Bailey senator vermount Battery

Nov 14, 2021
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Hi all

We are new to caravaning so bought a older model 2006 to see if we liked it, got it all sorted everything worked great, last weekend went to get things ready for a little trip out and all electric dont work, the only thing that worked were 2 lights, my husband checked the battery and it was DEAD even with the mains cable in nothing will work, the previous week I plugged the mains in and put the fridge on, unsure if I put the 12v or 240v on the fridge, we checked all fuses and trip all fine,. So this week we bought a fancy charger thing and have taken the battery off and have put this repair charger thing on, its been on now for 24hrs and still saying repairing, even if things worked before is the battery naffed or is someting else wrong, can anyone out there help us please.
 
Jun 16, 2020
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

First you need to check, (or have checked professionally), the charging system in the van. You may also find there is a constant drain which flattened the battery. Was something left on, was the isolation switch turned off when leaving the van?

Next. Batteries do not like being emptied, and can be damaged. I had the same problem I discovered it just last week. Seems my isolation switch failed and did not turn off. As a result, after 5 weeks of standing my brand new battery was down to 2.5 volts. My smart charger would not recognise it. So I put a good battery in parallel to it and stared the charger, then disconnected the good battery and the charger kept going. My battery is now up and running, but I fear I have lost some capacity.

John
 
Nov 14, 2021
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John thanks for the prompt reply, my husband thinks its cause I put the fridge on the wrong setting and it eventually drained the battery, we have checked all fuses and they are all fine, it worked when we first had it, we are hoping using this
HAUSPROFI Car Battery Charger, 12V/24V 8Amp Automatic Battery Charger with 3-Stage Charging, 6 Charging Mode and LCD Screen, Intelligent Charges, Repairs, Maintains Car Motorcycle Boat Mower Battery

will sort things out, bu even if the battery is dead and the mains are connected nothing will work as we are novices.
 
Jun 16, 2020
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John thanks for the prompt reply, my husband thinks its cause I put the fridge on the wrong setting and it eventually drained the battery, we have checked all fuses and they are all fine, it worked when we first had it, we are hoping using this
HAUSPROFI Car Battery Charger, 12V/24V 8Amp Automatic Battery Charger with 3-Stage Charging, 6 Charging Mode and LCD Screen, Intelligent Charges, Repairs, Maintains Car Motorcycle Boat Mower Battery

will sort things out, bu even if the battery is dead and the mains are connected nothing will work as we are novices.

The fridge will not drain the van battery. It only works off the car battery when connected to the car and the car is running, so that can be ruled out. The drain has to be something other than that.

If your charger is going to work, you will need to fool it into thinking a battery is connected, therefore, not a very flat battery. Try the trick I mentioned in me previous post.

John
 
Nov 14, 2021
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Oh so it weren't that then, isolation switch !! dunno if it was turned off, where would it be on a old Bailey vermont 2006, every worked great when we first had her and then left it untill last week and bang battery dead, not sure if my husband knows about the isolation switch, any ideas what and where it would be.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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If the battery gets drained with the mains lead connected, there's a fault somewhere - perhaps in the charger so not being fully charged or elsewhere so draining all the charge out.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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On my last van if mains isolating switch was on and connected to EHU you still had to press another switch for battery charging. Does yours require that.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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If the fridge drains the battery, the wiring is wrong as that should not be possible even if the isolator is left on.

Our 2011 Lunar and the two Cruisers, one 2016 and the other 2018 if you left the 12v on it will drain the battery even if you have a solar panel. In all three cases this was confirmed by dealer.
 
May 2, 2020
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Hi welcome to the forum
I am presuming your control panel is the same or similar to this, when on ehu the 12v master should be in the on position to both charge battery and use 12v systems also the 12v internal lights switch has to be in the on position to use 12v lighting.

Gra IMG_20211114_142745_resized_20211114_022903485.jpg
 
Jun 16, 2020
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John just asked my husband and he said yes to the isolation switch being on, if it was left on would it drain the battery !!

Not necessarily but possible. I used to have a Senator but I can’t remember what the control panel looked like but Gralay has shown a good example above. If the 12 volt is not fully isolated then there may be a small drain, but that’s enough over time. On some vans the alarm is a constant drain even with the isolator turned off.

Do you have the van at home or nearby? Once your battery is charged you could try again but monitor daily. If your van has a voltmeter it would give an indication, but a multimeter would be better. Also, with a multimeter with an amp scale, you could test for any drain.

If there is no drain. A good battery should last a couple of months without significant natural drain.

John
 
Oct 8, 2006
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Bailey's don't use a battery charger as such, it is a constant voltage from device known as a Switched Mode Power Supply or SMPS. The SMPS is a constant 13.6V or thereabouts and charges the battery in what is known as 'float' mode. Being 13.6V max it does mean that the battery only reaches about 90% full charge, but unless you are going off grid that is of little consequence.

Here's a tip for many readers if you have access to a 12V power supply. If the battery is very low connect the power supply to the battery but through a flasher bulb or an old headlamp bulb. The bulb will light up very brightly at first but as the battery voltage comes up the bulb will get dimmer and dimmer until it looks to be extinguished. At that point a charger will recognise the battery and go through its charging sequence.

If the SMPS in the caravan is working then the battery can be left in situ and a bulb connected between the red cable and the +ve battery terminal. The same sequence will occur. When the bulb has gone out just switch off the mains, reconnect the cable to the battery and turn the mains on again to allow battery charging to complete. If you have a voltmeter the point where the bulb is extinguished will be around 11.0-11.5V.

Sometimes the old fashioned ways of doing things do have their advantages!

By the way, its a Vermont - there's no U in it.
 
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Bailey's don't use a battery charger as such, it is a constant voltage from device known as a Switched Mode Power Supply or SMPS. The SMPS is a constant 13.6V or thereabouts and charges the battery in what is known as 'float' mode. Being 13.6V max it does mean that the battery only reaches about 90% full charge, but unless you are going off grid that is of little consequence.

Here's a tip for many readers if you have access to a 12V power supply. If the battery is very low connect the power supply to the battery but through a flasher bulb or an old headlamp bulb. The bulb will light up very brightly at first but as the battery voltage comes up the bulb will get dimmer and dimmer until it looks to be extinguished. At that point a charger will recognise the battery and go through its charging sequence.

If the SMPS in the caravan is working then the battery can be left in situ and a bulb connected between the red cable and the +ve battery terminal. The same sequence will occur. When the bulb has gone out just switch off the mains, reconnect the cable to the battery and turn the mains on again to allow battery charging to complete. If you have a voltmeter the point where the bulb is extinguished will be around 11.0-11.5V.

Sometimes the old fashioned ways of doing things do have their advantages!

By the way, its a Vermont - there's no U in it.

I did have a Senator and can’t remember what the van charger was. But when I had a Unicorn the charger failed, I changed it for a like for like but of a better make. (So I was assured). That was a 3 stage charger.

I may well be misinformed on that. But, as I understand it, the OP has the battery on a “repair charger“ off the van. See post #3.


John

PS

After further investigation I think I was misinformed at the time and was sold an upgrade, not like for like. Something like this.

 
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Oct 3, 2013
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The fridge will not drain the van battery. It only works off the car battery when connected to the car and the car is running, so that can be ruled out. The drain has to be something other than that.

If your charger is going to work, you will need to fool it into thinking a battery is connected, therefore, not a very flat battery. Try the trick I mentioned in me previous post.

John
Nobody said the van was connected to the car and the car engine was running.
The fridge on 12 volts will flatten the battery if :-
1.The battery charger is not working
2. The van is not connected to the car
Things to check -
1.If you can ,stick a voltmeter across the battery and switch o charger when van connected the mains.
The voltage should rise,if it doesn't then charger output is zero and faulty.
2.Check the battery fuse is intact (in line fuse usually in the red wire near the battery.
 
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Jun 16, 2020
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Sorry, I can’t quote your post Bertieboy1 as you made your comment within the comment you were quoting.

But:

I think you need to re-read my post. I never suggested that any one said the van was connected to the car.

Other than that you are incorrect. You understanding of how the fridge 12 volt operation works (if wired correctly) is suspect.

Fridge 12 volt operation ONLY operates from the car battery and only if the car is running. Which is what I said.

John
 
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Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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Nobody said the van was connected to the car and the car engine was running.
The fridge on 12 volts will flatten the battery if :-
1.The battery charger is not working
2. The van is not connected to the car
Things to check -
1.If you can ,stick a voltmeter across the battery and switch o charger when van connected the mains.
The voltage should rise,if it doesn't then charger output is zero and faulty.
2.Check the battery fuse is intact (in line fuse usually in the red wire near the battery.

I think some clarification is required here.
The cooling side of caravan fridges , if wired correctly, will not operate unless the car is connected to the van and the car engine is running at at least a fast tickover.

However, if the fridge has electronic controls, they are powered from the van leisure battery and unless the fridge is turned off it will drain the caravan battery.
 
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as mentioned most chargers will not charge a completely flat battery, if yours is completely flat another way that worked for me was to connect charger and it will cut out after a short time because of it being so flat, you then unplug the charger and plug it back in again, you keep switching the charger off then back on and after a few times of doing this it will continue to fully charging the battery, it works because each time you switch it on a small charge will be put into the battery, after several times of doing this enough will have been put in the battery so that the charger will continue charging to full cycle.

BP
 
Jul 18, 2017
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The other thing with Bailey caravans is that it requires a battery in circuit to complete the circuit and even when connected to EHU the 12v will not work properly and lights will be dimmed.
 
Jul 19, 2021
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We had a Bailey Pagent S6 which had the same charger as the Senator.
After an 8 hour drive down to Devon we arrived on site, legs down, plugged the mains in and took out the electrics to half of the site.
Turned out that the charger had failed in a big way. £130 for a replacement from a local caravan spares place. A common fault apparently. An expensive start to the holiday
I think you need to go back to basics and check voltages with a multimeter (cheap from Amazon and the like if you don't have one, and essential part of the caravanners tool kit!)
Check voltage at the battery terminals with the caravan hooked up to 240V, should be about 13.6v iirc.
Check the 240V power lead that goes in to the charger, it's like the lead that old kettles and PC's used. Check it's not worked loose and that the fuse has not blown. If still not getting 13.6v at the battery then it looks like the charger is dead and will need repairing or replacing

A couple of useful links

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_SY8zUpqiw&t=8s&ab_channel=ApuljackEngineering


This company make upgraded units to replace the faulty one, a bit more expensive than the like for like but I would have bought one if there was time and I knew about them

 
Oct 8, 2006
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I thought it was in plain English as the battery completes the circuit in an older Bailey. No battery, no 12v even when connected to EHU.

What do you mean by 'completes the circuit?' Are you saying that it needs the battery present so that the mains unit will power up? So what do you do if your battery is flat? It could be that if it was a simple low current charger like the
We had a Pajeant Majestic S5 2003 model and that uses exactly the same switched mode power supply that our subsequent Pegasus 462 and our present Unicorn Seville S4. A SMPS will provide current out whether a battery is connected or not, but the older types - and I'm going back 30+ years - used a Selenium rectifier and could only supply a few amps so needed the battery to be present to handle the current.

Having re-read the original post I would suggest that either the kettle plug has fallen out of the SMPS connector (surprisingly common) or the SMPS has failed. The battery could be flat or the in-line fuse blown.
 
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What do you mean by 'completes the circuit?' Are you saying that it needs the battery present so that the mains unit will power up? So what do you do if your battery is flat? It could be that if it was a simple low current charger like the
We had a Pajeant Majestic S5 2003 model and that uses exactly the same switched mode power supply that our subsequent Pegasus 462 and our present Unicorn Seville S4. A SMPS will provide current out whether a battery is connected or not, but the older types - and I'm going back 30+ years - used a Selenium rectifier and could only supply a few amps so needed the battery to be present to handle the current.

Having re-read the original post I would suggest that either the kettle plug has fallen out of the SMPS connector (surprisingly common) or the SMPS has failed. The battery could be flat or the in-line fuse blown.
In plain English and my English is poor you need the battery to complete the circuit so that you can have 12v. Even though you are connected to 240v a flat battery will make it appear as if the lights are very dim. remove the battery and the 12v will shut down. That is my personal experience on a Bailey Pageant circa about 2006/7.
 

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