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Topic: electrics help please

Stokie1960

via mobile 24/8/2019 at 12:06pm
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Hi all
        Need help sorting my electrics out.
Just changed the leisure battery and yesterday we drove from Stoke to Pwhelli(about 4 hours, with a couple of stops) Come this morning to kick the campervan in and the battery is flat.Is it possible that the leisure battery is taking power from the van battery?. As soon as we arrived we put onto EHU. We were running the fridge down to here but was from the leisure battery. The van battery is only 2 years old.
    Any ideas would be appreciated
        Thanks
              Stokie1960

tango55

24/8/2019 at 2:53pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450

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If the vehicle battery is flat then there is a good chance that the alternator isn't charging the battery when on the move. However, the leisure battery doesn't run the fridge whilst travelling, the power comes from the vehicle's alternator so more than likely the leisure battery isn't being charged either when in transit. The only way to find that out is to use a voltmeter to check to see if any power is being delivered from the alternator. If the alternator is operated by means of a vee belt pulley you need to check to see if the belt is tight enough and not slipping. Whilst on electric hook up, the onboard charger will charge up the leisure battery but you can also undertake an electrical test to see if the charger is functioning as it should.
You need the appropriate tools required otherwise it may need a call out from a breakdown recovery service such as Green Flag, The AA or RAC etc. to trace the underlying fault.

Post last edited on 24/08/2019 14:58:30

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Capt Lightning

24/8/2019 at 3:36pm
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
Outfit: Romahome R30 Dimens

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A basic digital volt meter is fairly cheap and can be invaluable in finding this type of fault.

As Tango says, when the engine is running it should be charging both batteries so they should both read around 13.8 Volts. With the engine stopped, the batteries are disconnected and their voltage will drop back to around 12.5 Volts.

The leisure battery will power a compressor fridge, but for an absorption fridge the power comes from the alternator/van battery. I suppose if it was an absorption fridge there could be a fault in the fridge relay and the 12 Volt is not disconnecting when the engine stops. This is pure speculation, and you really need a meter to check it. On the other hand, maybe the van battery just died.

-------------
Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

Stokie1960

via mobile 25/8/2019 at 10:07am
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Thanks for the reply, cant do much as yet as away till Monday. The main battery was flat when I tried to turn her over fortunately I had a battery charger and managed to get a bit of power to turn her over.
Will get the alternator tested when I get back and hopefully this will solve the issue.
Cheers Stokie

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