Starter Battery

Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson

Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Posts
55
Likes collected
30
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
Funster No
52,676
MH
Burster Argos
Exp
Im a newbie
Hi All, I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have a brand new Adria Sonic Supreme and to insure this I have had to have a cat 6 Tracker. Since picking up the MH I have had Battery Problems and found that there is a 1.7amp drain from the tracker. I have spoken to the Tracker provider and they suggest there is very little they can do and the amount of drain should not be overly significant as long as I run it at regular intervals. This has since been compounded by a failure of the battery which I am currently looking to replace (Best Battery Recommendations Welcome).
I would however, like to know if there is anything I can do to offset this drain and maintain the battery especially through the winter months and not rely on Jump leads to potentially pull me out of danger. I am new to motor homing and as of today know very little about MH electronics although am trying to read as much as possible. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.....an enthusiastic novice!
 
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Tony Wilson said:
Hi All, I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have a brand new Adria Sonic Supreme and to insure this I have had to have a cat 6 Tracker. Since picking up the MH I have had Battery Problems and found that there is a 1.7amp drain from the tracker. I have spoken to the Tracker provider and they suggest there is very little they can do and the amount of drain should not be overly significant as long as I run it at regular intervals. This has since been compounded by a failure of the battery which I am currently looking to replace (Best Battery Recommendations Welcome).
I would however, like to know if there is anything I can do to offset this drain and maintain the battery especially through the winter months and not rely on Jump leads to potentially pull me out of danger. I am new to motor homing and as of today know very little about MH electronics although am trying to read as much as possible. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.....an enthusiastic novice!
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Do you have a solar panel(s)?

I originate in S-o-T, where abouts are you?
 
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Greetings peeps welcome from Bexley

The experts will be along soon. Go get a cuppa and when you come back you will have answers😀🤞🤞
 
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I am from S-o-T (Commonly referred to as gods country) and yes I have solar panels, but thought this was just for the habitation battery.
 
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www.southdownsmotorcaravans.com

CBE Battery Power Distribution Unit (CSB2)

For Details Download The Current CBE Catalog
www.southdownsmotorcaravans.com www.southdownsmotorcaravans.com
One of these will top up your starter battery, from the solar charged leisure batteries.
There are similar alternative devices available but this is what I fitted 6 years ago and does the job.

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Tony Wilson said:
I am from S-o-T (Commonly referred to as gods country) and yes I have solar panels, but thought this was just for the habitation battery.
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I'm no auto electrician but having read your post again 1.7Amps sounds high to me, surely it should only draw miliamps. Where in Stoke?, I originate in Tunstall.
 
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Tony Wilson said:
Will this take feed from the solar panel?
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this takes the feed from the leisure battery and trickles it to the starter batt.
The solar keeps your leisure topped up, its a winner :)
I have one, easy to fit and forget.
 
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Check your Adria documentation. This should confirm the type and specifications of the solar controller. If the same as in my new Twin it will charge both habitation and cab battery without the need for extra kit. Can’t advise on tracker drain.
 
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1.7A is a huge parasitic drain of 20W. Some battery maintainers won't even supply that much current. Certainly you're going to struggle in winter getting enough solar to maintain it. I mean that is 41Ah a day, which is the full usable capacity of an 80Ah battery. I would say that it is not fit for purpose, as it basically requires EHU at all times.
 
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cmcardle75 said:
1.7A is a huge parasitic drain of 20W. Some battery maintainers won't even supply that much current. Certainly you're going to struggle in winter getting enough solar to maintain it. I mean that is 41Ah a day, which is the full usable capacity of an 80Ah battery. I would say that it is not fit for purpose, as it basically requires EHU at all times.
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So are you suggesting I go back to the Tracker provider and inform them that this is not fit for purpose and seek an alternative tracker. They will not insure the van without one of the Cat 6 Trackers.

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Tony Wilson said:
So are you suggesting I go back to the Tracker provider and inform them that this is not fit for purpose and seek an alternative tracker. They will not insure the van without one of the Cat 6 Trackers.
Click to expand...

Personally, I find it difficult to believe that the tracker really does takes 20W. That is far more than you need to run a GPS & 4G transmitter.
 
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Is it actually the tracker that is causing the drain, or is something else running too that you haven't realised? Common ones can be a the radio system and a trickle for the ECU systems, but also look at any alarms generally (I have a Toyota car that apparently is constantly searching for a paired key in the vicinity so it can decide if it might need to unlock it if I touch the keyless door handle). What about any supply to fridges and even the habitation relays and control panels.

I hadn't focused on the actual discharge current of 1.7A. Very few devices are going to cope with that load level.
 
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Perhaps the tracker works on the principle that it runs your battery down so quickly that your van is impossible to steal because it won’t start. :rofl:
Sounds useless to me. That sort of drain,if correct,renders it unfit for purpose.
 
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cmcardle75 said:
1.7A is a huge parasitic drain of 20W. Some battery maintainers won't even supply that much current. Certainly you're going to struggle in winter getting enough solar to maintain it. I mean that is 41Ah a day, which is the full usable capacity of an 80Ah battery. I would say that it is not fit for purpose, as it basically requires EHU at all times.
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More or less what I was going to say, totally unacceptable, you would be lucky to start the van if you left much more than 24 hours.

I think your tracker must be faulty to draw that much current I would expect less than 100ma.
 
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Brand new vehicle? Supplier replacing battery for you then I would assume?

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Battery master might not keep up with drain on the battery. It’s a good item to have or a dual output solar controller but the problem is the tracker if it’s drawing 1.7 amps. It should be no where near that amount. The tracker people should know that.
 
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Are you sure it isnt .17 amp a nd th edrain is elsewhere
 
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Tony Wilson said:
Hi All, I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have a brand new Adria Sonic Supreme and to insure this I have had to have a cat 6 Tracker. Since picking up the MH I have had Battery Problems and found that there is a 1.7amp drain from the tracker. I have spoken to the Tracker provider and they suggest there is very little they can do and the amount of drain should not be overly significant as long as I run it at regular intervals. This has since been compounded by a failure of the battery which I am currently looking to replace (Best Battery recommemdations
Click to expand...
Battery recommendation... Tayna batteries, ring them direct, really helpful, they do some great non branded batteries

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A tracker can draw up to about 1.5Amps while it is charging, I would expect it to charge for many hours as they have large batteries.
 
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AgeingAndrew said:
A tracker can draw up to about 1.5Amps while it is charging, I would expect it to charge for many hours as they have large batteries.
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In that case he needs to know the current draw over 24 or 48 hours,If it draws the 1.7 amps for a few hours and then only a few ma for the charger standby for a couple of days it shouldn't be a problem.
 
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Got the Tracker provider to come out and have a look at the drain, however, their response has been "When the tracker is "asleep" - ie collecting information in standby mode it draws 23mA. When it is fully "awake" - ie moving, ignition on, actively collecting data, it draws an average of 88mA. Neither of these is enough to drain the battery."
 
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1.7 amps is way more than a tracker should require. I have an excellent one that draws less than 0.2 of an amp, its a cat 5 sell singing all dancing. I would go to whoever installed it, get then to disconnect it and check your current draw to make sure it is something else. A constant draw like that without an external power source will knacker your batteries if left.
 
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I would add: Don't try to start the engine when the battery voltage is very low. You risk the dreaded airbag light stays on fault. FIAT's airbag ECU module is over-sensitive to high or low voltages. Many Funsters like me have discovered to our cost that the ECU goes on strike. To be on the safe side, I now check that I have at least 12.7 volts reading on the starter battery before turning the ignition on.
 
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