Urgent help needed please
Hello - Problem with Avondale Dart 525-4 2007
I'm no expert but will explain my problem as best i can:
We are meant to be going away in the morning. We collected the van from storage earlier and brought home. Just to begin with I'm pretty confident our leisure battery is knackered and has been since we bought the van. We also use the van when hooked up so the battery has never caused us an issue.
I plugged the van into the mains at home and all seemed well. Lights, heater and fridge all checked and appeared to be working fine.
We have a battery condition gauge on the wall and when hooked up to electric this always points to green on the gauge. I left the van plugged in for a few hours and then noticed that the gauge gad dropped to half. This has never happened previously when plugged in. I looked at the RCD unit and saw that the light on top had gone off and one of the MCB switches had tripped. I reset the MCB and switched the RCB unit back. The light on top illuminated and everything appeared to be back working.
Gradually over the next hour I noticed that the internal van lights were dimming and now not working at all. Also radio not switching on. I have that the elec is still coming into the van as I can still charge my phone from the socket.
Does this sound serious? Would replacing the leisure battery help? I believed that once plugged in the elec would by pass the battery?
Any help would be appreciated.
Comments
-
It sounds as if the battery charger is either not working or more likely been switched off. If the charger is off then there will be no power to either charge the battery or power the 12 volt system. I hope that helps.
0 -
On EHU the battery is not bypassed. Power to 12V comes from the battery still. A failing battery is masked by the fact it is constantly being charged on EHU. If you suspected that battery was shot then first step is to replace. I would switch off the charger as if the battery plates have failed it could short and overheat.
0 -
Lights and radio are off the 12v battery and them dimming out shows battery is now flat. That means whatever had been charging it in the past has stopped. Perhaps it was the inbuilt battery charger going pop that tripped the circuit breaker?
I don't know what is fitted to your 'van in the way of a charger but they are usually robust units but not all of them will supply a big current when the battery is either flat or not there. These ones are battery chargers, not 12v power supplies. There is often an old fashioned 12v fuse or two involved in these things - either on the charger unit or in-line somewhere. The trip that went off is switching out the 240v side of things.
Have a look for some 12v fuses, a reset trip on the battery charger unit, or something else that might have been disturbed. I would not rush to buy a new battery until the charger unit is proved working.
You could take the battery out of the 'van and charge it on the bench with a normal car battery charger to find out if it will take a charge. If it does you might get a few days of lights and radio out of it. You will probably find some of the lights working directly off 240v mains as well.
0 -
Thanks for all the replies. I looks as though my neglect of the battery may have caused the problem. I have spoken with the local caravan hospital via phone and they think it sounds like the charging unit. However reading some of your replies, I might be that the charging unit has been trying to charge a knackered battery and this has caused the charging unit to fail. I looks like I will be forking out for a battery and charging unit. Bit of a nightmare as we are meant to be going away tomorrow.
0 -
Glad you've got it sussed. Hopefully both can be sorted quickly, certainly buying a new battery should be reasonably simple to source subject to type and size etc. I know nothing to assist in your choice 😉 hopefully you'll still get your break.
1 -
All switched off for the night and hoping to get the van to the repair shop in the morning. Hoping that it's a job that can be done quickly.
0 -
Henley on Thames to take part in a marathon walk for Mcmillan Cancer Charity.
0 -
Perhaps not much use for Helen going away tomorrow, but others reading this post in future might benefit from knowing there are chargers available, such as those from Cetek, that can recover a badly treated battery to a new lease of life.
The "instant" test of a battery is not appropriate for leisure batteries, only for starter batteries. It measures the voltage drop when a large load is applied and leisure batteries are not designed for that. I believe many places have withdrawn the tester for this "drop test" on health and safety grounds.
0 -
I'm with B2, I know nowt about Electrickery, other than not to mess with it unless you do know about it. Helen was seeking help from those that do know, a verbal slap is a long way from help. ET, you know stuff I haven't even heard of
1 -
Rocky put much more eloquently than I managed. 😆
I've not seen the original posters name before so was doubly incensed. I've always found CT a font of knowledge, information and helpfulness - that reply seemed to belittle not only the OP but anyone else who doesn't have that knowledge. Can't say I've seen that responder before either 🙄
Still no one has answered my enquiry about having to have a battery. We have one and a solar panel and have had the battery replaced. We rarely go without EHU so don't know if it's used or not 😉. I do know that without EHU you have to have battery switched on before the habitation lights works 😂😂.
0 -
We all have to acquire knowledge and this is where the forum helps people learn. It's plain rude as well as unnecessary to make a comment such as the one referred to.
Helen's problem is the battery and/or the charger but one that's difficult to identify 100% without testing. I think she's been given good advice.
0 -
"Still no one has answered my enquiry about having to have a battery. We have one and a solar panel and have had the battery replaced. We rarely go without EHU so don't know if it's used or not"
That will depend on the design of the unit that changes the 240v mains into the 12v for lights, etc.
Most I have seen are "chargers" and they need a working battery to provide a reference load to the charger, and to cope with surges when something is switched on. It may not need to be all that good or large a battery if it is always used in conjunction with 240v mains, but beware secret loads like alarms and trackers depleting the battery when no mains is connected.
The solar panel control unit will also need a load to function correctly and a battery fulfils that role when nothing is in use.
Other units are "power supply units - PSUs" and can provide the 12v needed to match the loads completely without a battery, but they include the function to charge a battery if one is connected, and to use its 12v power when the mains supply is absent.
In a motor caravan there may be connections to charge the habitation battery when the engine is running. That could be switchable as the cranking battery will provide the load to the vehicle alternator at all times.
To sum up - while you may not seem to be using the battery some of your equipment is.
0
