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Battery issue Swift Celebration

T

TomS59

Heyup,
Newbie to the caravan life.
My battery was getting warm whilst i had EHU from the garage. (Been told the battery is relatively new, looks new, no damage or visual issues). So i removed the battery to the garage, its cooled and is showing 12.6v between terminals for the last few days.

I’ve just turned the EHU (without a battery in the van) and found that when i push the illuminated button for charger to ON at the db unit that i am able to get 12v supply for lights etc. However the battery leads in the battery compartment are live (reading 14.6v on fluke).
Is this ok?
Is it possible the battery is ok and there is a charging issue? I read it could be over charging?
 
Those voltages are pretty normal.
A fully charged battery should read about 12.6 volts and a battery charger should push out around 14.6 if its set up for a lead acid battery (the normal type usually fitted to caravans)
If you put a voltmeter across your car battery, shortly after starting the engine so the battery has discharged a bit, you should/will see 14.6 volts.
 
The readings look pretty typical for the system as described. Without the battery and having the PSU set to 12v isn’t normally used as an option. The battery acts as a “stabiliser” to the system.
 
A good battery under charge should not get overly warm, certainly not hot.

What is the voltage at the terminals when the battery is connected and being charged? Most modern caravan systems should not exceed 13.8V This voltage should be enough to keep th e battery well charged, but not over charged.

This is different to cars where the battery sees much greater discharge currents, and whilst driving the load on the battery is constantly changing, so the actual peak charging voltage os not sustained for long periods when there is no load on the battery.

Caravan batteries can have long periods with very little or zero load and if you were to have 14.5V long term it might eventually overcharge and damage the battery.
 
ProfJohnL said:
A good battery under charge should not get overly warm, certainly not hot.

What is the voltage at the terminals when the battery is connected and being charged? Most modern caravan systems should not exceed 13.8V This voltage should be enough to keep th e battery well charged, but not overcharged

Caravan batteries can have long periods with very little or zero load and if you were to have 14.5V long term it might eventually overcharge and damage the battery.
Click to expand...

The readings were taken without a battery being connected,soo maybe the charger thougt" it was being asked to charge a totally flat battery? If its reading 14.6v with a (charged) battery connected, then I would agree with you.
 
So my batterys been unhooked on the workbench for a week and the fluke now shows 10.5v between terminals.
Whats the verdict?
 
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