lights not working on hab battery (1 Viewer)

[brian dutydog]

hi guys & girls,just wanted to throw this one out there just in case there are any experts on van electrics around today. Went for a run in the van to keep everything charged and running with winter coming.Got back and found that when I check the state of the hab battery it reads that its dead.Also no interior lights or water pump working.Put a mains cable from the house out and plugged in and everything is working on mains,and when I check the hab battery it shows fully charged and half a tank of water. Have checked the fuse which appears to be inline from hab battery to internal power board(10amp) and that looks ok,also looked at the 6 x 10amp fuses on the board inside van and they all look ok.The van is a autocruise valentine 2003 on a Peugeot boxer base. anybody got any ideas/ suggestions to help solve this I would be very grateful.

 

[ambulancekidd]

Tis a dead hab battery, time to dig deep & buy a new one.

 

[WESTY66]

Does it need the “master” switched on?
Caught myself out with that a few times??

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[Jaws]

Have you checked the battery with a meter Brian ?
I think the first thing to do is establish if you have a fault or the battery is fubah'd

 

[brian dutydog]

hi jaws, do not own a meter so cannot test the battery other than when the mains is plugged in it does show that the hab battery is fully charged

 

[HandyAndy]

Ignore that.. Buy a meter.

they are FOUR QUID

Amazon product ASIN B0714J1WX7

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[MikeD]

hi jaws, do not own a meter so cannot test the battery other than when the mains is plugged in it does show that the hab battery is fully charged

When you are plugged into the mains the battery charger will be on and trying to charge the battery.

switch the charger off and see what it reads then.

 

[brian dutydog]

thanks to all for ideas,will buy a meter and see what the battery state is,again thanks to all who responded

 

[Stanbrook]

Sounds like you don't keep the van plugged in to the house when not in use. If so the battery has gone flat. The battery may recover by leaving it in charging from the house for 24hrs. However if discharged too much it may not recover. Sorry.

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[brian dutydog]

van is parked too far away from house to allow it to be plugged in other than for a short while when i am out in the car park.cannot understand why,when plugged into mains the hab battery is showing that its fully charged when i push the test button

 

[Just smiffy]

van is parked too far away from house to allow it to be plugged in other than for a short while when i am out in the car park.cannot understand why,when plugged into mains the hab battery is showing that its fully charged when i push the test button

because its showing the 14.2 from the charger....??

 

[TheBig1]

van is parked too far away from house to allow it to be plugged in other than for a short while when i am out in the car park.cannot understand why,when plugged into mains the hab battery is showing that its fully charged when i push the test button

the battery charger is running the lights and makes it appear the battery is charged

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[brian dutydog]

thanks to all, will get the battery checked

 

[PhilandMena]

What is happening is your battery has been allowed to discharge and when you re-connect by hook up, your reading the charge going into the battery and not the battery state itself. It's almost impossible to measure the battery when it has a drain on it and being charged, You would have to fully disconnect it and wait for a few hours before measuring it to establish it's state. Although discharged it may still be recoverable depending on its overall condition and how long it has been left discharged. I would give it a full charge over 24/36 hrs then see if it has recovered, if not then it needs replaced. If you do replace it, you need to change your charging regime otherwise your going to end up in the same place again.

 

[mitzimad]

if you cant keep it on hook up then you will need some solar to keep it topped up

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[HandyAndy]

Leave the charger on it for now, right up until you get hold of the multi meter. Just make sure the charger is off and the battery left to settle for about 20 mins before checking the voltage directly at the battery with it..

We already know the charger works as you've stated that the lights and pump work when hooked up to Mains 240v so that's a start.
Probably is the battery, but no one wants to fork out over £100 if that wasn't the fault to start with

 

[HandyAndy]

For long term battery care you should connect some sort of battery maintainer over the winter, at the very least a temporary solar setup like this.
Amazon product ASIN B07JVJJH47
But ideally something bigger and permenant on the roof if funds allow.

 

[ambulancekidd]

Your inbuilt battery charger is also designed to supply hab power when its on hookup.

I agree with other replies you have to maintain the hab battery when its being unused & the cold winter months soon bring a dodgy battery to its knee's.

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[autorouter]

It is difficult to tell whether it's a flat battery, or a bad connection in the battery wiring, by just looking at the display panel. It could be the terminals, the earth strap, a corroded fuse, a mouse-chewed wire, or many other faults. That's why the first place to start is to get a multimeter on the actual battery terminals to see what state the battery is in.