Battery Dead - Camper & on Hols

[ahappychappie]

Hi,

Appreciate without seeing / knowing further info a difficult one but just any ideas...

Camper is hooked up to Camp site electrics - Electrics box in Camper shows power is connected and all good.

However just come to start van - ignition on fine but just won't start - rapid clicking noise and just won't start.

Never ever had this issue, just wondered if any ideas - anything obvious to check

Thanks

 

[moz4000]

Hi,

Appreciate without seeing / knowing further info a difficult one but just any ideas...

Camper is hooked up to Camp site electrics - Electrics box in Camper shows power is connected and all good.

However just come to start van - ignition on fine but just won't start - rapid clicking noise and just won't start.

Never ever had this issue, just wondered if any ideas - anything obvious to check

Thanks

Pretty sure we cant start ours if the hook up cable is still connected

 

[Dellmassive]

Sounds a flat starter battery....

So it would seem that your EHU conection is only connected to your leisure battery and not the starter.

 

[Dellmassive]

you will need to jumpstart the van,

or connect a battery charger to the starter battery,

running it low/flat will damage it.


more info below.


Charging:

• Battery Chargers - How I Did It -
• Battery Charging - Main Battery Earth Point -
• Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --
• [Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --
• Which Jump Starter?
• Seat Base Electrics, EHU+Charger+solar+install - How We Done It -

 

[Dellmassive]

post some pics of your setup / . . .


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[ahappychappie]

Green flag are on their way...

Leisure Battery is fine and full.

So presume something is draining the van battery - just doesn't make sense what as nothing really to drain it...

Sorry I know little help with little info. Doors are open all the time but the interior lights wouldn't drain would they - they turn off after a few mins anyway...

 

[Pete C]

How long since you last drove the van ?

Pete

 

[ahappychappie]

I've unplugged the EHU - you can see shows leisure Battery fine, if I plug EHU you in Charger Supply light comes on so all good. Leisure Battery under drivers seat.

Perhaps EHU is a red herring if all ok, in which case why the drain on the van Battery? But have no tools to see if drain etc

 

[ahappychappie]

How long since you last drove the van ?

Pete

Came down from Manchester on Fri - so 2 days - circa 250 miles would have meant Battery obviously we'll charged...

 

[AussieMick]

Ehu probably has nothing to do with charging your starter battery, mine only charges leisure battery.
Have you had anything plugged into van dashboard 12v socket (phone charging etc), had radio playing without motor running for a lengthy period or is your starter battery getting older and doesn't hold a full charge very long.
Even 3 to 4 years is enough to start failing especially if battery has been left uncharged for a while due to covid19.
Do you have a multimeter to check starter battery voltage.

 

[ahappychappie]

Ehu probably has nothing to do with charging your starter battery, mine only charges leisure battery.
Have you had anything plugged into van dashboard 12v socket (phone charging etc), had radio playing without motor running for a lengthy period or is your starter battery getting older and doesn't hold a full charge very long.
Even 3 to 4 years is enough to start failing especially if battery has been left uncharged for a while due to covid19.
Do you have a multimeter to check starter battery voltage.

Thanks - as above think it's a red herring was just my initial thinking.

Nothing running of 12v, no radio. Assume interior lights independent of Ehu - we're in and out of the van loads - though tend to leave doors open - lights switch off after 15 mins - would the battery drain that quick off just interior lights?

Van will be 5 years old in Sept - but van is used pretty much every day..

No multimeter, hopefully Green Flag here in a few mins, see if they can give any advice..

 

[Dellmassive]

remember . .

every time you press they or open the van door the systems power up.

the internal lights come on,

the door locks power open/close.

the modules power up.

etc etc.

This can flatten the starter in a day or so as all the above is powered from the starter.

the fix is easy . . .

just fit and additional EHU mains powered charger to the starter: ( so that whenon EHU the starter is kept at 100% )


like this NOCO 5A version . .

NOCO GENIUS5UK, 5-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V And 12V Battery Charging Units, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation : Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors

NOCO GENIUS5UK, 5-Amp Fully-Automatic Smart Charger, 6V And 12V Battery Charging Units, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation : Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors

amzn.to

or

if you have decent leisure setup - then you can back feed the starter battery from that . . .


more info here:

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It -- Right so its that time of year again . . . . . . . . Winter & (Lockdown 2020) The van might be layed up not being used, which will lead to a flat battery in around 3 weeks. The cold weather doesn't help the battery's...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[ahappychappie]

All, sorry for the delay in updating.

Green flag arrived - started in less than 10 seconds... Very frustratingly he didn't hook up a multimeter to check things as supposedly already had 3 jobs waiting - wasn't worth getting into an argument plus we were planning on going out so did that and it gave the battery a good charge.

So none the wiser - perhaps it is all the opening of the door etc - never been an issue before but then the battery is older so possibly struggling.

Let's see what tomorrow morning brings...

Thanks for the help and suggestions - looking in to those...

 

[Paynewright]

I think traditional lead acid batteries are on borrowed time after 5 years.

 

[The_Lad]

Not sure on how yours is wired but on my old PMS3 I could flick the switch to car instead of van and that would charge the main battery from ehu

 

[ahappychappie]

Not sure on how yours is wired but on my old PMS3 I could flick the switch to car instead of van and that would charge the main battery from ehu

Hmm - not sure - when we hook up we change to Van - I'm somewhat naive to how it all charges - but didn't think switching to Car would charge the main battery but I know very little - not sure if you can tell from my photo above if I'd have this option??

 

[AussieMick]

You appear to have a 2 way switch, van or car.
Maybe one is wired to charge leisure battery and one to charge starter battery.
Do you know who did the conversion, if you do ask them how its connected.

When on ehu you can always put switch in the other position to see what happens but it will be hard to tell without a multimeter .

 

[The_Lad]

On mine the electrics were connected to the van starter battery when car was selected and to the leisure battery when van was selected. Easiest way to tell would be connect to EHU and put a multimeter across the starter battery then switch from van to car and see if the voltage increases

 

[Stay Frosty]

That looks a bit like the Sargent unit on our camper although it"s a little bit more obvious with Sargent which of the vehicles two batteries you are charging.
Did you have the car radio on for hours or has the van got a Moll starter battery, in which case had your stop/start not worked recently which can indicate a dying starter battery and the Moll will generally die in less than three years.

 

[La Dodgy Vita]

It will be interesting to hear the outcome.
I have what appears to be the same PMS system albeit with a vertical but otherwise identical control panel. When I turned my battery selector switch to "car" and switch on charging, I get a humming sound from down near where the leisure battery and other gubbins are mounted - so I have not tried charging the "car" battery since then. I've been meaning to contact the original installer about this (although my T6 is now 4.5 years old, I've only had her for around six months) but keep forgetting.
I'll email them now.