Caravan Battery Chargers
I have a Coachman Pastiche, bought new 6 years ago. I have had to the battery charger replaced twice.
Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a common fault or is it just bad luck?
Doncaster 2
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Fairly common, I think. We had a similar experience.
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I have a Swift Charisma which has a Sergent charger fitted, which I cannot fault since I forgot to charge the battery after using the mover, but it brought the battery back. The charger is part of the original equipment and the van will be 7 years old this year. Perhaps I better touch wood so that my luck does not run out
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if you visit aandacaravans (charger repair specialists) website youll see their take on charger failures, often the result of failing batteries.
they have done plenty of tests and it makes not good reading.....
charger regimes not matched correctly to the type of battery, overworking but not acheiving a lot, battery starts to fail, charger works harder, acheives les due to failing battery, battery fails.....
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The main reason why chargers fail is due to incorrect installation.
That certainly applies to most bailey caravans, especially the newer ones with the charger tucked away inside the PDU, it limits the air circulation, these units run hot normally, with the cooling fan only cutting in when the current is from around 8 amps, or even 12 amps.
There do last however if you add extra cooling, turn the off on exceptionally hot days, and give them as much ventilation as you can.
I'm taking delivery of a Swift caravan shortly, and I've already noticed thankfully that it mounted externally to the rest of the electric fuses etc, and has lots of extra cooling fins, even so I'll pack if off if its a easy job to do so, it even has an off switch fitted.
Something i had to fit myself to the Bailey.
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Yeah also on a Coachman Pastiche. Just a poor design poorly installed sadly. After the last failure I chose a Ctek replacement. A proper charger and power supply no fans required and does a much better job of looking after your battery. Dead easy to do. In fairness it's the only problem I have ever had with our van.
Tj
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I believe that model of Coachman has a smart charger which will properly maintain the battery after discharge, unlike Bailey and other models. Therefore worth getting it repaired or replaced rather than swapping for something different.
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BCA make the power supply charger fitted as standard. Not reliable run hot and failures are common. Ctek amongst others make a much better designed product with multi stage charging and regeneration cycles. They are designed to be left on for extended periods whilst connected to your battery. They make custom leads to fit pretty well all types of wiring and fitting is a doddle.
Tj
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I have had problems with the charger fitted to my 2014 Lunar Clubman, produced by BCA. It failed when the caravan was just over a year old, we were at the start of a 2 month tour of France. We ended up buying a new leisure battery and charger. We then had one on charge in the awning and one connected to the caravan which meant swapping every 5 or 6 days, not ideal! In hindsight we perhaps should have had a new charger fitted to the caravan, but we were wary of invalidating the warranty. We had contacted the dealer but they said that they could not help until we returned home. The second charger failed a fortnight ago when the caravan was just under 3 years old, so it was fortunately still covered by warranty. The service engineer, who replaced it, contacted BCA to query this but he could only tell us we were unlucky. Apparently the caravan and battery passed all electrical tests on the annual service. It does not make me confident for the future. As others have commented the charger is fastened behind the electrical control box under the mattress so not a lot of fresh air around it. I try to remember to leave the front of the under bed compartment open when the weather is hot.
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I have a Bailey Pegasus 4 (2017) I have a motor mover fitted, keep mains lead in whilst at home on the drive, just been away for a week and motor mover wont drive , just clicks battery volts showing 6.5 but when on mains 13.8, just had the van serviced, is there an isolator switch fitted any where ? or is my charger not working ?
TIA
Mike
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My suspicion it is your battery.
When you use the mover the voltage collapses as the battery has no capacity to deliver high current.
When plugged in the charger puts out 13.8 so this makes sense as this is the voltage you would see at the battery.
Try another battery, or take your battery home and charge externally.
Your mover should have a key switch in the battery box, big red one. Other than this then no, it is fed from the battery.
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battery volts showing 6.5 but when on mains 13.8
Surely that is merely measuring the voltage delivered by the battery as against the voltage delivered by the EHU.
Leave battery on charge for say 12 hours then check the two voltages to see if battery has retained a charge or not.
Have to say that from what you say, the low voltage will not drive your motor mover. You do need a well filled battery for that.
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The other point to mention is that the Bailey charger is not “intelligent” so it will give 13.8 volts maximum. This is not enough to properly charge a depleted battery but is OK for maintaining on EHU. If your battery has been significantly discharged it needs to be disconnected from the van and charged up with a decent charger like a CTek.
A smart charger like Sargent or the Coachman units will take the battery off line when you are on EHU and recharge using a multistage charger delivering 14.4 volts (for sealed lead acid batteries).
CTek chargers have been known to recover some “dead” batteries although some may regard it as more cost effective to simply replace the battery.
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This is not true.
13.8 volts will fully charge a battery it just takes LONGER.
All a multistage charger will do is charge quicker. I've had a bailey with the 13.8v charger and my battery lasted 9 years.
At present I have a Swift with the multistage charger.
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On my Bailey one cannot use the mover with EHU connected as the isolator key switch is behind where the mains power connector fits into the socket. I just assumed that all makes would have this feature to avoid doing horrid things to the charger.
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I don't see the connection. (He he he)
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yes, same, that is what the dealer said when they fitted it there. Some have said they have ruined the mover box by using it with EHU
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The dumb charger and the solar panel on my 4yr old Bailey manages the battery without any problems. Motor mover and self levelling systems used on a regular basis . 🙂
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Sorry but that is totally incorrect. In fact, if you go back a few years you will see a technical article in the Club's magazine which says exactly the same and if you read manufacturers data this will confirm. 13.8 volts is a compromise to keep a well maintained battery topped up and not to provide excessive voltage to the caravans nominal 12 volt system. It has nothing to do with the length of time taken to recharge which is more dependent on current not voltage.
A sealed lead acid battery requires 14.4 volts to correctly recharge and condition the battery. A smart charger passes through various stage of current and voltage control and a good one will maintain a battery without damaging it so can be left permanently connected which you should NOT do with a Bailey charger. In fact my Bailey manual specifically stated that.
Every time I mention this somebody says “ well my battery is just fine”. That may be the case and, of course, you are entirely at liberty to believe what you wish, but I had two batteries fail prematurely before I worked out what the problem was. You may be lucky but the best way to treat your battery and get maximum life is as I have described.
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Given our reliance on our battery, one would think that smart chargers would be the norm on all new caravans. I’m looking to buy a Clubman in the next month or so. Having had a look at their website, it just says “12volt charger”. I’ve emailed them to ask.
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It is usual on motorhomes but, for caravans, Swift and Coachman are the main manufacturers that do smart chargers. I don’t think Lunar fit them.
I tried to find the article by (the late) Ken Wickersham in the Club magazine archives but was unable to locate it. Think I got his name right?
Of course, a smart charger has to take the battery off-line whilst charging, and to supply the caravan with 12 volts at the same time so it makes it quite costly. Motorhomes have a starter battery plus leisure battery are used more without EHU and often have solar panels so the whole system is much more complex.
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I have never had a battery fail prematurely.
And am happy to see a constant 13.8 volts from my Swift smart charger constantly. Or a bailey charger.
I now have a solar panel that will typically give out around 13.6v on a sunny day. I does no harm whatsoever to keep a battery on 13.8volts.
My last battery was 9 years old before I left something on and flattened it otherwise I expect it would still be in service, one before was 7 years old when I let it go with the caravan.
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A lot of misinformation here. I shall say no more.
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