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Anyone understand this problem? I,m going to have to take the van to a service centre as its now happened twice but a bit of preknowledge always helps.

We had a houseful last weekend due to my sons wedding which led to me and OH sleeping in van on the drive. Van was on full electric hook up and we were "home camping" for three nights.

When we started all electrics and both batteries were in good order and the switch was on leisure all weekend.

On the third night the twelve volt lights dimmed on one side of the van only and the door step started to retract very slowly. All other twelve volt was ok. Eventually both the lights on that side and the step gave up the ghost.

On taking the van off the hook up I find the vehicle battery has flattened whilst the leisure battery is fine. This is the second time the vehicle battery has flattened whilst on hook up.

I,m no electrician but it looks to me like part of my 12V circuit is running straight off the vehicle battery? Anyone any ideas.

cheers

John

 http://sbmcc.co.uk/forum/index.php?     yes go on to this site and ask the question on there, you will get the correct answer no problem.

Thanks,

just sent in a registration so that I can give that a go

John

on my swift when on electric you switch on the in built battery charger to keep all batteries fully charged.have you checked all the fuses ?

there is a relay that stops the van battery going flat .do you have a control panel on your van ?if so what dos it say when on electric.

Yep the battery charger is switched on. There is a battery check indicator on the control panel that shows both on full charge when on hook up but shows the vehicle battery to be flat when off hookup ( backed up by the fact that the van wont start!).

This relay you mention sounds interesting. Wonder if its faulty?

You are right in that there is a switch with V and L on the sergent panel but it was definitely on Leisure as I always check that since the last time it flattened.

The guys and gals on the "build your own motorhome" forum (and Kenlaverick you were right in that Vagabond even checked the wiring diagrams!) are a bit stumped. They seem to be confirming that it looks like part of the 12 volt is wired direct to the vehicle battery but cant work out why that would be, or if it is intentional.

Suggestion is that I start doing some diagnostics by pulling fuses etc to see what bits are grouped together, but that means getting some juice in teh battery first so I,ll get the charger on today and start the detective work tomorrow.

It wouldnt be a problem but it means that whenever we are on a site you are never sure if the van will have enough juice in the battery when you come to leave.

I,ll report back later but in the meantime thanks to everyone for the replies.

 I would suggest you get a small charger , I got mine from Lidl took off the clips and repaced them with a cigarette light plug it helps to keep the battery up over the winter I plug in about 14days and have no troubles if you have an alarm on the vehicle that also drains your main battery, It coul;d also be you need a new battery if it getting old. Hope you find this helpful.Regards Rapidoman770F

I had this trouble at Warwick a couple of weeks ago. Slept with no heating and eventually gave up and came home. My garage (motor) checked for me and found it was a corroded fuse holder. Replaced fuse and cleaned connections, washed the van, checked Ok  all traced for £68.00........ Before this the heating had been dodgy for ages and kept cutting out. Two motorhome dealers failed to find the problem! Now works every time.

Hope this helps,

Woolbrook