Leisure battery going flat in storage.

Topcat
Topcat Forum Participant Posts: 17
edited August 2017 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

My leisure battery is suddenly going flat when in storage. For 8 years my van has been happy to be stored even over winter with no major discharge of the battery I do use a solar charger to keep it topped up. This year I went to my van and found the battery flat.OK I thought, 8 year old battery so I figured it's had its day. Bought a new one and installed it. Put the van back in storage between holidays with the solar panel connected and ensured all consumers and the master 12 volt switch was off. Went to the van after a month and the new battery is completely flat! 

As far as I know the only consumer of battery power with the master off is the alarm. As this draws current in milliamps I cant see that this is the problem. Can anyone suggest a possible cause?

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited August 2017 #2
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
    1000 Comments
    edited August 2017 #3

    As it is sudden and been OK for 8 years is the solar panel and controller functioning and is it delivering charge to the battery? 

    Duff battery is unlikely but is always possible. 

    Do you have a tracker fitted? 

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
    1000 Comments
    edited August 2017 #4

    As nothing has changed it seems possible that there is an additional drain on the battery. An alarm will drain the battery but it should last one month. As suggested above, maybe the solar panel wiring is faulty I.e. it's drawing current rather than supplying. A fridge door open can leave the light on etc. Sometimes, switching off the 12 volts doesn't actually kill everything.

    The other thing which causes problems is if you use the battery off of EHU and don't recharge it properly. It is always a good idea to remove the battery and give it a full charge using a decent charger rather than using the caravan hook-up to do it. If you are always on mains hook-up this isn't necessary.

  • ABIPete
    ABIPete Forum Participant Posts: 88
    edited August 2017 #5

    Hi Topcat, to check solar charging... locate solar controller if possible. Measure with volt meter across solar input on sunny day = 18 -22volts. then check connection for battery = 13.5- 14volts approx. then check voltage at battery = 14 volts may be a little lower from loss through wire. If battery volts lower has fuse in that wire blown? Hope this helps. There are really cheap digital volt meters available.

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