Should I hook up to the power at home?
Hi C & CC,
It's my first post so please be gentle.
My Dad and I just bought a 2012 Bailey Approach 745 SE with 6200 miles on the clock and have a few questions about it. Its been serviced each year and has had the habitation check done each year. The last service and checks were done a year ago.
I will split my questions into separate posts.
The MH is going to be parked at my Dad’s on his driveway. The fridge won’t be on, but the door will be left open. The alarm will be on. Should I hook up to a 240VAC supply and if I do, will this mean that the vehicle and leisure battery will be kept charged? Should I leave the master switch on?
Thanks in advance
vintageb3
Comments
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Unless you have a solar panel the alarm will drain the battery in a couple of weeks so you need to leave it plugged in or fit a solar panel.
You need to get the Habitation check done ASAP. Did you not get it checked BEFORE you bought it. Bailey's do seem to suffer from damp.
Cannot help with the Master Switch don't know how they wire them up.
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Something like a battery master will keep both leisure and cab battery topped up if connected to the mains. I keep my Bailey 740 in our back garden and have it connected to the mains for several hours a day.
Fitting a solar panel might be useful if you intend to use the van off piste so to speak but if you always use sites with electrics and have a conveniet 230v connection at home the money could be spent on something else.
David
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Unless you have a solar panel the alarm will drain the battery in a couple of weeks so you need to leave it plugged in or fit a solar panel.
You need to get the Habitation check done ASAP. Did you not get it checked BEFORE you bought it. Bailey's do seem to suffer from damp.
Cannot help with the Master Switch don't know how they wire them up.
So Q4, Do I have this aspect correct?:
If parked on a camp site or at home on EHU, the leisure battery is getting charged? On my old caravan I could flip a switch to charge the leisure battery. I don’t see any options for this in the Approach, so I assumed it was automatic.
I assume the vehicle battery is not being charged whilst on EHU? Isn’t that the battery that the alarm will be powered from? I thought I would have to put a smart charger on that from time to time.
I assume whilst driving, both batteries are being charged?
I’m thinking about a solar panel as we hope to do some wild camping from time to time. I think it would be lovely waking up at the side of a loch some morning with no one else around.
best
vintageb3
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Hi C & CC,
That's a different & more friendly club....
On my Elddis plugging in to EHU only charges the Hab battery, I would need a battery master or something to keep my cab battery charged (so I simply hardwired a CTEK charger to the cab battery).
You would need to check your handbook to see info relating to your van........
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On my Elddis plugging in to EHU only charges the Hab battery, I would need a battery master or something to keep my cab battery charged (so I simply hardwired a CTEK charger to the cab battery).
You would need to check your handbook to see info relating to your van........
I'm just going to do that now.
Thanks
TinTent
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from David K's reply (mentioning a Battery Master and being a Bailey owner) i would guessthat perhaps a Bailey does not charge the cab battery via an EHU...
if this is the case and you wish to camp off grid, youll need to find a way to keep the cab battery up....this is likely to be a Batery Master or similar which will take charge from the leisure battery and apply it to the cab
battery, under certain states of charge.this would also do the job with solar of the panel was wired imto the hab batteries, which is usual.
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We have a 2012 Bailey Approach, it sits outside the house. It is never left plugged into the mains unless on a site. When plugged in ONLY the leisure battery is charged not the vehicle battery (unless something else has been fitted)
Would agree with Q4 about getting a habitation check done ASAP, we have had terrible damp in one area of our van, it was fixed at the begining of the year under warrenty and the repair has failed, so needs to go back and be done again. Bailey are aware of
the problems with some of the Approachs (2012's) so do please check it out all over for signs of damp especially around the rear wheel arches where the problem seems to be the worst.0 -
We have a 2012 Bailey Approach, it sits outside the house. It is never left plugged into the mains unless on a site. When plugged in ONLY the leisure battery is charged not the vehicle battery (unless something else has been fitted)
Would agree with Q4 about getting a habitation check done ASAP, we have had terrible damp in one area of our van, it was fixed at the begining of the year under warrenty and the repair has failed, so needs to go back and be done again. Bailey are aware of
the problems with some of the Approachs (2012's) so do please check it out all over for signs of damp especially around the rear wheel arches where the problem seems to be the worst.Hi Tammy,
I've just read the manual (again) and you are right, the leisure battery only gets charged when on EHU. I would have to charge the van battery separate. Thats fine, I have a smart charger here I can hook up. I just wanted to know what the score was.
I also read that you should’t charge the leisure battery all the time and as soon as you plug in the EHU, the battery is getting charged. I would have thought there would be an over charge circuit in there for that. Weird.
I will charge the vehicle battery now and then and plug into EHU every so often then to boost the leisure battery…or as David has suggested…fit a solar panel and battery master.
Its one of things on the list to do.
Thanks to all!
vintageb3
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fitting the Battery Master will negate the need for a seperate CTEK charger as, when plugged into an EHU, it will charge the leisure battery AND the cab battery.
so, if you eventually get solar, the battery master will do its job (moving charge from the leisure batter to the cab battery) no matter what is charging the leisure battery......EHU or solar.
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fitting the Battery Master will negate the need for a seperate CTEK charger as, when plugged into an EHU, it will charge the leisure battery AND the cab battery.
so, if you eventually get solar, the battery master will do its job (moving charge from the leisure batter to the cab battery) no matter what is charging the leisure battery......EHU or solar.
Yeah BB, that how I understood it. It seems like the best way forward. Work is getting the way of doing these little jobs to the van so I will use a smart charger until I get time to fit solar.
Thanks for your help!
vintageb3
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Assuming the Bailey doesn't have a "smart" charger then it is not good practice to leave permanently connected to EHU as in the long term the battery will deteriorate as it will be overcharged. Occasional connection to EHU to keep the leisure battery topped
up is best. The Ctek can be left permanently connected.0 -
In this day and age does Bailey really build not using a smart charger? Even our old 2009 AT had a smart Sargent system that would handle both leisure batteries and the vehicle battery and could be left on EHU.
From the manual:
While connected to a 230v supply the (the manual shows a plug and cable icon which I can't replicate here) will display on the clock menu. This indicates the battery is charging. The battery
voltage may read much higher than normal if it is recharging.In another paragraph it states:
Do not continuously charge the battery when motorhome is not in use.
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Car type battery chargers are not suitable for charging a leisure battery and may damage it.
So what do you make of that? I read that as NOT a smart charging system
Thoughts all?
Wished I had bought a Halfords tent!
vintageb3
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Baileys only charge the leisure battery whilst on hook-up but they won't overcharge either. I think the point about not leaving it on all the time is when it is being charged separately. What a Battery Master does is divert some of that charge towards the
cab battery to keep it topped up. Perhaps worth noting that if you regularly use the motorhome its unlikely that you will have a problem with the cab battery. If we don't use our van for a month or so I take the van out for a 20 mile run which would keep the
battery topped up and prevent anything else seizing up.David
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Baileys only charge the leisure battery whilst on hook-up but they won't overcharge either. I think the point about not leaving it on all the time is when it is being charged separately. What a Battery Master does is divert some of that charge towards the
cab battery to keep it topped up. Perhaps worth noting that if you regularly use the motorhome its unlikely that you will have a problem with the cab battery. If we don't use our van for a month or so I take the van out for a 20 mile run which would keep the
battery topped up and prevent anything else seizing up.David
Surely the leusire battery will charge on hook up and whilst the engine is running/driving?
That's not how I read the manual David, but you have had a Bailey longer than me.
I think your idea of a battery master and solar panel is best David and I intend going that route.
Need to attend to other stuff first.
Thanks to you all.
vintageb3
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Sorry, of course the leisure battery charges whilst the engine is running but I was working from the point about it being on hook-up.
David
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As to Bailey's not fitting a smart charger, I'm not sure if the newer series have something differant. The OP myself and DK all have the first series of Approach (2012) there has been 2 more series since then I think they have more up to date technology
Like DK if we don't use the van for a month we take it for a drive, never had a problem with the van battery going flat.
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Hi Tammygirl
I'm going to pull the EHU tomorrow. Until I get a solar panel fitted, every 2-4 weeks when I'm not using the MH, I will hook up the EHU and give the leisure battery a boost and also hook up a smart charger to the vehicle battery and boost that. Its
real easy to run out the EHU. A lot easier than manoeuvring out of the drive to be honest at present. I need to get sensors and a camera fitted to help get this 7.5m (plus bike rack) bus out of a 9.2m space between two walls I need to shunt back and forward
to get over to drive out the gate.My friend who is a auto electrician told me years ago that a small drain on a car/van battery from the likes of an alarm does the battery good and prolongs its life.
All your advice has been great guys!
vintageb3
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