Battery?

[Parksy]

Help, hi guys, got my 1st ever caravan on tuesday, its a swift sterlin cullen 4berth 2001, not been away in it yet but i have a small problem, on the ecm gauge theres a switch car/van i have the van pluged into mains at moment and the charger built into the van on, I have the ecm switched to van, am i right in saying my battery should be getting charged? it was in the green when the van was dropped of to me but now its half way in the yellow and has been for 48hours with switched to van and charger on, why is it not in the green? i looked at the battery and its a 50ah, going by a little research online it looks like i should have 60ah-90ah. any advice would be fantastic

 

[Parksy]

Hi DJ, Congratulations on buying your first caravan and welcome to the Practical Caravan forum.
Your caravan is in fact a Sterling Crauch Cuillin, a Swift dealer special model origially sold by Duncans in Wishaw, Lanark.
Dealer specials are models which had a few 'extra's' added by the manufacturer to encourage sales for high volume dealers.

There are a few possibilities that need to be considered before you go splashing out on a new battery.
First off, did you buy the caravan privately or from a dealer or trader? Consumer protection legislation applies differently in each case.
The caravan may have been standing without the battery being charged for some time, this may have damaged the battery.

With the switch to van on ehu (electric hook up) make sure that there is not a separate switch for the battery charger which needs to be switched on.
To find out whether your battery is faulty or if there is a problem with the on board charger first of all switch off all 12v appliances and the charger, disconnect the +tive and put a multimeter between the terminal post and the + cable. There should be a reading of about between 13.5 volts -14.5 volts when the charger is switched on.
The Leisure battery voltage should be a minimum of 12.5 volts when disconnected, if it is showing below this try charging the battery with a car battery charger and use the multimeter to find out if the battery is charged.
Let us know how you get on.

 

[djduracell]

Hi Thanks for the responce, Got the van from a trader (small trader) he did check everything before i got it, but did mention battery is a 50ah and might nead upgraded, went into van tonite and the gauge is in the lower end of yellow, all thats been on is the charger, havent had time to check with muli meter, i've just removed the battery just now as i'am going to take it to work tomorow to charge it, the battery code is an 065 its a very common car battery, dont know if this could be the problem or maby the charger isnt working, the charger switch is switched to on all the time with mains hook up in place. regards Jim.

 

[Parksy]

The amp hour figure for a leisure battery is the charge amps that are theoretically available over a one hour period on a good fully charged battery in perfect conditions.
If you intend to use the caravan exclusively on sites with ehu available the amp hour figure wouldn't be particularly relevant because the battery would be on charge whenever the caravan is in use. If you intend to use your caravan off ehu, for rallying where no 240v is available then you would need to consider an upgrade, always choose the largest battery that will physically fit inside the battery compartment, usually a 80a/h or a 110 a/h.
My guess is that the caravan may have been standing for some time off ehu with no battery charger on which means that the battery could be sulphated, possibly to the point where it is scrap.
Click Here to read a topic about a battery becoming discharged until only 1.9volts were indicated.
If you replace the battery and you haven't got a motor mover fitted to your caravan choose a leisure battery which is more tolerant of constant deep cycle charging and more suitable for caravan use than an automotive battery.

 

[djduracell]

Duplicate Post

 

[djduracell]

Duplicate Post

 

[djduracell]

Hi, I will always have the van in site with hook up, the thing I did notice was there wasnt a battery in the van when I viewed the van, going to give it a 24 hour charge today and do a drop test tomorow, I will let you know how i get on. thanks again for your help. regards Jim

 

[Surfer]

A new leisure battery should cure the problem. Car batteries although they work, discharge very quickly.

 

[Parksy]

Hi, I will always have the van in site with hook up, the thing I did notice was there wasnt a battery in the van when I viewed the van, going to give it a 24 hour charge today and do a drop test tomorow, I will let you know how i get on. thanks again for your help. regards Jim

You're welcome Jim

My guess is that the vendor just stuck an old car battery on the caravan

 

[djduracell]

Ok i charged the battery up was sitting roughly about 13volts done a heavy duty drop test battery was fine, put it in van today with charger of then on and still said roughly 13v, checked it tonite and its still in the green, iam confused, 50ah battery will loose charge quicker than 110ah so maby the charger cant get it back up to full power quick enough due to it being a 50ah??? perhaps I should get a bigger batter everywhere seems to say between 60ah and 110ah for a caravan, i could also keep the battery and buy a decent charger to boost it when on hook up, think i may be best to get battery saves charging it all the time and checking to see how low/full it is. Jim

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Ok i charged the battery up was sitting roughly about 13volts done a heavy duty drop test battery was fine, put it in van today with charger of then on and still said roughly 13v, checked it tonite and its still in the green, iam confused, 50ah battery will loose charge quicker than 110ah so maby the charger cant get it back up to full power quick enough due to it being a 50ah??? perhaps I should get a bigger batter everywhere seems to say between 60ah and 110ah for a caravan, i could also keep the battery and buy a decent charger to boost it when on hook up, think i may be best to get battery saves charging it all the time and checking to see how low/full it is. Jim

hi Jim,
if it,s showing roughly 13v it will be fine given the circumstances you have decribed, the van charger gives about 13.4 volts when on charge so a drop of 0.4 ov a volt is neither here nor there,
if you follow the threads on the forum you will have seen that in fact I have just changed batteries on my van, the battery I have put on is a 065 car battery and I have a mover as the previous one was a 110amp lesiure battery that died after 3 years,
mainly due to being on constant charge either through the EHU or the car while towing,
parksy has touched on this earlier lesiure batteries really dont like a constant charge and are best suited to being slow discharged and then trickle recharged again, like with a solar panel, or discharged fully then recharged.
were as car batteries are best kept full charged yes they will discharge quicker than a 110amp but if you only use EHU does it matter mine it is nearer 55 amp by the way still has 180amp cold crank amps and will run the mover for over 20mins before it drops down to the amber segment " about 11.5 volts" a hour on EHU and it's back to full power. well as full as the van charger will get it "about 85% of it's maximum but then when on EHU the ZIG unit will give full power to the 12v system while it charges the battery. so it does not matter, does it!! there really is no need to have 100% in the battery if you only use EHU
A tip I would give you is to check the water level once a month and top it up if it is that type that you can (mine is I won't make that mistake again) and disconnect it when not in use unless you have a EHU at home to keep it fully charged.
theres a old saying if it aint broke dont fix it if the battery you have does the job leave it untill you have to change it lesiure batteries arn't cheap and if you dont treat them right they are easily killed off,
colin

 

[djduracell]

Hi again! been keeping an eye on battery since fully charging it, not really used anything on battery circuit due to hook up and the battery has stayed in the green (hasnt moved) was worried incase battery was loosing charge over time but this seems ok, I think as long I watch what iam doing (not using blow heater lots) then all should be well, bought a blow heater today to compensate for not using van heating, planning to go away for our very 1st time in a tourer on saterday 14th july for 1 night about an hour away from our home, cant wait. thanks for all advice guys. regards Jim

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Hi again! been keeping an eye on battery since fully charging it, not really used anything on battery circuit due to hook up and the battery has stayed in the green (hasnt moved) was worried incase battery was loosing charge over time but this seems ok,

hi Jim, I think you have missunderstood my answer, while the van is on EHU it will not take any charge out of the battery no matter what the drain is on the 12v system as the charger keeps it topped up and actually powers the 12v system direct from the EHU.

 

[djduracell]

Had battery in van for a few days now, battery still in green been carefull to what i have been using in van and all seems to be ok.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Had battery in van for a few days now, battery still in green been carefull to what i have been using in van and all seems to be ok.

is the EHU connected

 

[djduracell]

Duplicate post again.

 

[djduracell]

Hi yeh your right in what you are saying but my problem was I uesd lights and blow heater while on EHU which would then let the battery charge back up but it didnt it stayed in yellow and didnt go back up, I started to think the battery was nackerd and maby loosing charge, I have had some of the lights on and it seems to be staying in the green, still dont really know why it wouldnt charge back up though. regards Jim

 

[Sproket]

From what you have just said I would tend to think that the charger / psu is not working properly & it is draining the battery rather than charging it & running your 12v system

 

[djduracell]

Is there any way of checking this on its owm without the battery in the loop? battery is only a 55amp but once it went into yellow i had everything of apart from charger for 2 days and it never brought it back up one bit, had to remove battery then charge it.

 

[Damian]

With a multimeter set to 20v DC and no power connected to the van, check the voltage at the battery terminals, if fully charged it should read around 12.8v.
Now put power to the van, ensure the charger is switched on,then check the voltage at the battery terminals again, this time it should read around 13.8v if the charger is working.
Do NOT rely on the built in voltage meters, they are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[Guest]

A very quick and easy way to check the charger is working is this;
1) switch the charger off,
2) now turn a few lights on,
3) switch the charger back on,
You should see an instant and totally obvious increase in brightness of the lights after switching the charger back on, this proves the charger is working.
If no change, then the charger is not working.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

From what you have just said I would tend to think that the charger / psu is not working properly & it is draining the battery rather than charging it & running your 12v system

hi all, I think you are right Sproket, this is the crux of what I have been trying to establish from the first post,
battery size is errelevent once the EHU is connected as the zig unit runs the the 12v system plus charges the battery " not either or "
Damian is of course right that the internal gauges are unreliable as far as the acctual charge left in the battery BUT once the EHU is connected it should slam over to max green as the system is now powered by the zig unit and not the battery, it should stay that way for as long as the EHU is connected, only when the EHU is disconnected will the gauge "althought not accurate" show the battery power, even then a good battery fully charged should be somewhere in the green sector.

 

[djduracell]

I had EHU connected at the start and used the blow heater it went into yellow after about 2 hours usage, it never went back into the green untill i removed battery and recharged it, battery has been drop tested and was ok, nead to get a meter from work tomorow to check charge rate, i did put 4 lights on inside with charger off while pluged into EHU gauge droped to bottom of green, switched charger on lights didnt go any brighter and gauge stayed in the same place (bottom of green), put light off and went back to mid green, perhaps it is the charger at fault, do you just buy any trickle charger? do they cut of once battery full?

 

[Damian]

It is impossible to be able to fully diagnose your problem via a forum, and without actually seeing the installation.
You are best advised to get an engineer to come and have a look and find out what is happening.
It will save you a lot of misinformation and may well prove economically a better idea as you dont want to go spending out on things which will not work.

 

[Guest]

From your results with the lights test, it would point strongly to a duff charger, however your test with a meter tomorrow should confirm it.
Before jumping in to buy a new one, I'd suggest you follow Damains advice as it may simply be a wiring fault or even just a fuse! and not the charger itself?

As a tip, While you have the meter, read off the voltage and make a mental note of where the caravans gauge is, this way you will know more accurately what actual voltage the gauge is reading, you may then find this useful in the future.
In general the green section should be 12v to 15v but could be some way out.