EHU vs battery

[Homyoverlord]

Hello! My newly purchased Homy has two batteries but it seems they’re not in the best nick. The ‘big light’ comes on fine if I just park up but as soon as I plug in the van it dims to useless light levels. Also the voltage(?) Gauge drops from just having the light on. Where can I go to have the batteries checked? Is there any way to check which battery certain lights are attached to? If the van is plugged in would cab lights somehow magically run off ehu rather than the engine battery? Is there such a thing as a heater that runs on the leisure battery? Homy has a thermostat and some empty space for a heater it seems but it’s gone awol(probably no hope of ever finding the original kind)

if someone is in Manchester and can nicely talk me through what I’ve got that’d be great. LOL!! Coming from completely off grid I feel very out of my depth

 

[bigguspeckus]

Hello! My newly purchased Homy has two batteries but it seems they’re not in the best nick. The ‘big light’ comes on fine if I just park up but as soon as I plug in the van it dims to useless light levels. Also the voltage(?) Gauge drops from just having the light on. Where can I go to have the batteries checked? Is there any way to check which battery certain lights are attached to? If the van is plugged in would cab lights somehow magically run off ehu rather than the engine battery? Is there such a thing as a heater that runs on the leisure battery? Homy has a thermostat and some empty space for a heater it seems but it’s gone awol(probably no hope of ever finding the original kind)

if someone is in Manchester and can nicely talk me through what I’ve got that’d be great. LOL!! Coming from completely off grid I feel very out of my depth

Hi Homyoverlord.
Your post is a tad short on detail,,, your vehicle has elec hookup, does it have a built in battery charger,,, if it does it will probably require switching on,,, the internal lites should work ok on EHU with the battery charger switched on.
Any vehicle repair garage will be able to test your batteries.
Post more technical details of your vehicle's "internals". ?

 

[bigtwin]

It sounds as though your habitation batteries either have not been charged or they’re knackered; most probably the latter.

Without information on the battery voltage, it’s difficult to diagnose their health.

Ian

 

[autorouter]

Let's start from scratch. Most campervans have two batteries - one for the starter that runs the vehicle side of things, usually called the starter, engine or cab battery. And one for the living area, usually called the leisure, habitation or hab battery. When parked up, all the living area items run from the hab battery to avoid flattening the starter battery.

When plugged into an Electric Hook Up (EHU), all the living area items still run from the hab battery, but the mains charger recharges the battery and keeps it topped up. If you have mains sockets, they normally are only powered when plugged into EHU.

The hab battery is also charged by the engine alternator. When the engine is running, a 'split charge relay' automatically connects the hab battery to the alternator/starter battery to charge it up. When the engine stops, it automatically disconnects. It takes a few hours of driving to fill up a depleted hab battery.

The electrics of most campervans are built from standard off-the-shelf units made by a small number of manufacturers. Sargent, and CBE for example. People on this forum know about these units even if they are not familiar with the base vehicle of the campervan.

So the make and model (or even better, a picture) of the various electric units and the batteries will help us give you advice.

To answer your question, Alpha Batteries in Rochdale is a good supplier of batteries, big enough to have a fast turnover, and you can buy online and have them delivered, or call at their place. Halfords have a limited range of batteries, but if you know what you want and they are selling it, it's a good option.

I think your problem needs investigation before just splashing out on new batteries, otherwise you might end up in a few weeks with new batteries ruined by the same underlying fault. My advice would be to get hold of a cheap multimeter and do a bit of troubleshooting first.

 

[autorouter]

Is there such a thing as a heater that runs on the leisure battery? Homy has a thermostat and some empty space for a heater it seems but it’s gone awol(probably no hope of ever finding the original kind)

The heater is a bit more problematic. Is there a brand name on the thermostat? If you post a picture someone might recognise it.

Normally you don't run a space heater or a water heater from the leisure battery. There simply isn't enough energy. A typical leisure battery has about 1 kilowatt-hour of energy in it. So it would run a 1 kilowatt heater for about an hour, then the battery would be totally flat.

Space heaters and water heaters have electronic controls that are supplied from the 12V habitation battery, but the heating power comes from other sources.

Heaters are normally powered by on-board gas (LPG) cylinders, or diesel from the main fuel tank. Gas heaters are usually blown-air, and maybe you can see the ducting, about 75mm diameter. They often have a water heater in the same unit. Diesel heaters usually heat water that circulates in pipes to radiators, obviously a lot smaller than ducting.

There are a limited number of heater brands for campervans, so it's quite feasible to identify what was fitted before, and get the same one or its later reincarnation.

It's a good idea to start a new thread for this question, maybe in an alternative forum on this site, like 'Self-build Motorhomes'

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[pappajohn]

Sorry to say but if your lights dim that fast your batteries don't need checking... They need replacing.
ALL 12v things work when on hookup regardless of battery condition or voltage.
Nothing should be running from the engine battery, that's what habitation batteries are for.

 

[hilldweller]

Sorry to say but if your lights dim that fast your batteries don't need checking...

He says the light works UNTIL he hooks up. H e does not say how long.

Hook up and light dims. Now that is odd.