Battery woes
It started when we tried to get our Ravenna out storage to give it a good run. The vehicle battery was flat. A breakdown service got it started, and we took it home and put it on a charger. The next morning it was fully charged. As thee battery was over 7 years old, I suspected that it was on the way out, so I left it overnight and checked again. It was no longer fully charged, and still wasn't three hours later. So I booked into Kwik Fit for a new vehicle battery. It took them ages, and I got the impression that they had never done anything like this before. Two hours, three men and a blown fuse later, it was ready for collection. I drove it back to storage the scenic route, to give it time to get fully charged, but when I checked it before leaving, I noticed that the leisure battery was apparently not connected to the habitation area, although the vehicle battery was. Either a fuse had blown, or they have wired the batteries up incorrectly I thought. The next day I went back to storage to take it back to Kwik Fit, to find the vehicle battery too far discharged to start the motorhome, and I couldn't get the alarm to unlock the motorhome - although there was still enough oomph for a deafening whine noise from it.
Kwik Fit are saying they did nothing wrong, but will try to find out what is draining the battery if I can get it back to them. To my knowledge nothing could possibly be draining it that quickly unless it was something they caused, but they insist that there must have already been an issue and that is why the previous battery went flat.
Can anybody shed any light on this from what I have said please?We have never before had any issues with battery drain that weren't self inflicted (like accidentally leaving the pump on over winter!)
Comments
-
Sorry Nedsram, you have just discovered one of the
basic facts of Motoring Life -- Never go within half a
mile of KF !! If you are not knowledgeable in this area
it might be worth booking into a m/h service centre or booking
a Home Visit from one of the Mobile Mechs-- the ones I have
come across have all been most proficient & unfailingly honest.
If they cannot do something they have always told me so &
suggested ( politely
) what I should do next !!B
1 -
Yes ABM, it didn't turn out to be a wonderful idea did it. .I had a chat with the man from Motor Move who got it started, and I hadn't realised how complex the wiring is. He could think of a number of ways that it could have been i9ncorrectly wired so that one or both batteries drained away. For now it's on the driveway connected to my battery charger.
What's so irritating is that for a year or more I have used a local mobile service chap called Andy, who traded as Caravancare then more recently Leisurecare North West, but he went to ground in the Autumn, doesn't reply to emails, and has had both phones permanently on voicemail. ever since
The MotorMove chap suggested North West Caravans at Stanley Green. I'll certainly phone them up, but first I'll give Kwik Fit the opportunity to put things right, but I have a feeling that they will have no idea what the wiring was like before they took it apart. Maybe I'm wrong.
Any other suggestions for mobile service people in the Greater Manchester / North East Cheshire area?
0 -
Does anybody know if Andy Heywood of Leisurecare North West (formerly Caravancare) based in Hazel Grove is still in business please? As I said earlier, he has done a lot of work on our motorhome over the last year, but has been incommunicado since the autumn. As he lived less than 2 miles away, and only a few hundred yards from where our motorhome is stored, he was ideal to get this problem fixed.
0 -
I do not understand how KF could have messed anything up in order to change the vehicle battery., All you have to do is locate said battery, unclip/bolt the terminal wires, lift battery out, replace etc. unless of course they have changed the leisure battery instead, did you point them in the right direction as to the location of the vehicle battery?
0 -
The man who first tried didn't think to take the seat out. (I told them that was necessary, but they said no it wasn't.) As a result he had to take the leisure battery out first, then the vehicle battery, which was further in. Then he couldn't get the batteries back again. Finally they took the set out, but by then they had apparently lost track of what connected where. They admitted blowing a fuse while trying to reconnect things.
Also there was absolutely nothing wrong in the habitation area when I took it in. Both batteries could be tested. Indeed I tried running the pump briefly on both batteries, and while the vehicle battery had lost too much charge to be able to start the motorhome, it could still run the pump, and the leisure battery was just fine. After they had finished, the leisure battery wasn't connected to the habitation area at all, although the vehicle battery was.
Conclusion. They connected things back incorrectly, resulting among other things in a constant drain on the vehicle battery. Note that it had taken six weeks in storage, including some freezing weather, to drop to the point where it wasn't quite able to start the motorhome. When QF had finished, it lost almost all of its charge overnight. (Yes I maybe we need to take it out more, but I've never before failed to start it after 6 weeks.)
I decided to change the vehicle battery because I had had no previous problems with it, but having taken it home and charged it, after leaving it overnight it had lost some of its charge. My wife's car battery showed similar symptoms shortly before it gave up the ghost altogether.
0 -
Been back to QF. They found two bare wires which they say were arcing with the chassis, causing the connection between the leisure batter and the habitation area to be lost, and the vehicle battery to drain away. I can't say who caused this, but I'm hoping that the insulation tape they added will now have fixed the problem. I'm leaving it overnight on the drive to see if it keeps its charge.
0 -
I would probably not use them for anything technical but KF came to my rescue a few months ago. On leaving the Stonehaven CC site a fellow camper pointed out one of my back tyres was flat. We attempted to pump it up with a battery operated pump and got some pressure back into it. As I left the site there was a KF about 300 yds down the road. I pulled in and asked them to have a look. They were happy to help but said they did not have a jack big enough for the weight of the van, which at first thought was a fob off. I explained I could lift the back of the van off the ground with the levelling system and they were happy to help and did a very efficient job dropping other work to get me back on the road. So, in some cases for less technical type stuff they do have there merits (in some branches)
I really hope the insulation tape has done the job and everything is back to normal for you...good luck.
0
. None of the high street tyre & exhaust places are much better.