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Where has my battery power gone?!

C

Christhecaravanner84

BANNED
Last week the battery was reading a Healthy 13v on the electric panel. I used the mover whilst parking up a couple of weeks ago but week had the battery charger running off the generator for a good hour. Today it’s reading 9V and flashing E1 which I’m guessing is an error relating to low voltage. As far as I’m aware there were no lights left on. I may have forgotten to power down the panel would / could this have drained the battery? Any how, I’m taking it home to charge.
 
Many caravans have a number of 12V items which may not be switched by the obvious 12 V power switch on the internal pane. Things like alarms or active aerials.

The only sure way of stopping any 12V drain is to disconnect the battery.

Other possibilities could be a faulty battery cell.
 
ProfJohnL said:
Many caravans have a number of 12V items which may not be switched by the obvious 12 V power switch on the internal pane. Things like alarms or active aerials.

The only sure way of stopping any 12V drain is to disconnect the battery.

Other possibilities could be a faulty battery cell.
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I’m thinking of getting some wing nuts to make this easier.
 
Chris, my Coachman discharges the battery quickly if I don't disconnect. On mine its the 12 V, to the radio, TV amplifier, the fridge , water heater , but mostly the Caravan alarm, and awning light. All powered even though the mains switch is off. .
 
Hutch said:
Chris, my Coachman discharges the battery quickly if I don't disconnect. On mine its the 12 V, to the radio, TV amplifier, the fridge , water heater , but mostly the Caravan alarm, and awning light. All powered even though the mains switch is off. .
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no alarm or tv amp on mine. It’s always been fine when I’ve been over to check it before. i did use the motor mover quite intensively when I got back from last trip. I was levelling up and learnt the hard way that you reverse onto the wedges. The onboard voltmeter was reading 13V but as we’ve seen, it’s not all that accurate.
 
Is it viable to replace the control panel with something more modern such as this? I am reasonably competent with electrical wiring. I presume it would just be a case of photographing original installation and connecting the corresponding leads to their relevant terminals on the new controller…
 
Before doing anything "seismic" I would systematically check out what current drains there are on the battery. so better understand the cause(s) of any issues.

This can be done using a multi meter but typically more easily with a unique current tester LIKE THIS, if blade fuses are used in the various fused circuits. You simply put the inspected circuit's fuse into this unit and plug the probe back in. My van also used a blade fuse in the main battery feed, so I could check the charger itself.

This can be quite revealing.
In my case I found a fundamental error had been made in wiring up the radio; here an automotive radio was fitted, but its twin supplies were taken from a single feed with nothing replicating the switched "ignition", resulting in a significant unnecessary drain.

You might also find the charger/controller itself inflicts a real parasitic drain. Here I have found on a friend's van the solar controller he had fitted had a very high self drain, overnight sapping all he gained during the day!

Armed with knowing where the issue or issues are, helps in finding solutions.
 
Christhecaravanner84 said:
Last week the battery was reading a Healthy 13v on the electric panel. I used the mover whilst parking up a couple of weeks ago but week had the battery charger running off the generator for a good hour. Today it’s reading 9V and flashing E1 which I’m guessing is an error relating to low voltage. As far as I’m aware there were no lights left on. I may have forgotten to power down the panel would / could this have drained the battery? Any how, I’m taking it home to charge.
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As you recently bought the caravan get onto the dealer as it will still be under warranty. At 9v the battery may not recover.
 
stirlingwine said:
I bought these on Ebay 3 years ago. I have 2 batteries one set of leads, so I am often changing over.
2x 12V Auto Car Vehicle Caravan Boat Quick Release Battery Terminals Clamps

GBP 4.51Unit price GBP 4.51

Item number:263966673331
View attachment 3220
​
Click to expand...
Be careful which ones you buy ! I recently bought some on Amazon - and they went in the bin ! Both were the same size . As most will be aware, battery posts are diffent diameters. Well they are in the Western world - not sure about China....
 
If you do not switch off the power there are several things that may still be on and draining the battery. We have found the aerial stays on and the radio has a habit of coming on when you switch the power on and needs to be turned off. Alarms are a major user of power though and many will drain a full battery in about two weeks. It could be a problem with a ew things each taking a small amount of power and the only safe thing to do is make sure that everything is switched off at the master switch.
 
For the sake of understanding: if a battery is in good condition (nearly new,) well charged and remains in the battery locker disconnected - does anyone know how long it can be left there with the expectation of being able to reconnect and just use the mover for about 5 minutes? Appreciating that frosts may cause some drainage, but could you over-winter this way? - might be a piece of string question but for those such as I - who keep their van in an outside tight access storage facility, with no solar charger it would be good to know.
Thanks, Wayne
 
When I worked I would, at times leave my battery in the caravan for 8 weeks at a time, disconnected, and it would be at about 12.6v, if I remember correctly, when I reconnected the battery.
 
WayneS said:
For the sake of understanding: if a battery is in good condition (nearly new,) well charged and remains in the battery locker disconnected - does anyone know how long it can be left there with the expectation of being able to reconnect and just use the mover for about 5 minutes? Appreciating that frosts may cause some drainage, but could you over-winter this way? - might be a piece of string question but for those such as I - who keep their van in an outside tight access storage facility, with no solar charger it would be good to know.
Thanks, Wayne
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about 3 months I find.

note to self, fit a small solar powered trickle charger.
 
WayneS said:
For the sake of understanding: if a battery is in good condition (nearly new,) well charged and remains in the battery locker disconnected - does anyone know how long it can be left there with the expectation of being able to reconnect and just use the mover for about 5 minutes? Appreciating that frosts may cause some drainage, but could you over-winter this way? - might be a piece of string question but for those such as I - who keep their van in an outside tight access storage facility, with no solar charger it would be good to know.
Thanks, Wayne
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As you say its how long is a piece of string, there are so many variables its impossible to say, but a new battery should last better than old battery, But assuming there is nothing draining the battery you should be ok with 3 to 4 months could be longer but its that length of string issue again.

Just for your information, using a mover for a few minuets doesn't need massive battery capacity, and most people will user thes than about 2Ah of battery capacity. As an alternative, if you arrange to have the mover battery wires easily accessible when the caravan is in storage, you could bring a small car starter battery just to move the caravan.
 
Mystery solved. I am pretty sure I must have left the controller on last week. I think I naively assumed it would shut it’s self off when I pulled the EHU out. Connected up the now fully charged battery with my multi meter in series measuring amps and to my surprise, the controller draws half an amp with nothing else running. Which equates to 84 amp hours over a week, my battery is 85 ah. Gave the battery a nice slow charge over night, now producing 13.4 volts. You live and learn. I will just leave the battery disconnected now until my next trip. Thanks for all the replies.
 
Christhecaravanner84 said:
Mystery solved. I am pretty sure I must have left the controller on last week. I think I naively assumed it would shut it’s self off when I pulled the EHU out. Connected up the now fully charged battery with my multi meter in series measuring amps and to my surprise, the controller draws half an amp with nothing else running. Which equates to 84 amp hours over a week, my battery is 85 ah. Gave the battery a nice slow charge over night, now producing 13.4 volts. You live and learn. I will just leave the battery disconnected now until my next trip. Thanks for all the replies.
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No need to leave it disconnected. Simply make sure that the 12v is switched off. We have never ever disconnected the battery in any of our caravans. 😀
 
Buckman said:
No need to leave it disconnected. Simply make sure that the 12v is switched off. We have never ever disconnected the battery in any of our caravans. 😀
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Perhaps you should read the comment you have replied to... Chris clearly stated that even when the panel is turned OFF, there is still a 500mA current flowing. That would flatten a110Ah battery over the course of a week.

The immediate solution is to disconnect the battery, a longer term solution would be to find out what is drawing the current and resolve that , or fit an isolator switch in the +ve battery cable, or install a 25W (or bigger) solar panel to top the battery up during daylight hours.
 
ProfJohnL said:
Perhaps you should read the comment you have replied to... Chris clearly stated that even when the panel is turned OFF, there is still a 500mA current flowing. That would flatten a110Ah battery over the course of a week.

The immediate solution is to disconnect the battery, a longer term solution would be to find out what is drawing the current and resolve that , or fit an isolator switch in the +ve battery cable, or install a 25W (or bigger) solar panel to top the battery up during daylight hours.
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The fridge is normally the biggest culprit, but that normally shuts down when the 12v is turned off. TBH he shoudl be taking the caravan back to the dealer as it is probably still within the 30 days and if not should be under warranty or CRA 2015 anyway. It is up to the dealer to find out why the battery is being flattened so quick.
 
Buckman said:
The fridge is normally the biggest culprit, but that normally shuts down when the 12v is turned off. TBH he shoudl be taking the caravan back to the dealer as it is probably still within the 30 days and if not should be under warranty or CRA 2015 anyway. It is up to the dealer to find out why the battery is being flattened so quick.
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Buckman on my Coachman, even with the 12 v Master switched off, as I have said before, there is still 12 volts to the radio, the fridge, the alarm and the tv amplifier. I fitted a total isolatoer, and also the master control display.
 
Hutch said:
Buckman on my Coachman, even with the 12 v Master switched off, as I have said before, there is still 12 volts to the radio, the fridge, the alarm and the tv amplifier. I fitted a total isolator, and also the master control display.
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On our 2018 Buccaneer when you switch off the 12v everything shuts down except the tracker. On our 2012 Lunar there was a constant drain and battery would last only about 2 -3 weeks. We then had a solar panel fitted that resolved the issue and that is another option for Chris.
However maybe he should be considering taking it back to the dealer as something could be wired up incorrectly?
 
Anything with a ‘standby mode’ will have a vampire draw.
radios and alarms are good culprits. Anything that has a flashing or glowing light when ‘turned off’.
 
I think maybe I wasn't clear. The 500mA current draw is with the panel turned on, there is no current draw with the panel turned off. I think most likely the cause of the issue was user error. When I visied the van last week, I ran a generator for a while and I think I just pulled out the EHU cable assuming that it would shut it's self off. I think everything is working the way it should although I am surprised the panel draws that much current.
 
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