Battery not charging when connected to mains

[Edinemms]

Hey,
We are out on our first camper van trip. When we parked up last night wild camping, out battery died towards the end of the evening and the alarm for the battery started to flash to say there was no power. Then toddy when we were driving it charged back up again. Tonight we camped at a campsite and connected to mains to give it a good charge but again early this evening the battery had died and the battery alarm has come on again , even though we are connected to mains - can anyone help?? Thanks

 

[Wack]

Battery will be goosed , how old is it , 3-4 years is all you get out of them , less if they've gone completely flat

Or the charger isn't working , when driving the alternator charges it up , on mains it'll be a battery charger

 

[Phill D]

Hi and welcome.

Unless you were using a lot of power I would suggest you get the battery tested.
It sounds as if your is nacked

 

[Phill D]

Also your battery should not go low while still on electric hook up.

If it has then you need to get the charger checked or even make sure iit is switched on.

 

[GAVLAD]

Do you have a switch or button to press next to your charger which switches on the charge facility when hooked up to electric?
Is there an RCD switch which has been tripped?
Check these as it could be something as simple as this.
Also, if you’re on a site, go ask one of your neighbours - caravan or Motorhome and ask them if they can help you. Chances are, they may have a similar set up to yours and may be able to have a look for you.
Normally, campers usually help campers out on site so you be in luck

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[autorouter]

The battery charger, if it's working, should be able to keep normal things like lights, TV, phone chargers etc functioning, and still have enough to make sure the battery is fully charged when you are ready to leave in the morning. It obviously is not doing that.

So first, is the hookup power reaching the camper van? Is there a socket you can check to see if you're getting power - maybe try a phone charger for example. If no power, check the hookup post hasn't tripped, and if that's OK check the mains consumer unit switches haven't tripped. Remember UP = ON, DOWN = OFF, the opposite of most light switches.

If there's power to the sockets, check that the charger mains switch is ON. If it is, often you can switch between leisure battery, starter battery and off. You won't be the first to discover that it's set to off instead of leisure battery.

 

[Edinemms]

Do you have a switch or button to press next to your charger which switches on the charge facility when hooked up to electric?
Is there an RCD switch which has been tripped?
Check these as it could be something as simple as this.
Also, if you’re on a site, go ask one of your neighbours - caravan or Motorhome and ask them if they can help you. Chances are, they may have a similar set up to yours and may be able to have a look for you.
Normally, campers usually help campers out on site so you be in luck

Thank you so much for your help. I am beginning to think this might be the problem. When we connected up onto the mains power the 230V light came on on the dash panel that I have attached a photo of (it is not green anymore as we are now not on the mains) but when I connected to the mains and moved the fridge switch to the mains it did not come on , so I moved the fridge switch to battery as thought it must have to run off this and would charge the battery at the same time but I’m now
Wondering if this is what drained the battery and infact we were not using any mains power.
Is it normal for their to be some sort of switch (other than the ones on this dash) to switch to mains?thanks again for all your help so far!

 

[Phill D]

It is most likely that running the fridge on 12v with nothing charging drained the battery.
First off you need to establish if your mains charger is working.
Plug into the mains and then plug something into a 240v socket. If it's working great, now find the charger and check its switched on.
If no mains at the 240v socket back track to the plug in to establish why not.

 

[GAVLAD]

As Phill has suggested plus look at where you plug the EHU cable into your van. Then try trace the cable inside. There will be a bank of boxes and fuses somewhere and there’ll be some RCD switches. Make sure these are all set to allow electric to flow coming into your van. There may also be a box with a button / reset switch in it which switches on/off the battery charger.
did you get a user manual with your van? If not, try googling your van make and model and it should be in there. Failing all of that, contact the person you bought it from and ask them if they had issues?
itll be something straight forward in the end.

I carry an electrical plug which lights up advising that a socket is ok and live and not reverse polarity. When I hook up to electric I plug this into a socket in the van which tells me that we have electric and alls good.
the control panel tells me that the batteries are charging when in electric hook up.
Without seeing your set up I can’t think of anything else to suggest

 

[Edinemms]

It is most likely that running the fridge on 12v with nothing charging drained the battery.
First off you need to establish if your mains charger is working.
Plug into the mains and then plug something into a 240v socket. If it's working great, now find the charger and check its switched on.
If no mains at the 240v socket back track to the plug in to establish why not.

Hi both, thank you again for your help - it’s has been very useful for an inexperienced 1st time camper!!
I followed your instructions which were great as we are now plugged back into mains on a campsite, the mains light is on and I found the switchboard switch which is also on. I then plugged in my phone charger into one of the sockets which is working so we must definitely be getting power which is good.
We have two sets of main lights in the van - one above the table area which are working and one above the bed area which are not (however these work when on battery mode so it’s not the lightbulbs) the fridge is also not working when set to the power switch (but again works when on battery mode)
Could it be that it can’t power everything at once? So because it’s charging up the battery it can’t also power the fridge (I have attached a photo of my charging dash with it plugged into mains and the dial is only just off the 0 so does that mean the battery is so low) or our fuses seem to be doubled - could it be thet one of the fuses for the ‘lights, charger, fridge, section could be gone , hence why the chargers are working and half the lights but not the other half or the fridge? Hope this all makes sense and thank you again!!!

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[Phill D]

Good start
So we know power is gettinto the van.

There are no pictures,

It is not normal to have 240v lighting, usually other than sockets and charging everything else would be 12v. But I don't know your van.

Have you a photo of your charging unit and your habitation services fuse box

 

[Edinemms]

Good start
So we know power is gettinto the van.

There are no pictures,

It is not normal to have 240v lighting, usually other than sockets and charging everything else would be 12v. But I don't know your van.

Have you a photo of your charging unit and your habitation services fuse box

Oops, sorry , I didn’t realise the photos hadn’t attached . Hopefully they are here this time. L
I have also attached a photo of the fridge which shows it has a mains power option

 

[Phill D]

OK see the switch on the main panel far left, with logo of the van on it. Move the switch down and that shoild show voltage of the habitation battery.

From the far right of that panel the needle is showing in the green so I assume that means a charge is being received.

Can't understand why the fridge does not work on mains from photos or info so far.
So, how do you know the fridge is not working on mains, is it because the warning light does not come on or do you know that the fridge is not cooling.

 

[Edinemms]

OK see the switch on the main panel far left, with logo of the van on it. Move the switch down and that shoild show voltage of the habitation battery.

From the far right of that panel the needle is showing in the green so I assume that means a charge is being received.

Can't understand why the fridge does not work on mains from photos or info so far.
So, how do you know the fridge is not working on mains, is it because the warning light does not come on or do you know that the fridge is not cooling.

When I press the button, you are right, it shows the battery is charging (and I have checked over the last hour - it has gone up so that’s good too)
What makes me think the fridge is not working is that when I have it on battery and I open the door there is a fridge light that comes on - but when I have it on power, no light comes on.
the fridge is still cold just now but I’m not sure if that’s from it previously being on and just keeping cold. I have put a bit of water in a bowl and put it in the freezer box so will see what happenes - could it be that the fridge is working but that the fridge light doesn't when on mains?
thanks again !!

 

[Phill D]

Unlikely that the fridge light will only work while on 12v.
So has it ever worked on 240v since you had it?
Looks like you need to fault find around the fridge controllet panel which could be at the back of the fridge tkse an outside vent off and look. Some fridges have a 3 pin plug on the end with a fuse in... Mine does, worth a check that 240v is getting go the fridge control panel.
Just be careful

Ps. You only get 5 free posts on the forum after that you have to join,.

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[autorouter]

One thing worth noting - that meter on the right is the charging/discharging amps.
Laden = charging, Entladen = discharging. Strom = electric current (amps)

The fridge should work on mains using the 240V mains element. If you switch it to mains, and the fridge circuit breaker is on, it should just work, all the time. Worth having it checked. Check the wiring is sound. The mains element occasionally fails, and is reasonably cheap and easy to replace, for someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[Ian Bosman]

The battery charger, if it's working, should be able to keep normal things like lights, TV, phone chargers etc functioning, and still have enough to make sure the battery is fully charged when you are ready to leave in the morning. It obviously is not doing that.

So first, is the hookup power reaching the camper van? Is there a socket you can check to see if you're getting power - maybe try a phone charger for example. If no power, check the hookup post hasn't tripped, and if that's OK check the mains consumer unit switches haven't tripped. Remember UP = ON, DOWN = OFF, the opposite of most light switches.

If there's power to the sockets, check that the charger mains switch is ON. If it is, often you can switch between leisure battery, starter battery and off. You won't be the first to discover that it's set to off instead of leisure battery.

We carry one of those plug in services which shows if the polarity is correct for continental use but it is a good indicator that mains is getting into the van. Our CBE panel also shows if mains is arriving and the battery getting a 12volt charge. Otherwise if all that is OK then your battery is knackered but you should still be able to have lights working on EHU as the charger should cope with that. Check that there is a good battery connection plus check for stuff left on that should not be on. Does the fridge show it is getting 12w volts with no engine running? If it does then the relay is stuck on and that will gobble the battery.

 

[jonnystrong]

Hey,
We are out on our first camper van trip. When we parked up last night wild camping, out battery died towards the end of the evening and the alarm for the battery started to flash to say there was no power. Then toddy when we were driving it charged back up again. Tonight we camped at a campsite and connected to mains to give it a good charge but again early this evening the battery had died and the battery alarm has come on again , even though we are connected to mains - can anyone help?? Thanks

Think of fridge on 12v as engine running alternator only - the battery cannot run a standard fridge (this is incorrect if it is a compressor fridge - identified by no fridge vents on outside of van opposite the fridge). When charging from the engine or mains the battery voltage will be 13-14v so you will see that on the battery meter or if you do not have one of these a meter measured by hand across the battery. Could be a main battery fuse has blown or battery not holding charge - but fridge will drain a 12v battery very very quickly - 12v = engine running only!

 

[Ashy]

I used to have a Dethleffs with the same control panel.

Even though you have your fridge set to EHU (electric hook up) the light inside and the control circuitry run off 12V (the cooling is done by the mains element.

You need to have the 12V turned on at the control panel, I can see in your picture the 12V LED is not on.

Some of you lights do indeed work with the 12V switched off (so you can see when you go in the dark when the 12V is off) all of your lights should work with 12V on.

I can see your battery voltage is fine when charging, this means your charger is ok but your battery may be past its best.
Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[jordy74]

i had this problem years ago and it turned out to be a broken earth wire from the charging unit.

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[marjohn]

Hey,
We are out on our first camper van trip. When we parked up last night wild camping, out battery died towards the end of the evening and the alarm for the battery started to flash to say there was no power. Then toddy when we were driving it charged back up again. Tonight we camped at a campsite and connected to mains to give it a good charge but again early this evening the battery had died and the battery alarm has come on again , even though we are connected to mains - can anyone help?? Thanks

Try switching charger on you get a red light on it

 

[pappajohn]

Sounds like the previous owner killed the battery by not sorting out the charging system and allowed the battery to constantly discharge too low.
A battery should safely last all night off charge... Not just a few hours.
Buy a new battery and sort out the mains charger.