Forgive my complete ignorance but I have had a caravan for 3 or 4 years everywhere we have been has had an electric hook up until now. We are going to a site where there are no hook ups and you cannot park your car alongside the van. How do I charge my battery for enough power to work the pump and the lights. Its a youth rally (im taking my kids) and mostly people go in tents, but we are taking our van, and you cannot leave your car on site, (it has to go in a bit storage car park, a long walk away). Whats the best way to give me just enough power for essentials.
No electric hook up...
- Thread starter MichelleSarah_5064211
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Michelle, How long are you going for? A well charged battery will last the best part of a week if only used for lights and water pump especially at days get longer and you only need a light for a few hours in the late evening. Conserve the power and I'm sure you will be o:k.
But we have tried to pratise this and it only lasts just under an hour, what are we doing wrong??? We are going for five days by the way.
Damian
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- Mar 14, 2005
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You dont say what size battery you have , or how old it is.
If its an 85ah battery you may be wise to get a 110ah battery to replace it, if your present battery is anything over 3 years old, check out whether it is holding its correct charge.
Try charging the battery on a normal car charger to get it to its max charge, assuming it is ok, and the distilled water is at the correct levels in the cells.
If its an 85ah battery you may be wise to get a 110ah battery to replace it, if your present battery is anything over 3 years old, check out whether it is holding its correct charge.
Try charging the battery on a normal car charger to get it to its max charge, assuming it is ok, and the distilled water is at the correct levels in the cells.
Hi,
A 110 amp hour battery will last well over a week, even if the tv is used often. It does sound like your battery is dead.
Don'y use a car battery charger on a leasure battery as the high charge will buckle the plates.
Pete
A 110 amp hour battery will last well over a week, even if the tv is used often. It does sound like your battery is dead.
Don'y use a car battery charger on a leasure battery as the high charge will buckle the plates.
Pete
It is a leisure battery that came with the caravan which is only one year old. Its a brand new Burstner, we havent done anything with it, except leave it where it is???
- Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Michelle/Sarah, Without any doubt a charged battery should last much more than an hour with the appliances you are using. with careful use as Ray and (stinky) Pete say a charged 110Ah should see you through a week.
It sounds as though the battery is not being charged when it is on mains or it is faulty.
You say the caravan is new, I wonder if the battery has not been charging, and you haven't noticed because you have used mains hook ups.
Check the instructions that came with the caravan, these should tell you how to set the control panel switches to charge the battery. If you have trouble with this then contact your supplier, who should have shown you how to use the electrics when you collected the van.
Best of luck
It sounds as though the battery is not being charged when it is on mains or it is faulty.
You say the caravan is new, I wonder if the battery has not been charging, and you haven't noticed because you have used mains hook ups.
Check the instructions that came with the caravan, these should tell you how to set the control panel switches to charge the battery. If you have trouble with this then contact your supplier, who should have shown you how to use the electrics when you collected the van.
Best of luck
Michelle Sarah, Further to my earlier reply. If you have a normal type car battery charger then I suggest you diconnect the leads to the battery and charge it with the charger. When you think it is charged ( give it at least 12 hours)then reconnect it. If it goes flat in an hour then I think we can say the battery is duff. I can not see anything in the van that would draw 85+ amps in an hour. By the way try not to use the 12v spot lamps and use only the flourescent ones as they draw a lot less current.
Thanks for all that advice. We will go to where the caravan is stored and have a look at the weekend. Stupidly the manual is in the caravan, so I will have to wait to look at it. It is a burstner ventana, so if anyone has any tips for that specific make it would be welcomed. Incidently when we picked up the van we were not shown how to use the electrics, just how to hook it up to the mains. Being fairly new to caravanning at that time I supposed we did not know the right questions to ask.
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