I had my first trip of the season at Salisbury C&CC and it was not without drama!
Since the last trip over Christmas and New Year, I had the van serviced to replace both leisure batteries and the water pump.
The new water pump operates at a higher pressure and caused a leak in the system, and adjustments had to be made to the plumbing to rectify that issue. The increased in water pressure blew off the shower hose fitting, allegedly due to an aging O ring, now fixed.
After the leisure batteries were replaced, the Webasto diesel heater would not start, and the service engineer did not know why.
Unbeknown to him (he allegedly had not come across this before ) and to me, it turned out the system is designed to shut off for safety reasons after interruptions to the electrical supply, and a hard re-set would be required to kick start it again.
By the time I found an user manual on the web, the system had been fiddled so many times it would not start up again, and a trip to a Webasto service centre will be required, hey ho!
Not too bothered about not having a working diesel heater for hot water and heating as I have an immersion heater for hot water in the van that I seldom use (and did not need to use it for this first trip out), and was able to cope with either a fan heater or one of those small space heater that operates from a 3-pin socket.
I decided to stay an extra night at the campsite as the weather was really nice on Tuesday, sunny and in the low 20s.
However, I decided to leave at 19:00 as I had lots to do the following morning; and found the van's battery was flat.
Good job I learnt how to charge the van battery after it would not start on 23 December 2025, and bought and carried a charger plus an extension cable wheel just in case it happens again as the battery could be on its way out.
I was able to hook the van up to the charger, stayed the night that I had already paid for, and left early the next morning with the battery fully charged, PHEW!
Hoping for the van's battery to be checked and replaced if needed before my next trip in Dunbar, Scotland, before attending an event in Newcastle. I thought I might as well go camping while I am driving all the way up to Newcastle! I stayed at Dunbar C&CC for 2 nights as part of my Scottish tour and really liked it.
Incidentally, the extra night at Salisbury C&CC was only 7.00 GBP! I checked their website and it was showing nearly 3x as much even with concession discount! I went back to Reception and checked in case I was under-charged, and they said that's what came up on their system, BARGAIN!
With hindsight, the 4 yellow warning lights on the dashboard at the start of the trip was probably indicative of low van battery, as they disappeared after the battery was fully charged using the charger, DOH!
Definitely need to look after the van's battery better after it is replaced!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
A cheap voltage meter is well worth having. Costs no more than £10, plugs into the ciggie lighter, gives a constant voltage read out and ours also has some extra USB outlets.
A quick glance on starting and when running to check charging to give early warning of any potential issues.
As a routine, I check all systems (that I can) usually a day or so before departure, to hopefully avoid arriving on site to find something not working. Although I may have no intention of running Fridge or Heating on gas, I always ensure it works as a backup 'just in case'. My checks have thrown up toilet flush not working, and a odd light needing a tweak to the connections, so time well spent in my mind.
As to trying to find instructions online to deal with equipment problems when away, I carry a full set of printed equipment instructions in the van all the time. Couple of times the Truma heating has misbehaved with error codes showing, thankfully a glance at the manual shows how to reset - all sorted in a minute or two.
I NEVER rely on having internet access to find info, as for many trips I've been on, it's either totally absent or unreliably slow/poor! A folder of papers never fails - unless I forget my glasses!
The ciggie socket voltage meter is a good idea and I have one for my car with is a splitter too so that I could plug in my dashcam and my phone at the same time as the car does not have an USB C socket.
Bought one for the van with one each USB B and C sockets in case I need them.
Must remember to take it out of the ciggie socket after parking up at a site or at home!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
That sounds like an eventful trip! We are currently away on our first trip of 2026 and thankfully, the only issue we had was that the toilet flush didn’t work initially but after a bit of twiddling, all was well. I think it had just seized up after not having been used since November.
The van battery is not holding its charge - found that out today when I took her out for an event, and she struggled to start.
My nextdoor neighbours, father and son, are commercial vehicle mechanics, who mentioned in December 2025 last year when the van failed to start, that the van's battery would probably need to be replaced.
She will be looked at soon in the next 2 weeks with the view for her battery to be replaced.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Quote: Originally posted by spiritburner on 11/4/2026
Do you have solar? You can get a device that trickle charges your vehicle battery from any excess to the leisure battery from the solar.
Nope, as I have not planned to go off-grid at all.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
The van's battery is not holding a charge, found that out when I took the van out to attend an event with the dog in the middle of a field so that I have access to my own toilet as I was not certain if toilets would be available.
The van's battery was already showing as low based on the number of yellow warning lights on the dashboard, which disappeared after I drove the van to another town to fill up.
The battery was fully charged Wednesday morning when I drove home from Salisbury C&CC.
The ciggie socket voltage meter will be collected tomorrow.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Quote: Originally posted by spiritburner on 12/4/2026
If you're not into redundancy running a smart battery charger on the battery periodically may maintain it's health better.
This is the charger my neighbours used to charge up my van's battery last December 2025, and I bought and carry one in the van since:
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
The van battery is definitely not right as it was dead about 30min when I tried to get into the van to get something.
On charge now and I might leave it charged until my nextdoor neighbours can have a look at her next week.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Try disconnecting the battery when parked up, to see if it keeps a charge with nothing taking power. That will show if it is a. Dud battery or something drawing all the power from the battery
Van battery has been changed, however, something is taking power from it, and it will be looked at by an vehicle electrician in the next couple of days.
Also, the alternator needs replacing as it is not charging the van battery, probably caused by the van battery being drained.
2026 is an expensive year!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: First Trip 2026
) and to me, it turned out the system is designed to shut off for safety reasons after interruptions to the electrical supply, and a hard re-set would be required to kick start it again.
via mobile 12/4/2026 at 12:04pm
