Flat Moll battery when camping

[Jennywashburn]

Hi, hope someone may be able to help. We have a Jobl Kampa and this morning had a flat battery. We have had the van for 12m and never had any problems before. we are wondering if the cause is the extra fridge we plugged into the 12v socket on the vans main power panel but we were hooked up to electric and thought that the 12v socked ran from the electric/leisure battery? I have called jobl but they don’t have anyone in until Monday who can answer for definite. Thanks in advance.

 

[boxelder]

Was the key in the ignition/ignition on?

 

[Nigel W]

I don’t really understand where you plugged it in, did you plug it into the socket on the dashboard? If so both of these sockets run from the vehicle battery and these are not charged from a hook up.
if not then a photo of the panel would be useful

 

[BognorMotors]

I suspect the dash socket runs off the main battery. Any retrofitted sockets will run off the leisure battery - this is how we set them up. But whilst on hook up this should charge the battery?

Everyone sets their systems up differently though.

 

[Jennywashburn]

So we had the fridge plugged into this which is at the back of the van, we believed this was all off the electric/leisure battery... thanks for coming back to me. I wasn’t intending on this being my first post

 

[Jennywashburn]

Was the key in the ignition/ignition on?

No it wasn’t

 

[BognorMotors]

Somethings not right then

 

[Nigel W]

My Sargent box is different from yours but mine has the option of using either the leisure or vehicle battery. I can see a switch on yours which shows a battery, does that do what mine does and if so did you have it switched to vehicle battery?

 

[Jennywashburn]

That button just shows how much charge we have on the leisure battery when we’re not hooked up to the electric. As far as we understand it, the whole of that panel is for the leisure battery.. which is why we thought that 12v connection ran from the leisure battery / electric hook up as well.. but it’s the first time we have used the extra fridge And the first time we had a problem. I’m just concerned there’s something else going on. Thanks for your help.

 

[boxelder]

Does the extra fridge still work in that socket? I presume your other leisure battery circuits still have power?

 

[AussieMick]

Did you have both fridges running as that would draw a fair amount of power if battery wasn't charged or charging off mains. If main cranking battery was flat then second fridge must be running off that.Which battery is flat main or leisure?

 

[Jennywashburn]

Does the extra fridge still work in that socket? I presume your other leisure battery circuits still have power?

Hi, yes it does work though we have unplugged it now in case it was the route cause. Everything else has power, the van is running as normal again now as we have moved sites and travelled about 100 miles after getting it going again.. we haven’t tried to start the engine again since we arrived yesterday though as we want to see if it drains again without the fridge in as then if it does I think we have a bigger problem?

Did you have both fridges running as that would draw a fair amount of power if battery wasn't charged or charging off mains. If main cranking battery was flat then second fridge must be running off that.Which battery is flat main or leisure?

They were both running, but we were hooked up to the mains the whole time. It was the main battery that went flat which worries us as we assumed the mains power would keep everything we were using running.

I would agree that the 12v socket on that panel in the photo would/should be from the leisure battery. If the battery went flat when connected to the mains hook up I would suspect either the hook up suffered a power cut or your inbuilt battery charger failed.
If you were running two fridges and boiled a kettle you could have tripped the fuse on the hook up post?
So many things it could have been - is everything working ok now?

Everything is working fine now thanks, we are just concerned the main battery will go flat again, but we moved sites yesterday and travelled about 100 miles so it’s had a good charge. We aren’t using the extra fridge just in case and haven’t tried to start the ignition again yet, if it is flat again think we will have to get VW out to it, we just can’t work out whah could have drained it as like you, we thought the 12v socket should be running from the mains. Interesting point about the fuse tripping but unless it resets itself we used the kettle just before we went to leave yesterday and it was still running off the domestic socket which doesn’t work on our van unless we are hooked up to mains.

 

[Nigel W]

Not much help for you at the moment but buy one of these and stick it into the dash socket, it will show you the charge in the vehicle battery, it will also confirm if the vehicle battery is charging whilst engine running and discharging whilst parked up.
You could also stick it into the socket in the panel - might give you a clue if this is connected to leisure or main battery

Dual USB Car Charger - JEBSENS Car Voltage Meter Car Charger with Two USB Ports, 4.8A / 24W, LED Display Built-in Safety Protection Fast Charging Compatible with All Smartphones and Tablets: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

Dual USB Car Charger - JEBSENS Car Voltage Meter Car Charger with Two USB Ports, 4.8A / 24W, LED Display Built-in Safety Protection Fast Charging Compatible with All Smartphones and Tablets: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[boxelder]

Only other thought here is did you have a parking light on (single headlight on when indicator left up/down)?

 

[Nigel W]

Only other thought here is did you have a parking light on (single headlight on when indicator left up/down)?

Good thought, also open the bonnet and have a look at the battery, is it a Moll or a Varta? Moll batteries are known to be defective and VW will replace.
I guess / hope it’s a one off and hope it doesn’t spoil your holiday

 

[Jennywashburn]

Good thought, also open the bonnet and have a look at the battery, is it a Moll or a Varta? Moll batteries are known to be defective and VW will replace.
I guess / hope it’s a one off and hope it doesn’t spoil your holiday

No we didn’t have anything running... just checked the battery and it is a moll. I will have a chat with vw about it then. Thanks for your help

 

[Nigel W]

Have a read

Moll Battery.

So, the battery failed on me 4 times, and VW still insist on having their dealers do “tests”. The last time, I had finished a survey on top of Mendip. Phoned local dealer about my appointment the following day for the tests, and went to start and nothing, with their service department actually...

www.t6forum.com

 

[AussieMick]

Generally the mains hook up doesn't charge the main cranking battery only the leisure battery