Flat Battery
My Motorhome is in storage for a few months and I've just been to pay it a visit and the battery is flat and it won't start. My fault entirely as I intended to go much earlier. There's no electricity available to charge the battery. Is my only option to borrow a battery and jump leads? Also, I'd been thinking of Solar Panels. Presumably this would solve the problem? Newbie questions I know but this is our first Motorhome and we're still learning.
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You could take the battery home to charge it.
Solar panels will keep it charged but depend on various factors such as availability of daylight. Then there’s your leisure battery to consider as well.
You can't beat having the van a regular run.
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agree with all three of TW's points..
the first issue is to get the van running again....take the battery home for a charge or borrow a starter pack (perhaps call AA/RAC?)...
keeping all batteries healthy throughout a layup period where EHU isn't available usually means a solar panel.
provided the van is out in the open, an 80-120w panel 'should' be sufficient to maintain all batteries (cab and leisure).
systems vary, but a dual channel regulator can send power to both sets of batteries.
alternatively, solar might be set up for just the leisure batteries, with a device called a Battery Master diverting excess charge from the leisure battery to the cab battery....
both are fairly simple but straightforward systems.
MHs have ,any more oily bits than caravans and really do benefit from being used, even if occasionally during a layup period.
good luck.
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Depending on how the motorhome is parked you may be able to jump start from another vehicle. Many motorhomes have the engine battery located under the cab floor so they provide positive and negative terminals in the engine compartment. Of course, you could try jumping from another fully charged starter battery but this is not as effective as charging from a running vehicle where the voltage and current is boosted by the alternator.
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Clearly a jump start will get the vehicle up and running, however I would not consider this as a longer term solution if power is not available at the storage facility to maintain it.
Jump starting deep drained batteries does them no good in the longer term especially if the vehicle is fitted with a normal car type battery that unlike leisure batteries is designed to give an initial high boost for the vehicle starter motor at full maintained power.
Vehicle type batteries do not fare well from constant deep draining, also if a vehicle battery has deep drained it will likely not take a charge from a normal charger once the voltage level has dropped to around 10 volts or less.
My preference (and the one I have used for years) would be to remove the battery and take it home, then put it on a constant maintenance charge with an 'Optimate' charger or similar. These are intelligent chargers that are designed to maintain a battery by way of a cycle that will both charge and desulfate the battery at regular intervals. Using this method extends the life of the battery. Solar panel are also a more expensive solution and of course will not desulfate batteries.
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Use the Motor home every week, even although it's just a day trip to picnic in a nearby country park or coastal viewpoint. It's a motor vehicle and designed to be used. Regular use will prevent the vehicle battery from becoming completely drained which could cause the battery to be damaged.
K
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Ours is in our driveway and used twice a year. Bit of a waste really but I find it cumbersome and noisy to drive just for days out, especially compared with our electric car.
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The solar panels keep my batteries in trim but I still give the MH a run about every four weeks just to keep the mechanicals in fettle. Whilst I wouldn't say it is a "transport of delight" from a driving point of view, it still makes a pleasant day out for a picnic.
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agree with CY, regular use of the MH will keep things ticking over and bring any issues to your attention straight away....
re: :solar panels....the other advantage (in fact their raison d'être) is to give more freedom to choice of parking/site, allowing longer away from the requirment to hook up if thats your style....hreat for aires, temp hol sites, CL etc....
good luck.
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I have just been down to our motorhome and the vehicle battery was flat. We last used the MH on 9th December so it's only been 4 weeks. Since this happened to us last February I have connected the solar panel charger to the vehicle battery as well as the leisure battery. It has been OK over the summer and autumn months. I would have thought that it would have been ok for 4 weeks. The leisure battery is fully charged at around 14 volts according to the built in voltmeter. The vehicle battery measured 12.8 Volts until the ignition was turned on , then it fell to 12.2 volts. Everything looked ok, waited for the heater plug symbol to go out and tried the starter but nothing there, just dragged everything else down.
The base vehicle is a Peugoet boxer with 1.8 litre diesel engine. Vehicle was registered in May 2017. There is a battery standby system whereby you push a red button by the ignition key, turn the key to BATT position and the battery is supposed to go into standby after about 7 minutes. This is supposed to isolate everything except the ECU memory storage, but I don't believe it works as last time I used it the clock and radio stations had to be reset, but not this time. I wonder if it has anything to do with adding the vehicle battery to the solar panel charger, although this has been alright for a shorter period of 3 weeks during the autumn.
Has anyone any suggestions. Thanks.
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the 14v voltage at the leisure battery will be the raised voltage from the SP. a full rested battery should be 12.6 or 12.7v.
as you are not seeing an equivalent at the vehicle battery, I'm guessing no charge from the SP is being applied...could this be the case?
is this a self installed system, do you have a twin channel regulator set to disburse charge to both batteries?
the voltage at the vehicle battery of 12.8 'may' be the raised solar voltage but it's possible the starter battery is diff and not capable of holding that applied charge.....so it's actually flat.....hence the non starting.
i would get the cab battery tested.
what is the make of the conversion....AS by any chance?
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When you buy a motorhome with a solar panel (usually 60 Watts minimum) it comes set up with a charge controller which balances the power to both leisure and engine battery. Sometimes you can adjust the charge priority and/or the percentage to each battery. As you have set this up yourself you need to be aware of the options and how they are set. Your cab battery should not have failed after less than 2 years so maybe the charging regime is incorrect.
There is of course much less sunlight at this time of year and the charge available will be substantially lower.
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The solar panel controller is a Truma SDC10. It has 2 outputs and the default is Battery 1 (habitation) 50% and battery 2 ( vehicle) 50%. When I connected the vehicle battery to output 2, I changed the setting (for winter) to 20% for habitation and 80% for the vehicle. The battery type is set to AGM. The leisure battery is a Yuasa L36 AGM Plus, 12 Volt, 96 Ah, 850 A. The vehicle battery is 12 volt, 95 Ah, 680 A (EN2/SAE) I cannot see the manufacturer or model as the label is hidden.
The base vehicle is a Peugeot Boxer and the conversion is Elddis.
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you could disconnect the cab battery completely....then fully charge it with a seperate smart charger and then leave it for a few hours...
it should still be retaining its 14.6 or 14.7 volt full charge level.
if it has fallen away then it's not able to hold charge.
as in my earlier post, it may well be that the voltage you saw at the battery (14v) is the solar panel voltage....normally a rested battery would not have a charge this high...
i would do some tests in the cab battery to check its fine before doing other things...
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AGM batteries require a different charging regime. Not sure how one system setting can be correct for cab battery (not AGM) and habitation battery (AGM), still, these systems are complicated and if it was installed that way then I guess it’s right.
Presumably it is still under warranty so a trip to your dealer seems the best way to get it resolved.
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