12 volt motorhome electrics.
Hi all.
I have a 2012 Bailey motorhome which I bought in 2015 to tow my vintage race car to events and also to use for my wife and myself for holidays both here and abroad.
I am handy with most things and not much phases me in the mechanical world or other but I have a small problem that has pretty much flummoxed me so I'll throw it out there for some possible solutions.
We do have a TV in our motorhome and before I see you rolling your eyes about walking and fresh air, we don't use it very often and it came with the van. We do enjoy lots of walking our 2 springer spaniels, Betty and Wilma!!
We have recently been away for the first time after lockdown and I decided to switch on the satellite receiver and TV to check a repair to an aerial cable that I had done a while ago. First, when I switched on the satellite box, it didn't light up as normal. I then plugged the tv into the 12 volt socket and again nothing?
Not being that bothered I switched it all off and thought I'd check it out once home.
So, once home I checked things over, no blown fuses, no loose wires? I then checked the connections with a multimeter. I have 12 volts plus to both the satellite box and the 12 volt sockets for the tv and digital box as the little red light was on the plugs when pushing them in.
I have checked my 2 leisure batteries as these will have been on from new, (8 years old now!) They have a colour indicator on them and they check out as fine. However, I do think this is where my problem lies. I think it is an amp problem? Electrics are about the only thing I can't get my head around!!
The van it kept on hook up charge when not in use and I was doing some work where it is stored in April and my wife had the TV on then while I worked.
Has this happened to anyone else and have you got any ideas?
Cheers all and happy camping.
Tony
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Comments
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It well may be just the fact that you have a dirty connection which is as you say restricting the current flow a lesson I learnt years ago when I replaced the sealed beam on my 1962 Mini and it still did not work the voltage was ok so I cleaned the contacts sadly I had wasted my money
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You didn’t say whether you did these checks when plugged in to the mains? The 12 volt system will run at above 13 volts when on mains hook-up as the battery charger supplies 13.8 - 14.3 volts depending on the type of system. Is the rest of the 12 volt system working e.g. lights, pump?
The TV doesn’t take a great deal of power (2-3 amps?) but I suppose that it’s possible that if the batteries are dying then this would drag the voltage down when plugged in and be insufficient for the TV.
Try putting you multimeter direct on the leisure battery terminals and check what happens without hook-up, with hook-up and when the TV is plugged in. A fully charged battery should be around 12.7 volts but higher when the mains is connected and the charger is working. You should not notice much of a voltage drop when the TV is on.
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