Consequences of a flat battery (1 Viewer)

[BillandHelen]

My van is currently parked up in its secure storage site, was last out for a run in it 2 weeks ago, only a drive as all campsites closed here in Scotland. I can monitor the vehicle battery remotely through my tracker (assume it’s approx accurate?) and its now down at 11.9v, it’s 0 degrees here. Given we are in complete lockdown for at least the next 4 weeks and we have a travel ban, the battery is obviously going to be flat/dead.
Apart from alarm and tracker eventually being disabled, will let Insurance company know, is there anything else I should be concerned about? Will the battery need replacing or will it recover sufficiently after being jump started by the breakdown company?
Thanks for any advice.
Bill

 

[David and Sally]

Chances are it will be damaged if it goes too low. How old is it? Might be time for a new one anyway when we get back.

I wonder if there is such a thing as a portable solar charger that you could use?

 

[BillandHelen]

It’s coming up on 4 years old, i‘ve got a 100w solar panel and a CBE battery master to trickle charge the vehicle battery, but with so little sun up here at this time of year it’s just not coping with little use and drain from alarm and tracker. This combination has worked ok for past 10 years, but never been so unused before!!

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[Garfields]

There is probably a layer of ice covering the panel which will not be helping
Ours sat for about six weeks last winter without a charge
Need a jump start but was ok after
On the plus side if the battery is to low to start van no one can drive it away

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Mine was stuck in storage in first lockdown needed new starter battery. Hab batteries were ok. Now got new van stuck in there again but got solar so hoping its ok

 

[Lenny HB]

If it drops much lower and stays that way for a more than a day or two you will need a new battery.
Why not take the battery out and take it home and charge it, you could drop any old car battery back in to keep the tracker and alarm active.
I'm sure how long you can leave the battery disconnected before it causes any problem with the system, one reason I suggested dropping another battery in.

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[PJGWiltshire]

Here is a section of an article printed in The Scotsman.

For minor problems or basic maintenance you should use your judgement about whether it is “essential” or whether it can wait until restrictions have eased. There is plenty of advice on <Broken link removed> you can carry out at home to ensure your car remains roadworthy and the Government has issued this checklist of areas to check to stay safe.

As is the norm, any advice given by central Government is around the Norm, I.E. you have a vehicle sitting outside your house. Well your van is in storage and the battery is loosing power. Put that in context to being outside your home. The guidance indicates that you can carry out essential maintenance. If that involves a journey to charge the battery that I believe is essential maintenance. So a drive around the area where you live for an hour thus not travelling far I would say is necessary and essential.

 

[Pausim]

My tracker always shows a lower voltage in cold weather, lead acid batteries do that. In comparison my Truma iNet which monitors my LiFePO4 leisure battery shows no voltage drop in cold weather.

 

[BillandHelen]

If it drops much lower and stays that way for a more than a day or two you will need a new battery.

thanks Lenny, my issue is that following the guidance strictly I didn’t think that I could travel to the storage area to either run the van or swap out the battery. Will a flat battery do any damage to the vehicle electronics or the comfortmatic electronics do you think?

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[David and Sally]

I think no.

 

[tribalbrit]

Can you not remove it and store at home on trickle charged or regularly charged.

 

[JockandRita]

dicksob, I don't think so either, but the security of your MH could be compromised by a flat battery, which could give you good reason to regard attending the storage site to change the battery as an essential journey, but in liaison with the site owners, (pre arranged by phone), thereby in keeping within the terms of your vehicle insurance.

If it was our MH, I'd be doing just that.

Good luck,

Jock.

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[BillandHelen]

dicksob, I don't think so either, but the security of your MH could be compromised by a flat battery, which could give you good reason to regard attending the storage site to change the battery as an essential journey, but in liaison with the site owners, (pre arranged by phone), thereby in keeping within the terms of your vehicle insurance.

If it was our MH, I'd be doing just that.

Good luck,

Jock.

Thanks Jock, we store with Murray’s in Airth, their offices are closed and During first lockdown they closed off the storage completely. This time they seem to have left restricted hours opening, given circumstances I’m minded to travel and charge it on site for a couple of hours by running the engine at decent revs, know this is not ideal re egr etc but needs must I think.
Thank you for your help and advice.
Bill

 

[BillandHelen]

Oh, and just for everyone’s amusement, my new van is sitting in ES Hartley’s compound down in the lakes, haven’t paid for it yet but they have installed a tracker for me and I can monitor it remotely too, had to get them to charge the van last week, they are now in lockdown, so I’ve got 2 vans to worry about!! At least it’s showing 12.2 at the moment and the service guys are on site so can get them to charge it up.
goodness knows when I’ll get to pick it up at this rate!
Bill

 

[PJGWiltshire]

Oh, and just for everyone’s amusement, my new van is sitting in ES Hartley’s compound down in the lakes, haven’t paid for it yet but they have installed a tracker for me and I can monitor it remotely too, had to get them to charge the van last week, they are now in lockdown, so I’ve got 2 vans to worry about!! At least it’s showing 12.2 at the moment and the service guys are on site so can get them to charge it up.
goodness knows when I’ll get to pick it up at this rate!
Bill

Hope they have not registered the van yet. You can then have a couple of months back on the clock re warranty and the like

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[BillandHelen]

Hope they have not registered the van yet. You can then have a couple of months back on the clock re warranty and the like

No, not registered. But interesting challenge re who is funding the vehicle during theses times. It’s a Wildax, ordered last February, very specific Mercedes base vehicle, lots of upgrades with enhancements to conversion spec, so not a standard vehicle. Paid a £2000 deposit (which we can afford to lose if all went wrong). Delay in build due to 1st lockdown, was completed in December, delivered to dealer mid December. Feels at the moment no prospect of picking it up till mid Feb? Who’s funding it, the Dealer (through Bank or Finance co) or the Manufacturer? Trade in value was fixed last Feb, dealer holding to it (well done them). Challenging times to run a business.

As an aside the 2 MD’s, Duncan at Wildax and Simon at Hartley’s have been a delight to deal with, friendly, knowledgeable and professional, answer their texts quickly (!) , great to see family (ish for wildax) businesses thriving!

Bill

 

[BillandHelen]

Guys, just a thank you to those that offered advice. Went over to the van this morning, it started ok, battery now back at 12.8 so all good.
thanks
Bill