brand new Battery Discharging

[bigronantitank]

Hi All

I bought a brand-new 12V 105AH Autolite Battery last Month, I fully charged it, connected it to the van then took the van to my local dealer to have a few jobs done on it, because the dealer was busy and unable to start work straight away, and I wasn't going to use it for a few weeks, we agreed to keep it on his premises until he could start work, two weeks later the dealer said the van was ready, and when i was about to hook it up i realised the battery was completely flat, the dealer said he hadn't really used any power and I'm now wondering if the battery is faulty.

I've now put the battery on charge and hopefully, the charger will do its job, has anyone else had this problem?

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[ProfJohnL]

Hello bigronantitank

Sorry to read of the battery problem.

In most modern caravans, even when the 12V system is switched of on the main control panel, there are also a number of pieces of equipment that may continue to draw some current. The obvious one is the Alarm systems which need continuous power, but depending on how the items have been wired into the caravan, other items such as the aerial amplifier might also continue.

Could it be possible that light was left switched on, over a period of few weeks that could discharge a battery.

Before blaming the battery, I suggest you recharge the battery, then turn the caravan off, and check with a ammeter to see how much if any current continues to be used. If there is a noticable draw, then you need to seek out whats causing it and sort that out.

Otherwise leave the battery and continue to use the caravan and see how it goes. Only if it doesn't perform like your previous one, then contact your battery supplier for warranty.

 

[bigronantitank]

Hello bigronantitank

Sorry to read of the battery problem.

In most modern caravans, even when the 12V system is switched of on the main control panel, there are also a number of pieces of equipment that may continue to draw some current. The obvious one is the Alarm systems which need continuous power, but depending on how the items have been wired into the caravan, other items such as the aerial amplifier might also continue.

Could it be possible that light was left switched on, over a period of few weeks that could discharge a battery.

Before blaming the battery, I suggest you recharge the battery, then turn the caravan off, and check with a ammeter to see how much if any current continues to be used. If there is a noticable draw, then you need to seek out whats causing it and sort that out.

Otherwise leave the battery and continue to use the caravan and see how it goes. Only if it doesn't perform like your previous one, then contact your battery supplier for warranty.

Thanks for the info

 

[Hutch]

On my caravan, with everything switched off, and the Master switch off. The things that drain my battery are, the radio, even with the facia removed, the alarm, the fridge, the aerial amplifier, and lastly the master control panel,
Recharge the battery and check how it goes.
Good luck.

 

[bigronantitank]

On my caravan, with everything switched off, and the Master switch off. The things that drain my battery are, the radio, even with the facia removed, the alarm, the fridge, the aerial amplifier, and lastly the master control panel,
Recharge the battery and check how it goes.
Good luck.

Thank you

 

[bigronantitank]

On my caravan, with everything switched off, and the Master switch off. The things that drain my battery are, the radio, even with the facia removed, the alarm, the fridge, the aerial amplifier, and lastly the master control panel,
Recharge the battery and check how it goes.
Good luck.

Thank you

 

[Ukdave2002]

Have a look at this thread: Click HERE
I thought I had a parasitic draw, but concluded that with all the stuff that sits on standby could flatten a perfect battery in quite a short time.

 

[Sam Vimes]

This may well be nothing like your problem but it caused a big problem for me.

Modern cars with Smart Altenators are not always aware that they are being used with a Caravan in tow which has its own battery. As a result the Caravan Battery can be fed back into the car system resulting in a discharge and is not recharged by the car altenator.

This happens on my Qashqai and killed my battery completely after a towing for a few hours then trying to use the motor mover.

 

[bigronantitank]

Sorry for the late reply, I've only just seen it, I've successfully charged the battery up and it seems to be holding its charge so fingers crossed

 

[Notmyvan]

After having boats for 40 years I decided to buy a caravan. With boats you have a 12v isolator switch which when you turn it off, everything is off.
No so apparently with caravans. Even though on the control panel I had everything "off" when I came to the caravan in March this year the battery was completely flat. (I had a garage for 25 years and sold batteries etc)

Although I have now bought a battery charger I took the battery to a garage and they trickle charged it over a couple of days and it went up to what it should be.

After refitting the battery and with the control panel still switched off I started pulling fuses and with one fuse there was a "flash" to show that a current was still passing through (I think it was the fridge fuse)
The caravan service people said that the radio would also be taking current.

You need to keep testing it.