Hi all. Going on holiday Friday so last week getting van ready and the leisure battery goes flat whilst on charge. I went and bought a new one as it was 8 years old. New one in and all up and running.
Came back today and its flat as a pancake so pretty much everything is dead.
I have an Elddis Liberte 2008 twin axle that has an automated charger. But the trouble is I have no idea what it looks like or where I can find it. Has anyone had any dealings with these? Or any idea where I can start putting a meter to
Look below the bunks,or the bottom of a wardrobe,I dont know your van but the charger might be built in near the zig unit.You will need a meter to check the power going into the battery which should be 14v.
Have a look at the rear of the battery compartment inside the caravan usually under a seat and the charger is usually located somewhere nearby with a block of 12 volt fuses. You need to test the circuit first to see if there is any current being delivered to the battery from the charger. Leave the battery disconnected from the battery terminals and connect a voltmeter up then switch on the mains. If the circuit is working properly you should get a reading of around 13.8 to 14 volts. Anything less than that and the charger is defective. During the meantime you need to re-charge your battery by means of a smart charger otherwise if it's left in a flat state then the new battery will also become defective.
I hunted under beds, in wardrobes, inder seats, tables and chairs but no transformer. But, I knew a man who may help and he arrived at the same time as my son and both said in unison " take the cover of the PSU", I did so and found the transformer inside Multimeter on both ends showed 230v going, nothing coming out.
anyway, it didnt look good when we popped it open with a screwdriver and found one of the magnets around a resistor was in 2 parts, laying on the pcb.
it is also a known issue for this unit to fail: http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=31&TopicID=291624
So, battery on smart charge at home and a long couple of hours finding a replacement
Hi, Ive just read your thread and another post you made on a related thread. Ive just replaced my dilapidated Bailey Discovery Avalon Se 1994 with a 2005 Buccaneer Carribean. Didn't have my battery fitted during the tow home. fitted the battery which was fully charged. Connected mains hookup cable. Mains front lounge lights and microwave work and elec water heater work off mains, 12v lights and pump working off battery. The meter is dropping like a stone during the evening working on the van. Its clearly not charging, also can't get the electric heating on, also no power to 12v tv booster so poss no 12v circuit working. Theres only a master switch and then a number of light switches. Ive checked and tested the RCD and located the fuses but havent checked these yet or the battery terminals with voltmeter because its pitch dark. Ive noticed the kettle type connection in the front locker, I assume its worth checking all this tomorrow?
Quote: Originally posted by StephenO1972 on 20/12/2021
Hi, Ive just read your thread and another post you made on a related thread. Ive just replaced my dilapidated Bailey Discovery Avalon Se 1994 with a 2005 Buccaneer Carribean. Didn't have my battery fitted during the tow home. fitted the battery which was fully charged. Connected mains hookup cable. Mains front lounge lights and microwave work and elec water heater work off mains, 12v lights and pump working off battery. The meter is dropping like a stone during the evening working on the van. Its clearly not charging, also can't get the electric heating on, also no power to 12v tv booster so poss no 12v circuit working. Theres only a master switch and then a number of light switches. Ive checked and tested the RCD and located the fuses but havent checked these yet or the battery terminals with voltmeter because its pitch dark. Ive noticed the kettle type connection in the front locker, I assume its worth checking all this tomorrow?
so what have you tried to run on 12v that is causing it to drop like a stone?
Sounds like your battery charger is either not switched on or is faulty. I think you may have more than one fault there, if as it seems you have some mains stuff working and some not, and some 12 volt stuff working and some not.
You have mains coming in as the microwave and water heater work, but the electric heating and battery charger don't seem to be. Then you have 12 volts going to the lights, but not to the TV booster. Let us know how you get on tomorrow.
Hi . Our first trip to France years ago in 2014 seen our Bailey Orion charger burnt out . Same as you describe...power coming in but only a few things working ...so check the charger as even though it was fan assisted .. no cool air could get to it as it was in an enclosed unit !! Bad design 🙄
thought I would post an update. All turned out well in daylight, and the short paragraph in the owners manual of "the 12v cicuit will not work whilst the car is connected" prooved to be more important than its small text. I had arrived home and left the caravan connected to the car and plugged the hook up lead on to test everything. I have done this many times with my previous caravan.
I needed to disconnect the car connection, I heard the relays switch and the battery started charging. I found under the front locker an isolation switch for the electric heating which was under a duct, when i switched this on then the heating started. In addition 2 fuses had blown which when replaced everything was fine. The only issue I have now is that the toilet wont flush, it is possible the tank might be empty but this one is electronic. Ive seen in the tank box the wires come down to a feed with a 30a fuse in which is intact. Ive got the instructions to the toilet (a cwe-200) and will read them now but if anyone has any tips i would appreciate it.
If the toilet is the same as mine, if you remove the cassette, you will see a fuse at the rear of the compartment. The fuse may well be intact but often the fuse socket corrodes. You need to borrow a nail file and clean the socket.
Hope that works.
DaveS1
2 final things, the new van has 2 more 12v outputs which I intend to use, when I bought my original Bailey 2.5 years ago I needed to by a convertor which had 2 spade connections which went into the caravan socket then this converted into a normal 12v socket that normal car/caravan devices would plug into. I have 1, need another 2 but I cant remember what they are called for searching online. I think i got the last one from a dealer.
secondly, my original caravan didn't have reversing lights, ive been suprised to see that it looks like the new one despite being 2005 model also doesn't have reversing lights, also 3 of the road bulbs are blown (all marker lights) but I cant see how to gain access and the book doesn't mention them at all. Are they pull off? my old van front market lights gave trouble and were pull off, i needed to clean then and once cleaned they worked fine. Is it the same with this one?
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Topic: Battery not charging on mains
Multimeter on both ends showed 230v going, nothing coming out. 
via mobile 20/12/2021 at 11:41pm
