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Subject Topic: Battery drain Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonThe_boys
11/3/2013 at 2:18pm
 Location: Southampton
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Having just spent a long weekend in the van giving the battery a full charge and the van a clean to get rid of the winter blues. I noticed that the battery is easily drained by using a single light (which runs off the battery). You can actually see the battery indicator on the wall slowly reduce over a matter of minutes. It has a brand new battery so am wondering if this would be an earth issue? Any ideas?

Being an old van I was surprised it was in perfect condition after the cold damp winter, no mould, but did find some condensation in one of the cupboards. All in all a solid van, just need to fix this electrical problem.


Personbirder99
11/3/2013 at 2:41pm
 Location: Cambs
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Could be a short somewhere in the circuit or even a duff battery. You will need to stick an ammeter on the battery to see what load you have on it (be careful, if you don't know what you are doing get someone who does). If load is greater than the lamp you have on you will need to start investigating each circuit to find out what is happening. Does the battery discharge as rapidly without the lamp turned on?

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


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PersonThe_boys
11/3/2013 at 2:46pm
 Location: Southampton
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The battery is fine (we have two, one being a backup). The current battery was brand new.

We left the battery all over winter and it was still almost fully charged when we went last weekend. So in 5 months little discharge. Yes, I know we should have taken the battery home and regularly charged it, but we did intend to use the van more over winter but didn't get round to it.


Personbirder99
11/3/2013 at 4:28pm
 Location: Cambs
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Think I would get the battery drop tested at an auto electrics place. It could show full voltage but is not capable of holding more than a small amount of charge which would explain a sudden drop in voltage. Without testing things it is going to be all guesses.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


PersonThe_boys
11/3/2013 at 4:39pm
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Thanks Birder, do you think two batteries could be duff? Despite the current Battery which is new, holding charge for a few months.

As an example I put the awning light on and you can clearly watch the needle on the wall slowly go down. It never goes below half way. We have disabled the onboard charger for now as a test and have a standard battery charger to help boost the charge with a cut out for when it's full.

I've also noticed two of the ceiling light fittings have failed even with new bulbs so maybe if I cut the wiring and rule them out..............


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Personthe black fox
11/3/2013 at 6:58pm
 Location: flint north wales
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sounds like they have dropped there charge over the winter .best left on permanent charge in the garage really over winter ..a good charge at home over a week may cure it ,but its happened to us all .

if you usually go on mains hook up sites and are not relying on the battery for actual power ,recharge and put back in it just acts as a rectifier .if its needed for motor mover etc or rallying ,new battery needed

p.s don't dump them bulbs till you have tried with mains power going through


PersonThe_boys
11/3/2013 at 7:20pm
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I think I'm confusing the issue............

The Battery is in good condition, brand new. The old Battery is still fairly new.

The Van is in storage and hasn't moved. After several months the battery has kept it's charge, but turning on say the awning light (which runs off battery) drains the battery within minutes.

So, I have mains hook up, so the wall lights work off mains, but as soon as I turn on awning light or ceiling lights the battery indicator goes down.


Persontimtheenchanter
11/3/2013 at 7:32pm
 Location: Yeadon Leeds!
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I doubt it has kept its full charge, give it a full charge off the van, and try it again, van chargers only take it to 80% anyway.

could be a duff cell, I had one do this, appeared to be charged, but couldnt handle any load.
I was told at the time that leisure batterys cant be drop tested like car battery can.


PersonThe_boys
11/3/2013 at 7:53pm
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I am using a Halfords battery charger aswell as the the onboard charger. So the battery is fully charged............


PersonFrancophile1947
11/3/2013 at 8:53pm
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On board gauges are often inaccurate - get a cheap voltage tester and see what the batteries actually show.

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Cheers
John


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Personbirder99
11/3/2013 at 9:42pm
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The volt meter in the caravan will only show you the voltage that the battery can output and while that is normally a reasonable approximation to the state of charge it has no correlation to the amount of charge that the battery can hold. If the battery has gone duff it could still show a reasonable voltage but the only way to tell if the battery can output its designed charge is to do a drop test.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


Personthe black fox
11/3/2013 at 10:10pm
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the cold weather is the peril here ,although the battery shows charged its not as the others have tried to explain ,in reality it should be on charge all the time while the weather is cold ..take it home put it on charge and you MIGHT save it .doesn't matter what voltage it shows it will have been drained by the cold .

i.e i do a lot of wildlife photography ,we are advised in cold weather to have a fully charged battery as a spare but not in the camera bag ,kept in a trouser pocket to stay warm .


PersonAndy Higham
11/3/2013 at 10:22pm
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It is pointless reading on the voltmeter (battery indicator) unless the battery is under load, An almost flat battery can show in the green zone without load.
Give the battery a good charge and try the lights again



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