Vehicle Battery Discharging

Pembrae

New Member
I am looking for some advice with regards my main vehicle battery which I am worried is discharging quicker than expected when parked up.

I have a Rolling Homes converted T6.1 T28 H-Line TDI campervan on a 23 plate. Ever since we have owned the Campervan we have found we get low vehicle battery voltage warnings when camping if we are parked up for more than a couple of days without driving, is this normal? We don't use the infotainment system while parked, all the interior lights are disabled, as best they can be. Apart from any quiescent current, the only battery draw I can think of is the central locking. It seems strange that I can't leave the campervan on a campsite for more than a couple of days. Up to now this hasn't been a problem as we have have always driven after a couple of days but I can see that there will be times where we will want to leave the van parked on the campsite for longer than this. I find if the campervan is left unused in the drive for about two weeks we will also get the low vehicle battery warnings.

So the first question is is this behaviour normal or do I need to check the quiescent current draw?
Secondly, if this behaviour is normal is it OK to charge the main vehicle battery using one of the campervan 240V three pin sockets that is powered from the hookup? I have a Noco genius 5 and was thinking that I could plug this in in the van and either connect directly to the battery or via a 12V accessory socket. The later would be more convenient as I would have to run the wires outside the van for this. As the van socket is connected directly to the hookup input, via and RCD, I can't see why using this is any different to connecting the charger directly to the hookup.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
I used to plug my van in to EHU on my driveway, and use my CTEK plugged into one of the 230v sockets, with the output plugged into the dash 12v socket.

Turn it on once a week for the day, kept the battery happy.


Opening and closing the doors on the campsite will keep waking the van up.

And if you have a tracker that can drain the battery while sat on the driveway.


Monitoring is the first step, a BM2 is ideal, I still have mine attached.


And read this:




Then get a Battery maintainer, it will keep the battery topped up on site, and maintain it on the driveway. If the leisure gets low then just plug in and both will be topped up.



I now have a Fogstar Lithium leisure battery and an Ablemail battery maintainer, on the unfortunate longer periods when I don't use the van it keeps the starter battery at full charge.
 
Normal if you’re parked up for a few days without running the engine. Plenty of discussion on the forum if you do a search.
 
I used to plug my van in to EHU on my driveway, and use my CTEK plugged into one of the 230v sockets, with the output plugged into the dash 12v socket.

Turn it on once a week for the day, kept the battery happy.


Opening and closing the doors on the campsite will keep waking the van up.

And if you have a tracker that can drain the battery while sat on the driveway.


Monitoring is the first step, a BM2 is ideal, I still have mine attached.


And read this:




Then get a Battery maintainer, it will keep the battery topped up on site, and maintain it on the driveway. If the leisure gets low then just plug in and both will be topped up.



I now have a Fogstar Lithium leisure battery and an Ablemail battery maintainer, on the unfortunate longer periods when I don't use the van it keeps the starter battery at full charge.
That's great, thank you for taking the time to provide so much information. Gives me a lot to go on, starting with a battery monitor. If this is normal behavior then the trickle charger seems a good solution. Thanks once again.
 
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Normal if you’re parked up for a few days without running the engine. Plenty of discussion on the forum if you do a search.
Thanks for indicating this is quite normal, was worried that maybe there was something wrong. As suggested in the previous reply a trickle charger may be the solution.
 
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