Hi Have been in touch with garage - they say the battery is fine and MH starting . Battery is running at 11.9v i have mentioned the alt and that whether its the battery needing replacing? its under warranty(battery) but if the battery is fine, as is the solar panel i had fitted what other reason can there be,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, am afraid am no mechanic so i really need to know what am talking about before i pick it up etc. an isolater is an option but if the batteries ok am i wasting my hard earnt cash?????
The battery should be showing nearly 14v if you put a volt meter across terminals with engine running at fast tickover, so what your garage is on about, I have no idea. I would suggest you take van to main dealer workshop, ie Fiat, Peugeot whatever it is. They will have correct diagnostic software to sort it.
If the battery is reading only 11.9 volts then it is in fact in a discharged state and like Tentz said it should be reading 12.7 volts or above to be in a fully charged state. This could be down to one of three factors, either the battery is not holding the charge which means it needs replacing, the vehicle alternator is pushing insufficient charge to the battery or the solar panel is not wired correctly and is slowly discharging the battery. The garage claim that the battery and alternator are not defective so maybe the solar panel needs inspection as well to see if the fault lies there. Whatever the problem is, the vehicle is under warranty and should be fit for purpose (which it isn't) and although the garage have an obligation to rectify the underlying cause within a reasonable time scale they can sometimes fob you off with excuses hoping that you will spend your own cash to solve the problem. I don't know if your motorhome is under finance or not, but if it is then you could contact the lender and in support of your purchase state that you are not satisfied with the service received from the garage in question and acknowledge the fact that your motorhome is not fit for purpose. This doesn't apply with a personal loan or cash as it is not directly connected with the purchase on paperwork. Not many people know this but when a vehicle has any replacement parts (only under a warranty agreement) they forward the claim for reimbursement to the lender in due course. This involves the required paperwork and a delayed time factor for reimbursement costs so it's easier for the garage to inform you that there isn't a problem and hope not to see you again. Return your motorhome to the garage where you made your purchase and request that if the problem isn't fixed within 7 days then you want a full refund under the sale of goods act. If the vehicle was paid for in cash then the best solution is to contact your local Trading Standards for advice. Remember, it's your money and their problem and you have a legal right to receive goods of any description that are fit for purpose.
do you have 1 battery that does everything, or do you have 1 for starting and running engine side of things and another one for the leisure side of things?
They could try disconnecting the solar wires and see if this has any effect on the battery holding its charge. But i dont see how it can be 'good', at under 12 volts either.
Thanks for that info. tango55 worth noting for future ref.
hi i have amain battery and a leisure, the solar panel is working fine i have sent another e mail questioning whether a function test has been done on the alternator and waiting reply, the battery is coming up to 12 months old i pointed out that i need concrete proof that the battery is faulty though i would have thought this would be the case.............. it was jump started from home to the garage so was only driven a few miles . They said they were monitoring the battery, as i am not clued uo to the correct output am at a bit of a loss , sadly theMH is out of warranty now and am not in a finance deal, seriously thinking of seeing one more season and getting rid, dont have the funds for more major expense..................
which battery is not working the starting 1 or the leisure 1, or both, you need to find out voltage of both batteries, then fire it up and messure the voltage again, with head lights on, before doing this just rev the engine over 2000rpm just to make sure alternator is kicking in, this will then tell you if there is a problem with alternator and split charger type function.
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