First time collecting caravan from storage – will my leisure battery be dead?

[The roaming room]

This is the first year I’ve owned a caravan, so I’ve never collected one from storage before. We’re picking it up on Monday after leaving it in storage at the end of August. It’s been kept inside a barn in France.

We bought a leisure battery for around £100 (I think it may be AGM), and I’m wondering how likely it is to be flat or dead when we arrive.

Should I buy a replacement and take it with me just in case? If so, is this something I’ll need to do every time I take it out of storage? Or would it be better to remove the battery over winter and recharge it at home in future?

I’m a bit concerned about battery issues affecting the start of our holiday, especially as I’ll likely need to use the motor mover—the pitch we’re heading to is quite tight, and the caravan is stored about a two-hour drive away.

At the same time, I don’t want to spend money on a new battery unnecessarily.

Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated!

 

[Mel]

What van do you have?

If a Swift, did you isolate the 12 volt by turning the black button on the Sargent unit to off?
If it was a good battery and everything was turned off and isolated there is a reasonable chance that it is OK, but wouldn’t like to promise.
Next time take it home and put it on a smart charger while you are away from your van.
If worst case scenario, it is dead, then is there an opportunity to procure one nearby to storage?
If it was me, and I was worrying about it, I would take a back up battery. But I am a “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” pragmatist
Mel

 

[Woodentop]

To the OP, remember if it is a British caravan carrying a UK registration plate the same as on your car you must now register the caravan with the DVLA (costs IMSMC £26), have a special white plate made up with the caravan registration number issued by the DVLA and adhere it to the upper left (as in UK nearside) of the rear panel of the van - somewhere towards the corner.
I would assume that it already has a large white oval "UK" sticker?
Also, if you are worried about the battery go do a bit of web surfing and see what the cost of an equivalent battery would be in France. Places like Leroy Merlin, Brico, etc. IIRC sell them. THIS might be a good starting place? Also from what I remember in the EU it is more common to find such items carrying the original manufacturers branding rather than badge marketed as it is over here.

 

[The roaming room]

To the OP, remember if it is a British caravan carrying a UK registration plate the same as on your car you must now register the caravan with the DVLA (costs IMSMC £26), have a special white plate made up with the caravan registration number issued by the DVLA and adhere it to the upper left (as in UK nearside) of the rear panel of the van - somewhere towards the corner.
I would assume that it already has a large white oval "UK" sticker?
Also, if you are worried about the battery go do a bit of web surfing and see what the cost of an equivalent battery would be in France. Places like Leroy Merlin, Brico, etc. IIRC sell them. THIS might be a good starting place? Also from what I remember in the EU it is more common to find such items carrying the original manufacturers branding rather than badge marketed as it is over here.

Great advice, thank you! We have a 2011 Bailey Pegasus Genoa. We have a Bricco near to us once there so I will probably hope for the best but use this as my backup option. Just wondering, will I be able to use the electricity in the van when plugged in if the battery is dead? Or does it need the battery to fire it up? I haven’t switched off the black switch on the Sergeant charger under the bed but I have switched off the master switch by the door.
Thank you for the link. I’ll go and check it out now.

 

[otherclive]

If it’s in a barn then even if everything is switched off it’s quite likely to be flat, or even dead. Best to remove and charge at home for such long period of storage. You can use 240v EHU even with a battery that’s dead, and with no battery, but the battery acts as a “ smoother” so some items may nit operate as normal.

 

[The roaming room]

What van do you have?

If a Swift, did you isolate the 12 volt by turning the black button on the Sargent unit to off?
If it was a good battery and everything was turned off and isolated there is a reasonable chance that it is OK, but wouldn’t like to promise.
Next time take it home and put it on a smart charger while you are away from your van.
If worst case scenario, it is dead, then is there an opportunity to procure one nearby to storage?
If it was me, and I was worrying about it, I would take a back up battery. But I am a “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” pragmatist
Mel

We have a Bailey Pegasus Genoa 2011. Thank you for your advice!

 

[Woodentop]

If you have a Bailey you are unlikely to have a Sargent power box - more like a Bailey badged unit with a BCA SMPS in it. (SMPS = Switched Mode Power Supply - delivers 13.8V or thereabouts and can feed tops of about 24A.) You do NOT need a battery for it to work but make sure your battery is disconnected and that one or both of the battery connectors are wrapped in bodge tape or similar to insulate it/them.
If you can its a good idea to run the fridge on gas in case the mains gets tripped when you are absent as the fridge may need (depending on make/model) 12V to keep the control system working.