Battery Discharge Issue
Hiya folks.
I had confirmed today something I’ve suspected for some time. It seems that something is draining the battery, even though the main panel is switched off. Is there something obvious/easy that I could look at? Or is this one for a technician?
TIA.
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Have you got a tracker?
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A bit difficult to say how quickly it discharges. I keep the van in storage, but as some kind of indication, I used it last July and all seemed fine. When I used it again in October, it was completely flat. It was charged for those few days, and now it’s flat again. The battery is (was, I’ve ordered a new one) around 5 years old, so I realise it is probably an issue. I do have an alarm, but I don’t arm it anymore, got fed up with the thing going off when I wasn’t there. I’ve today had a mover fitted, so this issue needs sorting, more now than ever.
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Freddy, I am the first to admit that I know very little about electronics, but I do know that I used to have very much the same problem as you.
In the end my friendly local electrician & caravan engineer put it down to a slight trickle discharge somewhere in the system and probably my caravan alarm! In the end I took to removing my battery from the caravan and keeping it at home in my garage on a trickle charge .
Finally my storage place installed an EHU and the caravan is now on constant charge with the heating set to prevent freezing. I pay an extra £10 per year for peace of mind!
TF
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Have you changed storage location? I ask as some say that if the caravan is in a poor reception area the tracker can use extra power by trying to establish a signal and failing hence retrying.. no idea if that is so however. Not changed your radio or taken to leaving a removable front in place when you did not before.
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A Tracker will easily run the battery down in that time. Irrespective of whether you have a drain somewhere in the system you need to charge the battery roughly once a month and you can’t do this by simply plugging the van in to EHU unless you have an “intelligent” charger which is unlikely on your model. Unfortunately this means visiting the storage and taking the battery out and fitting a spare whilst you charge the other one. This is why some people fit a solar panel to keep the battery permanently topped up.
If you don’t need alarm/tracker it is best to remove the battery and keep it at home, topping up the charge periodically.
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Thanks for the replies folks, appreciated 👍
@hitchglitch, that seems like sound advice. Could you recommend a charger please?
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Yes, a CTek (5 amp minimum) although they are a bit pricey. They have been recommended by trade users and on this forum for many years.
The big advantage is that you can also keep them connected for a long time to maintain charge. We have two to keep both our cars on charge when we go away for long periods. Ordinary chargers and cheap trickle chargers will damage a battery if left connected.
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Recently had this issue also - having never experienced it before.
I use a 10 watt solar panel when in storage which has always kept the battery at about 12.5 volts.
Admittedly we havent had much sun in the last few weeks - so I put it down to that - however, when I took battery home , charged it and refitted it - it went flat again.
This required investigation as battery is only two years old -
Thorough checking of all circuits with meter for short etc - l found I had left the Status Aerial amplifier switched on since having to use on last site in early March which had no EHU point.- this must have depleted battery and solar didn't keep up.
Also I found that my CD / Radio - even with the front panelvwas removed was still " powered" up to maintain memory function.
This compounded with my neglect over the aerial amplifier to cause battery to deplete.
Now I've found culprits - problem appears to ge resolved ( although we could do with a bit more sun for solar to do it' s job.)
Worth lookinl at .... perhaps
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You may find the new battery helps. I just changed my battery which was 7 years old. Worked great when each year I removed it and put in trickle charge if not using the van for more than two months. This last winter, I left in the van as it has solar panel and the cold killed it dead!
Somewhere I had read you should charge the battery if not used for more than a couple of months and if you don’t have solar this might have been the issue rather than a slow drain on it...but finding out can be a devil of a job!
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A five year old battery is probably getting to the end of its useful life anyway.
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Yes, the MX5 is the one to get.
To pick up on some other points:
Battery manufacturers recommend recharge once a month but you can leave it a bit longer.
A fully charged battery should be around 12.7 volts but it will be higher for a few hours immediately after a recharge. To recharge a discharged battery you need 14.4 volts for a sealed battery.
If your battery is discharged you cannot rely on a caravan charger to recharge unless it is an intelligent system like Sargent. A standard caravan charger gives around 13.7 volts which will maintain a charged battery but is not adequate for a full recharge.
Unfortunately, I f you are in storage and haven’t got a solar panel then your battery will experience a reduced life unless you can take it out regularly and recharge it.
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Thanks for that, I’ll get one ordered.
There is no solar panel, which would probably be a waste of time anyway as my storage is under cover. Since I need to be able to rely on the battery for the motor mover at least, I’m resigned to removing the battery after each break/holiday.
Thanks also to all contributors 👍
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