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 We are having problems with our leisure battery. It will not keep a charge. Someone told us if your caravan is not earthed properly then when we put the electric hook-up on it will draw from the battery and drain the power from it.

We had noticed that our van has 2 earthing pionts one was attached and the other was hanging off the chassis. Can anyone help please. We had fully charged the battery before setting out and the charge in the battery when  on a hook up lasted 3 days. We have now bought a new battery but do not want to use it til we find out what is causing the battery lose power. 

Our old battery charged no prob and all the vessels were still full when we were using it

Thank you to all for your suggestions will check the fuses and the voltage of the battery. 

You don't need to waste money on meters or gizmos all you want is a solid metal point on the caravans chassis get the earth wire black on 12v connect a ring clip to it then bolt this to the chassis making sure that whatever bolt you use is good and tight then you will have a 12v earth. As one of the previous poster said you may have a dud cell in the battery or failing this your battery might need topping up provided the clever so and so who made the battery has made it top up able [bit like a use by date on bottled water a new way to get us to spend more money.... Why buy bottled water when we have things called taps?]

 Thanks Charly! My hubby put the earth cable back on to the chassis  at the weekend sanded it  and bolted the earth cable hopefully that will be it sorted? Also got a new Leisure battery.

Quote: Originally posted by charly008 on 18/8/2010

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Why buy bottled water when we have things called taps?]

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Quote: Originally posted by saxo1 on 13/8/2010

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Someone told us if your caravan is not earthed properly then when we put the electric hook-up on it will draw from the battery and drain the power from it.

Rubbish.

Check that your charger is working properly first.
Saxo1

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Could'nt agree more.

 If your charger is OK, you should see nigh-on 13 volts at the battery's terminals or on the volt meter if you have one.  Also, dont take any notice of those green charge state indicators some batterys use. These indicators are only conected to 1 cell off the battery thus, if the cell next to it is collapsed, the indicator will still show green!

I have a totaly knackered leasure battery thats been sitting outside in my garden since last summer and the indicator is still green even though theres only 6 volts showing at the terminals

If a battery has a dud cell, it drags all the other good cells down, thats why a bad battery does'nt  hold a charge. If you charge a bad battery, you'l quickly see a drop in voltage at the terminals as soon as you disconect a charger, ie, it will drop below 12volts within a few minites.

Leasure batterys also need to be taken better care of than your average engine starting battery, not to let them go totaly falt is one point to note as this can render them useless if your unlucky.