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Topic: Car Not Charging Caravan Battery

Hulltrucker

23/9/2007 at 5:41pm
Location: Kingston Upon Hull
Outfit: Mardon Meridian 13-2 1991

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Hi I have a 1991 Mardon 13-2 Limited Edition - I took it away to a non hook up site last week for the first time and after a days use the battery was low so I tried to charge it by connecting the domestic (Grey) Lead to the grey socket on the car. After about half an hour with the engine running the battery meter in the caravan had not moved. I also noticed that if i switched to "car" instead of van with the engine off, the battery meter went to zero and none of the 12v stuff in the van worked. The red 12v fridge light comes on when connected to the car with the engine running but goes out if the caravan battery is removed. The van battery was fully charged when I left the storage site (they had left it plugged into the mains for me overnight to make sure the fridge was cold) but it had partly discharged on arrival at the non hook up site (which was about an hour away) - which kind of suggests to me the fridge may be running from the van battery?? - What I really need to know is should I be taking the van into a dealer to have this sorted, is it something I can do myself or do I just accept that it's a relatively old van and I have to expect it to be less than perfect? Any help would be great.

SoundsDigital

23/9/2007 at 8:02pm
Location:
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The fridge is probably wired to the leisure battery on a 1991 caravan. Were you running the fridge on 12 volts? This will flatten the battery very quickly. The only time the fridge should be on 12 volts is when it is being towed. If you are without EHU, then run it on gas. Do you have 12 volts at the 12S plug on the car? The switch should be set to CAR to charge the battery. This will turn off the 12 volt electrics on the van. Mine is wired in a similar way, although I do not have a VAN/CAR switch. I intend to rewire it over the winter to the later specification as I left my fridge on 12 volts for a few weeks in storage and ruined my leisure battery.

Hulltrucker

23/9/2007 at 8:13pm
Location: Kingston Upon Hull
Outfit: Mardon Meridian 13-2 1991

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I think I may have left the switch on "van" when I tried to charge it so maybe that's the problem - I will try charging it with it on car when i go next time - I have no way of testing if there is 12v at the plug on the car, although as the towbar is less than a year old and fitted by a guy here who seemed to know his stuff I am fairly confident about it being "live". If ithe caravan electrics were working correctly surely I should be able to run the van electrics from the car battery when the engine is switched off?

I was running the fridge on gas while at the site, but turned it on to 12v with it connected to the car just to see if there was any power coming into the van from the towbar

Thanks for the tips!

rabb_uk

23/9/2007 at 8:16pm
Location: Derbyshire
Outfit: Adria Forma-Delica 2.8td-Movelite XL

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Agree with the above, Your fridge should only work on 12v when connected to the car with the engine running, The switch should be in the car position to charge the battery and this can be live without the car running but most have a split charge relay to stop the van draining the car battery

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Doing as little as possible for as much as possible...

Hulltrucker

23/9/2007 at 8:20pm
Location: Kingston Upon Hull
Outfit: Mardon Meridian 13-2 1991

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thanks Rabb - will try switching it to car and charging next time - am i right in thinking then that the van electrics may not run from the car battery because of this relay you mentioned?

amanda simpson

24/9/2007 at 7:52pm
Location: Carnoustie Scotland
Outfit: Lunar Delta 502 1995

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Hi there, this may not be helpful but when we went away with our first van we discovered that the transformer (charger for leisure battery from either car/EHU) was dead and this was why the battery would not charge - the previous owner had charged the battery before we looked at the van so we could see it all working and it was not until it ran out that we knew there was a problem. We got this fixed by replacing the transformer with a car battery charger which switches itself off once the battery is fully charged. Someone on the site connected their car to the van and all the 12v worked when the car was running but stopped when he switched the car off.

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If you hear - you forget, if you see - you remember but if you do - you understand.

Hulltrucker

25/9/2007 at 9:40am
Location: Kingston Upon Hull
Outfit: Mardon Meridian 13-2 1991

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Thanks Amanda - The battery charges on EHU, but I was not aware that some caravan 12v systems do not work from the car when the engine is not running - sounds like yours and mine don't! Thanks for the tip

664DaveS

25/9/2007 at 11:04am
Location: Shropshire
Outfit: Bailey Phoenix GT 75

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The 12V supply to the fridge and the van battery charge are operated by a relay to prevent the car battery being discharged by the caravan when the engine is not running.

As mentioned earlier the fridge will usea lot of current, they should run on gas or mains on site.

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DS-There's more to life than football!!!

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