electric hook up /battery problems

[angela_374454945]

I am a novice caravan owner, after a few outings I have run the leisure battery flat and am trying to charge it by conecting the caravan to electric hook up from the house. This is not charging the battery and on further investigation the charger in the caravan (in wardrobe) is working (red light is on) and the sockets but not the lights and the water pump when connected to the hook up. We have pulled all the fuses out and for some reason the sockets did not stop working bit puzzled as to where the problem is or if I am doing something wrong, and if the problem is the battery or electric.

thanks

Ange

 

[Rick1]

what make of van do you have? the red light in the wardrobe is it on a black box? the lights and pump are on the 12 volt system the sockets are on mains, first you need to establish if what you are looking at in the wardrobe is the charger, secondly is it putting out a charge for this you will need a voltage meter and then only if someone is com pent to test the charge It might be easier if you get an electrician or motor electrician in

 

[LadyC]

Hi Angela! Look at the rocker switches near to where your fuses are.When you have the van on mains HU,the switch marked car/van should be in the "van position" with the battery charger switch on(red light to indicate it is working).This will then charge battery and all electrics in van will work even the 230v.

Hope this helps

chris

 

[angela_374454945]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I have a 1994 craftsman mircle 132. I have put the switch in the van position and it is the charger in the wardrobe, I have switched this on and a red light comes on. I thought that if I then connected to mains it would charge the leisure battery and the sockets, lights and pump would work. Only the sockets are working and the battery meter is still on the red. It has been connected to mains for over 24 hours so I thought the battery would have been charged a bit by now.

Ange

 

[Damian]

As you have a problem which you have absolutely no knowledge about, you would be well advised to get a qualified technician to look at it for you.

You seem to fail to appreciate that the 12v and 230v systems are basically stand alone systems, and that as soon as you connect mains to the van you WILL have mains sockets working.

The pump and most lights are 12v, and whilst the light may be liyt on the charger, that does not mean that it is actually working, just that power is available to it.

 

[angela_374454945]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I have a 1994 craftsman mircle 132. I have put the switch in the van position and it is the charger in the wardrobe, I have switched this on and a red light comes on. I thought that if I then connected to mains it would charge the leisure battery and the sockets, lights and pump would work. Only the sockets are working and the battery meter is still on the red. It has been connected to mains for over 24 hours so I thought the battery would have been charged a bit by now.

Ange

The needle on the charger is going to green but as soon as a switch a light on it goes straight back to red.

Ange

 

[angela_374454945]

Hi

I am aware as a novice caravan owner that I have limited knowledge, I do realise that there are two seperate electrical systems. Before I get a professional in I was wondering if it was simply anything I was missing.

 

[TD42]

Angela,as a possibility it may be that your battery is so discharged that the van charger cannot recharge it if this is the case the battery needs to be charged with a multi stage "intelligent" charger

However if you are saying that you have no 12v even with the mains connected then there is something else wrong as you should have 12v even without the battery as the "charger "is also a power supply,(although I stand to be corrected on a 94 van)

If you can use an electrical test meter connect it across the negative & positive terminals battery with the battery disconnected you should get 12.7 volts DC indicating that the battery is fully charged less than 12v then it is discharged.

1 other point to check is the inline fuse which is usually somewhere around the battery box or the charger but seperate from you main fuse board

I hope this is of some help

 

[angela_374454945]

thanks Tony, we did wonder if it could be the inline fuse so the next step will be to try this, and charge the battery off the caravan.

Angela