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Hi Everyone!

We're fairly new to caravanning having only had a couple of trips out this year mainly due to the appaling weather and my hubbys shift patterns.

We have just come back from a 3 day trip to the seaside (had a fantastic time!) but when we got there our battery was flat. We foolishly thought the battery charged whilst hooked up to the mains on site. we managed to take the battery to a local garage who charged it for us and everything was fine and dandy (although the battery was flat again after the three days) which got me thinking.

We will of course make sure the battery is fully charged before we embark on our next trip (we live and learn ) but how do we charge the battery whilst on site? do we put it on charge running in the van whilst we are out? Our battery powers the lights and the water pump and everything else runs from the mains so we thought we'd charge it from the socket in the van if we went out????

I know there is a really simple answer here but I'm blowed if I can think of it!

Hi, That could be the charger but it could aalso be a 12v power supply that runs from the main 240v. Some will supply 12v and keep a charged battery topped up, Whilst others do the same and charge the battery ! ! See if you can find any more info, A label etc on it. Does the caravan have two plugs on the front? one for road lights and possibly a white\grey one as this one if connected to your car should also charge your van battery and run the fridge whilst on the move (normally only works when the engine is running) Have a look at the white box and message back I'm sure someone will help.

ps. If it isn't a charger\power supply then yes you can charge the battery as you asked with another charger and there are different ways to do that depending on the type of battery you have.

Hi

We have a swift danette (poss 1989 model) the white box I mentioned earlier has a rocker switch (black) that I presumed charged the battery (I know I know presume nothing )

I am going to charge the battery at home tomorrow so that will solve that problem but it's the ongoing problem of how to charge it whilst I'm actually using it that I'm scratching my head over.

If anybody out there does have any ideas then I'm all ears.

Thanks

Look here for all the information you need on batteries and their maintenance.

You should NOT discharge a battery fully.