Strange Battery Draining
Hi Everyone, apologies for the long email, but I have just sent this to our dealer as we have booked our Lunar Clubman in for warranty repair on the fridge (error code 9). I wanted to describe an issue related to the battery and tracker from last weekend, here goes.
We have had trouble free storage and operation up to last weekend when we took the caravan to stay at a friends house. On Friday the 31st we ran the caravan on the leisure battery and on Saturday to Sunday lunchtime we used EHU.
Everything appeared to be fine on the battery, we only used the caravan a small amount in the evening as were out most of the day. The volt meter continuously ran around 12v and there was a small amount of heating and hot running water use, gas was also on. On Saturday we hooked the caravan up to the house 13amp supply. Again on Saturday there was only a small amount of use of lights and heating. The problems started when we left on Sunday and were driving home. Before we set off, we made sure the master switch was off and the fridge was running on the car hook up. As we were travelling I received a call from Phantom to say there was a power fail alarm on their system. Phantom asked us, when possible, to reset the alarm by the key fob. I pulled into some services on the M6 Toll and tried to reset the alarm with the key fob. The alarm sounded, but it was a fast continuous beep, not like the alarm when that sounds. We could not stop it with the key fob so disarmed the alarm with the key. We tried to reset with the key and turn back on but the fast beeping continued. We made sure the master was turned off, but before we did, we checked the battery volts and it was zero with the master switch on. There was no power registering. The caravan has a solar panel and it was very sunny on the Friday and the caravan was on EHU for over 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday as well as on the car so we had no idea how it could be flat.
We left the services with the alarm disarmed and took the caravan back to the storage site. Before we left the caravan to be put back into storage, the volt meter was also zero, the caravan would have been on the car hook up for nearly two hours. I contacted Phantom who said they still had a power fail alarm and I advised the batter appeared to be flat.
Yesterday I purchased a battery charger and removed the battery from the caravan. When I ran a test on the battery, the charger reported 11.4v and %30. I have had it on charge since yesterday and it now reports %100 and 14.4v while on charge. A test shows the battery at %100. I can therefore only assume that something has drained the battery, even when the master switch is off. Or, as there was still some power, something has become faulty with the electrics.
If the caravan being on EHU for over 24 hours means the battery still isn't charged and then drained, there must be an electrical problem. I intend to return the battery to the caravan over the weekend to monitor the status. I will also be going to Scotland over Easter but will be on EHU.
I appreciate all of this is difficult to diagnose over forum posts, but does it sounds familiar to any more experienced travellers? We are just stumped as to how the battery has died. My main concern with the battery is that we will not always have EHU. In Mid May we are going to a rally and will be on battery for four days. Previously I have owned a VW Camper and the leisure battery easily coped with four day festivals and I could even charge phones and bluetooth speakers on it. With the current caravan battery and I am concerned we won't make it past the first day! I have now charged it at home and will recheck voltage in the morning.
The battery is a Delta BT BTL 110. It was brand new in the caravan in October '16. It is an NCC Category C...., perhaps I need to invest in a better battery.
Long email ends here :-)
Comments
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Hi, could the caravan battery charger have failed? Ours did on a 2008 Lunar Ultima 462. We lasted 5 days on the solar panel not realising the charger was not charging when on EHU. The battery went down to 10 volts. Also I have had corrosion problems with the back up battery in the alarm on our 2013 Lunar Clubman which caused all sorts of odd sounds coming from the alarm
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Thanks Pete, this was one question I had in my mind, has the alarm got a backup battery? Would that also power the tracker? I need to have a look as I am not sure where the backup battery may be.
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Hi JVB, well, I think you might be getting a little too techy-electrical for me there. It will certainly be something I ask to have checked when it goes to have the fridge repaired.
I think we have basically asked too much of the battery on the Friday, discharged it and it has not charged over the Saturday, so there may be several issues here. I have recharged the battery and will Google where the alarm backup battery may be.
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Fairly easy to check the charger. When you are on hook up the battery voltage will be much higher - 13.8 volts with a dumb system or nearer 13 volts with a smart system. Off of EHU the battery will start at 12.7 volts and gradually decline as it discharges. 12 volts is too low and the battery would be flat.
It is quite possible for a battery to fail even when fairly new, particularly if it has not been recharged properly or has been deeply discharged.
Of course, there are many other things that could cause a flat battery.
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There is an internal back-up battery in both the Phantom and Alarm.
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So more bad news. I purchased a Platinum AGM battery which is rated as a NCC Class A battery. I charged it at home for 48 hours, took the battery to the caravan and fitted it. The solar panel control box flashed green stating the battery was full. The master control panel is totally dead. There is no activity when turning on the master switch. All the breakers are on, I used the test button and reset the breakers, still no master panel activity. Unfortunately the fuse panel does not have any fuses for the master panel that are labelled. As the caravan is in storage I have no way of knowing if the master panel will work on EHU. I was sure a new charged battery would be the answer but still have a caravan with no working electrics.
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There should be a load of car type blade fuses somewhere, presumably near all the breakers you mentioned. It does seem as one of them has blown. The breakers/REDs are mains ..... nothing to do with 12 volt battery powered stuff. IIRC when I had the alarm removed on my Coachman, I pulled the alarm fuse which killed the master panel too. Pull each fuse & have look ....... sometimes just pulling & rebutting a fuse is enough to clean contacts
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Hi MM, thanks, that's my plan today, have a look at the fuses. The master panel registers nothing with the master switch on.
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Well I replaced this battery as it was corroded. The alarm was again operational on the key fob, but I don't know if that was because of the 9v battery or the new leisure battery? Once the alarm was operational I contacted Phantom but the tracker was still down according to their monitoring systems. I do not know if the tracker acts like a car immobiliser and disables the Lunar control panel, that seems a little far fetched, but the control panel is still dead even when the solar panel control box indicates the leisure battery is full. I ended up disabling the alarm by the key in case it drained the 9v battery. Very frustrating.
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Hi, for your information if you turn off the alarm with the key the 9 volt rechargeable battery is not topped up by the 12 volt battery. It seems like you have a disconnection somewhere in the 12 volts anyway from the battery as the volt meter is not showing anything, probably a fuse you have not discovered yet. Very frustrating for you.
I think that around 2014-16 Lunar changed the supplier of their alarms and electrical control units. Ours is 2013 and is totally different from the later ones.
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