Alarm implications if battery removed
Over the winter we're planning to store our caravan in a farm shed. it'll therefore have no mains power and no sun light for the solar panel. If I remove the battery to trickle charge it at home what impact will this have on the alarm and tracker systems?
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Depending on the shed and location I have read from others that if the signal is poor battery drain on the tracker could be high. Is it not possible with modern trackers to check battery levels using an app or webpage?
Personally I would invest in a second battery rather than make two trips to the storage. I would take the one off the RV and replace with the other; less faff. Don't leave the charged battery on a concrete floor between charges use timber block or similar. The rising cold off a concrete floor is not good for batteries
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On our Mk2 Bailey Cadiz the alarm / tracker would run for several days on its back up without the leisure battery. I started off removing it every 6 weeks, taking it home to charge and returning it the next day. I soon got fed up of that and as ET suggests bought a second battery. Our alarm / tracker had a significant drain, despite the signal being good. I doubt the leisure battery would have lasted much over 8 weeks, hence the 6 week change over.
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If you remove the battery, the tracker and alarm won’t work, once the alarm’s built-in battery has drained down. We have an app on the mobile phone that shows the leisure battery voltage. Our caravan is in storage. Unfortunately our battery is recently showing just under 12 volts, not enough sun for the solar panel, and we can’t get to it as site is closed for lockdown. We have our fingers crossed it will be ok.
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I can't remember exactly, but our infernal battery on the alarm lasted at least around a week to10 days. I say this because the dealer fitted a new one under warranty but the fitter neglected to throw an internal switch o allow the battery to charge and I got a low battery alarm.
As my second finger was in a metal splint I got my neighbour to open it up and throw the switch
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We have an alarm plus Phantom tracker. The alarm has a rechargable battery which is recharged via the caravan battery, so would only last a few weeks if not on EHU or a solar panel.
On ours, the alarm will go off and alert Phantom if the caravan battery is removed, it will also trigger an alert to Phantom if the battery voltage drops too much, though that will not set off the audible alarm.
If the alarm's own battery fails, the audible alarm will sound until the alarm is manually disabled, or the battery is dead......and it is VERY loud!
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If you do not have a tracker, but solely use standard fit audible alarm, it surprisingly uses quite a bit of your battery charge, even without it going off.
Technically, if you take the battery home to recharge it,the alarm will not work and you could invalidate your caravan insurance. I am not trying to be negative (sorry for the pun), but it is worth considering.
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Actual experience this year,to give you some idea.Our 2019 Autosleeper has a built in Tracker unit which pulls off the leisure battery,the TrumaApp controls etc also draw off it and the Peugeot side of things has the unusual pulls on the starter battery.The MH is kept in my garage to which there is no mains electricity supply.Therefore I employ solar or my Honda EU10i to keep the batteries up to state.The vehicle has a Smart charger built in.
The unit has had little use this year due to Lockdowns and my recovering from cancer👍.
In the Summer solar would get the batteries to,12.6 volts and overnight they dropped to 12.3v.Come Winter solar is less of an option,so the generator is used.Running for 2 hours @3amps gets the batteries to 12.5v.tThe vehicle is garaged overnight but colder temperatures gives 12.1v next morning.The process is repeated.I try to keep both batteries above 12v at all times,I do not isolate them because of the hassle involved in resetting all of the systems.When left for a week, due to my hospitalisation,the batteries dropped to 11.8- that was in Summer temperatures.
btw Not a good idea to run the Diesel engine on idle for prolonged periods to charge the batteries.The exhaust does not get hot enough and it can set off the NOx sensor - engine check light comes up and needs a scan tool reset👎
Fortunately there seems to have been no permanent damage to the batteries or the engine.If I have to lash out on some new batteries in the Spring-never mind,I did try....2020 for you!
One happy day we may get out of T3,get vaccinated and be able to go somewhere-one happy day....
Hope that this gives you some idea of the "pull" on the batteries from all of the gizmos in modern units- Winter's low temperatures are no small consideration.
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