. I managed to borrow a soldering iron this morning and resoldered the joint and it worked !!! Thankyou to all for your time and input as I would not have attempted it without a little prior knowledge. Let’s hope the second part of out hols goes better than the first. Thankyou all.

Sorry, but this makes no sense at all.
In your first post you said on first connecting hookup the starter battery showed flat in minutes...... That means your alternator isn't charging the battery at all when the engine is running.

A faulty charger cannot discharge a battery that fast and if somehow it was discharging the starter battery that fast without the wiring melting it would also discharge the hab battery.
A dry joint on the charger board may prevent it charging but it wouldn't make it discharge.
Of course, with very limited tools, no multimeter and very limited knowledge the first thing I would do is strip down the battery charger.

 

[gus-lopez]

they are only interested in recovery which

The one who came tome in France did only that. Recovered to a Fiat garage . Just a standalone recovery company nothing else-

 

[Aerialmark]

Sorry, but this makes no sense at all.
In your first post you said on first connecting hookup the starter battery showed flat in minutes...... That means your alternator isn't charging the battery at all when the engine is running.

A faulty charger cannot discharge a battery that fast and if somehow it was discharging the starter battery that fast without the wiring melting it would also discharge the hab battery.
A dry joint on the charger board may prevent it charging but it wouldn't make it discharge.
Of course, with very limited tools, no multimeter and very limited knowledge the first thing I would do is strip down the battery charger.

Hi Pappa J
Im home now and to make myself a little clearer it was actually two different faults. The cranking battery I thought had discharged was actually a bad earth that when attempting to turn the engine over appeared that the battery was flat but when the earth was fixed was ok. The second fault was indeed the battery charger which when connected to ECH was not charging which made me think it was discharging the cranking battery but it obviously wasn't . When I had fixed the earth fault i connected up to the mains and it still wasn't charging so I opened the charger up just to actually see if there was an internal fuse that had blown. I noticed that one of the joints on the board looked a little poor and thought its worth a go at resoldering it as i have nothing to lose. When i eventually managed it ( as the soldering iron was a little big for the job) I put it back together and it worked ! I think there is still an intermittent fault somewhere on the bat charger but its going back to the dealer on Tuesday for some other faults that occurred rectifying and they will look at it for me. I have ordered an old fashioned meter with the needle and dial as opposed to digital read out for our future trips. I'm getting to grips slowly with this motorhome thing. Thankyou once again
Regards Mark.....

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[Tony50]

Sounds more like an earthing issue, try the jump lead suggestion at least.

I agree probably, battery to chassis ,and or engine to chassis, assuming that connections on battery and starter and starter solenoid are not corroded, which sometimes you cannot see without dismantling,same applies to battery and earth connections ,disconnect and clean ,as Ex Renault Service Garage owner , loosing earth's were common

 

[Neil Bedwin]

The one who came tome in France did only that. Recovered to a Fiat garage . Just a standalone recovery company nothing else-

When my trailer bearing collapsed and bits of swarfe stuck out of the hub recovery was all I wanted. Green Flag wanted to send a mechanic to see if he could fix it for me! I told the call centre that unless the mechanic had the right sized Alko sealed for life bearing they were just wasting everyones time. Fortunately they saw sense and sent a flatbed.....that was too short for the 6.3m boat and trailer. The driver, however, called his mate with a bigger truck to swap jobs with him.

 

[robnchris]

Well done AerialMark for sorting that problem out, I love a happy ending.

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[Ingwe]

The annoying thing is that I have one but it’s in my LandRover ?

I was the same so I bought another multi-tester. One lives in the motorhome permanently. Anyway, glad you got it sorted.

 

[Tony50]

your sealed for life bearing on you boat trailer been immersed in salt water ? if so wheel bearings don't like salt, however they are sealed, every time you go to use trailer I suggest you jack up one wheel and spin it and then the other wheel you soon know if the bearing is unserviceable by the noise it makes when it's spinning. I have renewed several trailer bearings during a service, if you imagine how many millions of times the bearings within the Bearing turns in 1 mile you can then envisage there does not have to be much water ingress/and or foreign matter for a bearing to pack up.

 

[Snoopy]

Hope you get things sorted

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[Spriddler]

I trailer a motorbike extensively to events throughout Europe and always carry a spare pair of wheel bearings (c£25 on eBay). They would be a simple job to replace at the roadside. I also carry a spare wheel since bearings failure or a puncture are about the only things likely to go wrong with a trailer.

 

[Silver-Fox]

Hope you get things sorted

Not a paid up member so your unlikely to find out ?