Hi all,
Newbie to caravanning. We just sited our van for the season and only got a couple of lights working inside and no sockets, radio, etc working even with mains hook up. I left the battery on the van over the winter so am I right in thinking that the battery has discharged and that's why nothing is working? not quite sure how van electrics work? van is an Elddis odyssey 2004
checked the consumer unit but still no power to switches, radio etc. the meter was showing 9 volts coming in. If the battery is shot will this effect it?
A leisure battery needs to be kept charged up over the summer and winter otherwise if the volts drop to 12.6 or below you may not be able to recharge it which is then deemed as scrap. However, a leisure battery needs to be charged with a smart charger to avoid it over gassing but as you are a newbie to caravanning I recommend that you buy a book such as the Caravan Handbook. The book is crammed with useful information which includes 12 volt power and leisure batteries as well as gas, mains electricity, water systems, cassette toilets and lots of other information you will need to know.
Flat battery shouldn't affect the 230V sockets, so you need to check your power supply.
A battery reading of 9V is very, very flat and may well be wrecked - try charging it for a day or so, to see if it will recover. It should read about 12.7V, measured about an hour after disconnecting from the charger.
If you store the van take the battery out and charge it every month or so.
I have a CTEK charger and leave it on for 24 hours to several days at a time.
Keeps the battery in peak condition. Letting it sit with a low voltage is bad for it.
As above though it should not affect the 240v power circuit. Is it a proper hookup lead? Does the post have power to it? Anyone else on the same hookup post?
If the 240 volt lights are working but the sockets aren't, that sounds like the trip switch on the consumer unit has tripped. Some consumer unit trip switches I have come across need you to switch them off and on again to reset. I have no idea what one you have, but that's worth a try.
I agree though about the battery. If it's down to 9 volts, it's almost certainly had it.
You should, as long as the charger unit is working. However, it the sockets aren't working then probably the charger isn't either. I strongly suspect that there is a fuse blown or a circuit breaker tripped somewhere if you have no sockets working. The 240 volt lights would be on a separate circuit and circuit breaker. There are probably at least two circuit breakers in the consumer unit.