Battery not powering caravan

[ChrisJ1978]

Hi All. Please forgive my lack of technical terminology, i'm relatively new to caravanning and currently have a Bailey Unicorn Valencia (2017). We've had a variety of issues in the year that we have owned it and earlier this year had to have the PCB changed.

Our current issue is as follows:
When the caravan is not connected to electric, we dont have any power from the battery for things like lights, pumps, heating, fridge (I could use gas for the latter). When i went to the caravan last night the solar panel control box had a flashing light, however after connecting the caravan to my home electrics over night the flashing light is now solid. If i could find my multimeter i could at least test the battery!

I have checked the fuses.
I have made sure everything is turned off overnight etc (even removed the radio front panel).

Any advice or assistance from any experienced or technically minded caravanners would be massively appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Chris.

FIrst of all the most obvious flaw you have mentioned is trying to run your fridge from 12V. Sadly they are not designed to be cooled by using the caravans 12V battery. The fridge and indeed all the other heating appliances would flatten the battery within just a few hours. The fridge should work from the car when you are towing and the alternator is making power, but once the engine if off, 12V to the fridges 12V cooling circuit ceases.

You are expected to run the fridge, water space heater on either Gas or Mains power when on site.

As for the other items like lights and water pump, they should of course work from 12V. Clearly teh first thing to check is does the battery have any charge? Are all the control switched set correctly, Do you have a problem with teh solar charger controller.

Many caravans have an inline fuse in teh wire connected to the battery have you checked that?

 

[ChrisJ1978]

Hello Chris.

FIrst of all the most obvious flaw you have mentioned is trying to run your fridge from 12V. Sadly they are not designed to be cooled by using the caravans 12V battery. The fridge and indeed all the other heating appliances would flatten the battery within just a few hours. The fridge should work from the car when you are towing and the alternator is making power, but once the engine if off, 12V to the fridges 12V cooling circuit ceases.

You are expected to run the fridge, water space heater on either Gas or Mains power when on site.

As for the other items like lights and water pump, they should of course work from 12V. Clearly teh first thing to check is does the battery have any charge? Are all the control switched set correctly, Do you have a problem with teh solar charger controller.

Many caravans have an inline fuse in teh wire connected to the battery have you checked that?

Hello ProfJohnL, many thanks for your reply. I completely understand about the 12V and fridge not combining on site, we've never tried anything other mains power and have only used gas for cooking. Having just double checked the fridge works ok on gas, i think i've also uncovered that we are out of gas (schoolboy error i know as we've never got the second bottle filled).

I've heard of the inline fuse but never really sure exactly where it is to check it??

best wishes
Chris

 

[otherclive]

Follow the battery cable into the caravan.

Anither possible area to check is to ensure that your battery cables are tight within their respective terminal clamps.

 

[ChrisJ1978]

I have checked the battery cables and connections and no issue there.

I should note that the mover works absolutely fine, so the issue appears to be between the battery and the fuse box/power switch?

thanks
Chris

 

[Buckman]

Just a note and I think I am correct. The solar panel flashing light is misleading. When the solar panel is charging the light wil flash until the battery is fully charged. As you charged if fully over night it will stop flashing until the battery voltage drops down again. Ignore that flashing light as nothing to do with your problem.

 

[ChrisJ1978]

Cheers Buckman, I also worked that out, just excited when I woke up and something was different to the night before.

I have also checked the inline fuse which is fine so i'm a bit lost still, its going to need the professionals!

Thanks
Chris

 

[Buckman]

Find the black and red cables from the battery where they enter the caravan and check for the 12v. Follow the cables as far as possible and make sure you still have the 12v where they enter the unit.
We are assuming that the actual 12v switch has been switched on. In our caravan it is a separate switch by the door. I am not familiar with your caravan so only guessing.
If the motor mover has a fault it should not take down the entire 12v network.. It would drag down the voltage, but not remove it altogether. Either fuse, a break in the cabling or a loose connection would do that.

 

[ChrisJ1978]

The cables leave the battery compartment (3x red and 3x black) and disppear under the caravan. It is possible there is a loose connection somewhere but christ knows how an amateur is supposed to find it.

We have a master switch similar to the one attached, i do turn it on when i am testing the power (with or without mains).

The motor mover was only fitted a few weeks ago so shouldnt be the issue, but i suppose they could of disturbed some cabling.

 

[Buckman]

The cables leave the battery compartment (3x red and 3x black) and disppear under the caravan. It is possible there is a loose connection somewhere but christ knows how an amateur is supposed to find it.

We have a master switch similar to the one attached, i do turn it on when i am testing the power (with or without mains).

The motor mover was only fitted a few weeks ago so shouldnt be the issue, but i suppose they could of disturbed some cabling.

They will enter the caravan somewhere. One pair will be for th motor mover, another pair for the 12v and the third for the solar panel. As the light has stopped flashing for the solar panel it shows that that pair are okay.
Where the black and red cables enter the motor mover control box, measure across the two terminals for 12v. Can we assume that the control box is on the same side as the battery box? If so, remove all the pairs of cable so that ther is nothing connected to the battery. Try and find which pair connect to the mover and connect only those two cables to the battery by whatever means. A crocodile clip will suffice. Check that you have 12v to the mover and if so test the mover.
Next would be to test the other pair that supplies 12v to the system, but just to do one thing at a time as a process of elimination.

 

[Woodentop]

On a Bailey - almost any model - the battery in-line fuse will be buried in a bundle of cables just about where they enter the power box. [The mover is connected directly to the battery hence why it works.]
The simple test process is to apply mains to the caravan. If the power supply (supply, not a formal battery charger) is working the 12V bits such as interior lighting will work. If they go off when you remove the mains either the in-line fuse (as above) is blown or your battery is stuffed. If you have a voltmeter you should expect the battery alone to read somewhere between 12V and 12.6V. Turn the mains on and it should go up to about 13.6V if the in-line fuse is good.
On the other hand if interior lights do not work when you turn mains on and everything else is good it means either the kettle-plug has fallen out of the side of the power supply, or the power supply has failed. What follows next is only relevant if you are competent and confident with mains: if you are not then get an electrician to come and have a look at it.

First you will need to get into the power box. REMOVE MAINS and disconnect the battery negative (black) cable. The power box front comes off if you remove the four screws in the corners of the front panel recess. However you may find there is insufficient room to extract it, in which case you will need to remove the (usually) three screws that hold the back panel on which the power box is mounted: there is usually two small brass screws holding one end of the board into the bed box side panel (assuming that is where it is fitted) and one more substantial screw that holds a bracket on the back of the board into the floor. The back panel can then be leaned back and the front removed.

The power supply is in the top. The kettle plug is obvious, as is the outlet plug which is white and has two cables in it. The in-line fuse will be found in the cluster of cables at the bottom of the box.

When you have checked everything and got it all going put the power box back together very specifically making sure that the kettle plug is firmly in place.

Finally, if you haven't got one get item 95426 from Screwfix. You get a non-contact mains tester, a mains polarity testing plug for the 'van, and a small digital voltmeter. IMO every caravan owner should have one.

 

[Buckman]

Woodentop good advice. I think the 12v supply, the solar panel connection and also the connection to the motor mover all have their own "inline" fuses so three inline fuses in total.
I had an issue recently with no 12v after the fitment of the satellite dish. After checking luckily it was just a loose push connection.

 

[ChrisJ1978]

On a Bailey - almost any model - the battery in-line fuse will be buried in a bundle of cables just about where they enter the power box. [The mover is connected directly to the battery hence why it works.]
The simple test process is to apply mains to the caravan. If the power supply (supply, not a formal battery charger) is working the 12V bits such as interior lighting will work. If they go off when you remove the mains either the in-line fuse (as above) is blown or your battery is stuffed. If you have a voltmeter you should expect the battery alone to read somewhere between 12V and 12.6V. Turn the mains on and it should go up to about 13.6V if the in-line fuse is good.
On the other hand if interior lights do not work when you turn mains on and everything else is good it means either the kettle-plug has fallen out of the side of the power supply, or the power supply has failed. What follows next is only relevant if you are competent and confident with mains: if you are not then get an electrician to come and have a look at it.

First you will need to get into the power box. REMOVE MAINS and disconnect the battery negative (black) cable. The power box front comes off if you remove the four screws in the corners of the front panel recess. However you may find there is insufficient room to extract it, in which case you will need to remove the (usually) three screws that hold the back panel on which the power box is mounted: there is usually two small brass screws holding one end of the board into the bed box side panel (assuming that is where it is fitted) and one more substantial screw that holds a bracket on the back of the board into the floor. The back panel can then be leaned back and the front removed.

The power supply is in the top. The kettle plug is obvious, as is the outlet plug which is white and has two cables in it. The in-line fuse will be found in the cluster of cables at the bottom of the box.

When you have checked everything and got it all going put the power box back together very specifically making sure that the kettle plug is firmly in place.

Finally, if you haven't got one get item 95426 from Screwfix. You get a non-contact mains tester, a mains polarity testing plug for the 'van, and a small digital voltmeter. IMO every caravan owner should have one.

Cheers Woodentop, all good advice. Everything works when we turn the mains on, including the interior lights. We have found that one of the black cables (not the one for the mover or solar) has at some point had a bodge cut and repair so we're going to fix that anyway but it feels like it might not solve the issue. The fault definitely appears to lie between the battery and the power box and i had hoped it was a simple break in the cable.....

The battery itself gives a strong reading when connected to mains and when disconnected.

Thanks
Chris

 

[ProfJohnL]

...

The battery itself gives a strong reading when connected to mains and when disconnected.

Thanks
Chris

The important point is if the voltage on the battery terminals rises when the charger is turned on. If it doesn't then it very strongly points to a blown fuse in the wire between the battery and teh charger.

It's surprisingly common to find this fuse damaged, and it's very easy , if the battery has been even momentarily connected the wrong way round the fuse will blow instantly - basically it's doing its job and protecting te caravans wiring from wrong polarity.

 

[audiorob]

Also note that the Screwfix item mentioned is currently 14.99 reduced by 5.00! So additional thanks to Woodentop for the info!