spadger007
Free Member
Hi all
Forgive me if this sort of post has been posted before. Apologies already this could be a long thread. It’s more of a rant than a question but I would welcome any suggestions or comments.
I’ve got a Swift Escape 674 2023 model less than 12 months old. We bought it privately from a genuine seller and transferred the warranty over. For those that don’t know it’s on a Fiat Ducato 4.5t chassis.
It’s completely standard with an AGM starter battery and a Yusa RC80 leisure battery along with what I would consider the main problem a smart alternator.
Since owning it last November we’ve done a few trips and I’ve noticed after each journey the leisure battery capacity drops significantly. Most of the time we are on EHU so generally don’t really have a problem. However if I want to use the vehicle off grid i.e. pub stop by the morning we have very little capacity in the battery. In fact on some occasions the large electric bed just about lifted up.
From reading many discussions and watching many YouTube videos it’s now pretty clear to me the problem of the smart alternator can be solved by fitting a b2b or dc2dc charger. Problem solved (I think)
In my opinion Swift has built a nearly £90k vehicle that really the charging system fitted isn’t fit for purpose.
I’ve been in touch with my local dealer who has already done some warranty repairs successfully. I basically asked them to check out the charging system after I spoke with Swift and Sargent directly.
The report was simply put yes they agree it’s not charging the leisure battery.
I’m still waiting for a response from Swift but I’ve been told it doesn’t look too good to get this resolved.
Now I’ve read some of the posts on this forum and it does seem to be quite common especially if a lithium battery is being fitted.
I don’t want to a lithium personally I don’t think it’s necessary if the standard battery gets the required charge.
It appears a lot of British motorhomes built don’t have dc2dc chargers with the latest specifications of Euro 6 require a smart alternator and if they where fitted I’m confident most motorhomers won’t need to spend a lot more money on lithium and extra solar.
Is about time all leisure vehicles with extra batteries and solar should have a standard spec with dc2dc charger even with lead acid batteries.
I’ve actually attached a screenshot of a smart shunt graph showing 100% start of trip from a campsite on Isle of Arran back to home. This shows the drop in percentage before I put it back on charge once we were home. We also had one night on a car park off grid.
Many thanks if you have read all of this.
Forgive me if this sort of post has been posted before. Apologies already this could be a long thread. It’s more of a rant than a question but I would welcome any suggestions or comments.
I’ve got a Swift Escape 674 2023 model less than 12 months old. We bought it privately from a genuine seller and transferred the warranty over. For those that don’t know it’s on a Fiat Ducato 4.5t chassis.
It’s completely standard with an AGM starter battery and a Yusa RC80 leisure battery along with what I would consider the main problem a smart alternator.
Since owning it last November we’ve done a few trips and I’ve noticed after each journey the leisure battery capacity drops significantly. Most of the time we are on EHU so generally don’t really have a problem. However if I want to use the vehicle off grid i.e. pub stop by the morning we have very little capacity in the battery. In fact on some occasions the large electric bed just about lifted up.
From reading many discussions and watching many YouTube videos it’s now pretty clear to me the problem of the smart alternator can be solved by fitting a b2b or dc2dc charger. Problem solved (I think)
In my opinion Swift has built a nearly £90k vehicle that really the charging system fitted isn’t fit for purpose.
I’ve been in touch with my local dealer who has already done some warranty repairs successfully. I basically asked them to check out the charging system after I spoke with Swift and Sargent directly.
The report was simply put yes they agree it’s not charging the leisure battery.
I’m still waiting for a response from Swift but I’ve been told it doesn’t look too good to get this resolved.
Now I’ve read some of the posts on this forum and it does seem to be quite common especially if a lithium battery is being fitted.
I don’t want to a lithium personally I don’t think it’s necessary if the standard battery gets the required charge.
It appears a lot of British motorhomes built don’t have dc2dc chargers with the latest specifications of Euro 6 require a smart alternator and if they where fitted I’m confident most motorhomers won’t need to spend a lot more money on lithium and extra solar.
Is about time all leisure vehicles with extra batteries and solar should have a standard spec with dc2dc charger even with lead acid batteries.
I’ve actually attached a screenshot of a smart shunt graph showing 100% start of trip from a campsite on Isle of Arran back to home. This shows the drop in percentage before I put it back on charge once we were home. We also had one night on a car park off grid.
Many thanks if you have read all of this.