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we bought a new battery last year which we thought the lights and water pump run off after 2 days of being hooked up on site it went dead .Can anybody explain how to keep the battery charged and if it as normal to  have the lights and pump running off it.it seems that only the sockets and fridge run off the mains much advice needed cheers

depends how long it's been on the shelf ..as tykey says they should be charged up at home first for at least an overnight 10 hour period before setting off

another thing ..sure the fridge was on electric position  on the dial ..if it was left on transit 12v ..the caravan in-built charger would have a job to catch up with drawn off current did you check the freezer chips thawed out as battery power will not freeze stuff ..just a thought ..

Quote: Originally posted by clanjones on 01/7/2008

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another thing ..sure the fridge was on electric position on the dial ..if it was left on transit 12v ..the caravan in-built charger would have a job to catch up with drawn off current

Post last edited on 01/07/2008 10:14:58

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How old is your caravan? Older caravans did not always have a charger, so it is possible if the battery wasn't fully charged when you bought it that using lights and water pump for a couple of days flattened it as it wasn't being re-charged. It could also be that there is a charger but it is not working.

The fridge can't be run from 12v on any van I've ever known of, it is only designed to work on 12v directly from the car when the engine is running.

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The fridge can't be run from 12v on any van I've ever known of, it is only designed to work on 12v directly from the car when the engine is running.

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 Hello Andy and Rach ,  I am afraid some contributors are giving you some misinformation in their advice on you question . Bordercaz and Crypto are perfectly correct in saying that your fridge DOES NOT work off 12volts when on site connected to the EHU , the ONLY time your fridge can work of 12 volts is when its powered from your tow vehicle , unless someone has tampered with the standard caravan electrics . As you say , your fridge and 240/230v sockets worked OK during your time away but your battery ran down after 2 days of use , using internal lights and water pump . If you don't have 230v lights ( or at least some ) it sounds like your caravan could be a few years old . So please check to ensure you actually have a battery charger installed and working correctly in your caravan . if one is installed , and switched on AND working then you should be getting approx 13.5 v across your battery , if you get only 12.5 or below then suspect your battery charger ( if fitted ) .

 If the battery is in good condition , you do not say battery output  ( 110amp/ 75 amp ) or battery type ( car/ leisure ) then you would under normal usage to last maybe 7 days if only using water pump and say 2 flourescent tube 12v lights for say 1 hour /night . Really you have to furnish further imformation for contributors to help you more with your problems , but first get your battery checked out by a repitable source , fully charged and caravan electrical system looked over . --- Steve .

Thanks for all your advice there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel

we are going to test the battery charger unit to see if it is in working order .we are also fully charging the new leisure battery as we did not do this when we bought it.