Battery drain in cold on site

Andyliina
Andyliina Forum Participant Posts: 1
edited October 2020 in Caravans #1

Hello everybody,

Firstly We are new to caravanning so this could we be something we are doing wrong,

We are currently onsite and seem to be suffering from battery drain through the night, we have had this problem on the last two sites (Fort William and now Aviemore) the temperature is dropping to around zero through the night, when wake up in the morning the battery meter is reading around 7.5, it does gradually make its way back up, but at one point I had to attach it back to the car electrics to get it back to above 11.

is there something we should be doing different in the cold weather? As we didn’t have this problem when the temp was higher.

thanks in advance

Andy

Comments

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #2

    Are you connected to EHU (240 volt bollard) ? If so has your charger been turned off? This should be running things like heating fans / pumps and also charging the battery. If not and you are relying on a solar panel for charging, these are not as efficient in the shortening dull days, with the sun not far above the horizon.

    In any event, even 11 volts is a totally discharged figure. Is it the van battery meter you are refering to? These are often unreliable, worth purchasing a multimeter and see what that shows.

    If indeed the battery is generally giving those readings, after over night use from a full charge. I fear it needs replacing.

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited October 2020 #3

    Batteries generally, like my wife, don't like the cold.

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
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    edited October 2020 #4

    Leave your charger on continually, why turn it off ?.

  • Amesford
    Amesford Club Member Posts: 685 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #5

    If you are are on a EHU check the charger is switched on and the battery meter voltage should rise, if your not on a EHU you certainly do have a problem 

  • LLM
    LLM Forum Participant Posts: 1,555 ✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #6

    If you are on a CAMC site ask the warden.  They are usually quite helpful. 

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
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    edited October 2020 #7

    Sorry, but more questions than answers! What caravan do you have and how old is it? What is your battery meter reading and range (it clearly isn’t volts). Are you hooked up to mains? Do you have anything switched on during the night e.g. heating fan? When you say you connect to the car electrics, do you mean that you run the engine for 20 minutes or so to charge the battery?

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #8

    Bump

    Perhaps Andyliina is having trouble finding  their post again. I notice it is their first venture into CT. Andy you really need to respond and give us a bit more info to get the best out of the forum.

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