Starter Battery.........Its doing my head in!!

Taff015

Taff015

Joined
Sep 17, 2015
Posts
497
Likes collected
329
Location
Shropshire
Funster No
38,523
MH
N&B Flair 8000iL
Exp
since 2015
Hi all

Is it normal for the vehicle starter battery to go flat after a week of not being turned over? I bought a new battery the other week, put it on and all good. this week its flat.

Could the alarm/immobiliser cause that much drain in a week? there is nothing else drawing current.

There is a b2b built in to the N&B system but that's clearly not working. could I wire up a secondary B2B so the trickle from the EHU goes into the starter battery as well?

Many thanks

Paul
 
A week is a bit quick imho. Are you sure there is no other draw?

I think a Battery Master from Vanbitz or similar would be a good bet. Is your B2B switched on.?

If you are on EHU then your charger should charge the starter too. Is it switched on?

Good luck
 
It's a battery master you need to connect your leisure battery to your starter .but this will only top up a starter battery once the leisure batteries are charged.
A b2b is designed to charge your leisure batteries when the engine is running .
It sounds like there is something switched on that's draining your battery.
Have you got solar ,are your leisure batteries fully charged?
Edit
I see you had a previous post where you replaced the battery terminal connections.
I hadn't seen that previously but they looked to be very loose and dirty.
I trust you have cleaned all these up when you fitted the new battery and all connections were tight.?
 
Last edited:
Starter battery should be OK for 3 to 4 weeks often longer.
How is your B2B wired?
If it's not triggered by the D+ or ignition feed just wired the old fashion way relying on voltage differential to trigger it, your leisure battery could be low so the B2B is charging it from your starter battery. Shouldn't really happen as it shouldn't trigger unless the starter battery is above around 13.5v but it can happen.
 
Taff015 said:
Hi all

Is it normal for the vehicle starter battery to go flat after a week of not being turned over? I bought a new battery the other week, put it on and all good. this week its flat.

Could the alarm/immobiliser cause that much drain in a week? there is nothing else drawing current.

There is a b2b built in to the N&B system but that's clearly not working. could I wire up a secondary B2B so the trickle from the EHU goes into the starter battery as well?

Many thanks

Paul
Click to expand...
Did you fully charge the new battery when it arrived?

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And, if it's fully charged and only lasting a week you've got a battery drain somewhere, you need to start investigating what is causing it, could be a light on somewhere, or something not powering down fully, or even a incorrectly wired aftermarket radio
 
David and Sally said:
A week is a bit quick imho. Are you sure there is no other draw?

I think a Battery Master from Vanbitz or similar would be a good bet. Is your B2B switched on.?

If you are on EHU then your charger should charge the starter too. Is it switched on?

Good luck
Click to expand...
Yes all switched on although there is an issue with the ammeter reading battery levels and when it decides that the readings are too low or non existent, it shuts down certain things to save battery power. First things turned off are water pump etc. This has been ongoing since I bough the van but this drain on the starter battery is a new thing.
 
Lenny HB said:
Starter battery should be OK for 3 to 4 weeks often longer.
How is your B2B wired?
If it's not triggered by the D+ or ignition feed just wired the old fashion way relying on voltage differential to trigger it, your leisure battery could be low so the B2B is charging it from your starter battery. Shouldn't really happen as it shouldn't trigger unless the starter battery is above around 13.5v but it can happen.
Click to expand...
The leisure battery's seem fine, the reading on the battery monitor thing shows 14.7 and the solar controller is fine.
 
Specifically check if you have an aftermarket radio \ media head unit fitted. We had to place an isolation switch in the circuit as it was placing a load on the starter battery.

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Gellyneck said:
Specifically check if you have an aftermarket radio \ media head unit fitted. We had to place an isolation switch in the circuit as it was placing a load on the starter battery.
Click to expand...
Good point Pioneer's are notorious for flattening a starter battery overnight in standby mode.
 
Bobby-gg said:
And, if it's fully charged and only lasting a week you've got a battery drain somewhere, you need to start investigating what is causing it, could be a light on somewhere, or something not powering down fully, or even a incorrectly wired aftermarket radio
Click to expand...
I pulled the radio last week to se
 
Whilst waiting for the battery to recharge, I have been poking about. On a whim I checked the inline fuse (30a) between the starter battery and the B1 split relay doofer and it was broken!! no sign of burn out just no good. I have replaced it and once the battery has charged will see if that solves the issue! cant charge a battery if the cable isnt connected!!!
 
Taff015 said:
Whilst waiting for the battery to recharge, I have been poking about. On a whim I checked the inline fuse (30a) between the starter battery and the B1 split relay doofer and it was broken!! no sign of burn out just no good. I have replaced it and once the battery has charged will see if that solves the issue! cant charge a battery if the cable isnt connected!!!
Click to expand...
Wheeeeeeeeeeew! I was wrong, thank goodness!:whew:

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Taff015 said:
Hi all

Is it normal for the vehicle starter battery to go flat after a week of not being turned over? I bought a new battery the other week, put it on and all good. this week its flat.

Could the alarm/immobiliser cause that much drain in a week? there is nothing else drawing current.

There is a b2b built in to the N&B system but that's clearly not working. could I wire up a secondary B2B so the trickle from the EHU goes into the starter battery as well?

Many thanks

Paul
Click to expand...
You say there is a B2B built into the N+B system, well this is half right as you will have CBE electronics on your Flair so what you describe as a B2B will be a CBE CSB2 which works differently in that it needs 13.6v on the leisure batteries before it will send anything to the starter battery so you need to be on hook up or have solar, a B2B works on a differential in voltage between the two batteries.

After saying all that though you might be on the right track if you have identified a broken fuse.
 
funflair said:
You say there is a B2B built into the N+B system, well this is half right as you will have CBE electronics on your Flair so what you describe as a B2B will be a CBE CSB2 which works differently in that it needs 13.6v on the leisure batteries before it will send anything to the starter battery so you need to be on hook up or have solar, a B2B works on a differential in voltage between the two batteries.

After saying all that though you might be on the right track if you have identified a broken fuse.
Click to expand...
Thanks Martin. Leisure batteries are showing at 14.4 i think and the solar is fine and its on EHU at home!

I did see an old post of yours regarding the placement of a Vanbitz Battery Master so am considering getting one of those too.
 
Taff015 said:
Thanks Martin. Leisure batteries are showing at 14.4 i think and the solar is fine and its on EHU at home!

I did see an old post of yours regarding the placement of a Vanbitz Battery Master so am considering getting one of those too.
Click to expand...
I only fitted the VB battery master as we kept the flair in a shed without power or solar, when it was plugged in or out in the sun the CBE CSB2 did the bizz but in the shed I relied on the VB battery master and EFOY fuel cell. At 14.4v the CBE CSB2 should be doing it for you, do you have the two linked batteries symbol on the control panel?
 
funflair said:
I only fitted the VB battery master as we kept the flair in a shed without power or solar, when it was plugged in or out in the sun the CBE CSB2 did the bizz but in the shed I relied on the VB battery master and EFOY fuel cell. At 14.4v the CBE CSB2 should be doing it for you, do you have the two linked batteries symbol on the control panel?
Click to expand...
I did, then the battery went flat!! thinking back its highly likely the fuse went then i thought the electrics were playing up again! Which meant I didn't consider the fuse... Ill find out in a few hours when the battery is fully charged again!

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And to answer your original question, in my experience the starter battery didn't last much more than a week without some help.
 
I can't see how a blown/broken fuse can flatten a battery, much less flatten it in a week.
A blown fuse means no current is passing the fuse....either to charge or discharge the battery
 
pappajohn said:
I can't see how a blown/broken fuse can flatten a battery, much less flatten it in a week.
A blown fuse means no current is passing the fuse....either to charge or discharge the battery
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It wouldn't flatten the starter battery but it could well stop it charging up when plugged in.
 
We have had problems with our battery discharging over a week during the winter, normallt can start in the summer.
So when we had a lithium battery, new solar and a b2b fitted we got a voltronic duo solar controller to top up the starter battery as well, because the b2b saw that the solar charging the starter battery it kicked in and drained the starter battery.
Had to change the profile of the b2b so that it would only work with ignition on.
Apart from that we have bought a booster pack to start van from dead, about £110 " just in case"
There was a post about them mid Jan with lots of reccomendations.
 
Lenny HB said:
Starter battery should be OK for 3 to 4 weeks often longer.
How is your B2B wired?
If it's not triggered by the D+ or ignition feed just wired the old fashion way relying on voltage differential to trigger it, your leisure battery could be low so the B2B is charging it from your starter battery. Shouldn't really happen as it shouldn't trigger unless the starter battery is above around 13.5v but it can happen.
Click to expand...
Because i can power on the EHU my van while it is on the front at home i have set the solar charger to 70% Starter and 30% habitation. Normally in the season i will run it at 50/50. Looking at my CBE control panel the other day both batteries are showing them fully charged. I last used the van in mid October so i am confident it is all OK. My habitation batteries are two 105AH batteries charged from the CBE charger. I did run the engine a couple of weeks ago which took a few seconds on the glow plugs but cranking was fine prior to starting.

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Ian Bosman said:
Because i can power on the EHU my van while it is on the front at home i have set the solar charger to 70% Starter and 30% habitation. Normally in the season i will run it at 50/50. Looking at my CBE control panel the other day both batteries are showing them fully charged. I last used the van in mid October so i am confident it is all OK. My habitation batteries are two 105AH batteries charged from the CBE charger. I did run the engine a couple of weeks ago which took a few seconds on the glow plugs but cranking was fine prior to starting.
Click to expand...
Not sure why you quoted my post but I will say your settings are unusual. More normal to have the hab batteries on 90% and starter on 10% all the time.
Why would you reduce the charge to the hab batteries in the season that's when you need as much charge as possible going into them. At the same time as the van is being used regularly the starter battery could get without any additional charge.
 
My rear view camera has a large parasitic drain even when off. A switch in the power supply lead fitted by previous owner solves that, as long as I remember to switch it off.
 
I had similar issue after installing a hard wired dashcam, it had an anti vandal setting so basically it was watching all the time even when parked up so draiNing battery. Every time someone passEd the van it videoed for 5 mins. Now I turn it off if parking up for any length of time and no longer have a problem
 
I had a similar problem some years ago and eventually found that the the Cobra alarm siren had a back up battery in it that had failed, so its charger was continuously trying to charge it (from the starter battery). Problem disappeared after I replaced it.
 
Lenny HB said:
Not sure why you quoted my post but I will say your settings are unusual. More normal to have the hab batteries on 90% and starter on 10% all the time.
Why would you reduce the charge to the hab batteries in the season that's when you need as much charge as possible going into them. At the same time as the van is being used regularly the starter battery could get without any additional charge.
Click to expand...
As I normally have used Ehu during touring the 50/50 worked. This is the first period I have had 2 Hab batteries so trying a different setting. I was finding that 50/50 did not adequately charge the starter long time

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