It's been some time since I have needed some advice from you guys. Well we are off on the road again this coming Thursday, first time this year since last October. We have been up at the van all evening, at the storeage site, giving it a good spring clean.
I''m taking it for a service on Thursday, we've had it for a year and it's now 10 years old, so i thought I'd start this season by making sure everything is shipshape before we hit the road.
I've kept the leisure battery, which is about 2 to 3 years old, in my garage at home all winter and feel a bit of a fool taking the van in for a service without making sure the battery is fully charged up first, so this afternoon I visited a local caravan dealership's shop intending to buy a leisure battery charger, Boy was I surprised to find that these things are'nt cheap! The only one in stock was on sale for £89. I've left it far too late to buy off line so i was wondering where i might buy one at a more sensible price from the high street? I've been looking at Argos and Halfords websites, but they don't appear to stock them.
I'm still not certain as to how these leisure batteries operate, but is it correct to say that a trickle from my car's alternator will charge it up by about 80% during the journey (about 80 miles) and that the hook-up itself will also put a charge into it?
As usual I'm relying on the usual good advice of UK campsite's members.
Halfords do a charger that is for all batterys i bought one only last week £30 you just flick the switch to select type of battery bikeor car/leisure then flick the other switch to choose sealed or open. It will charge a leisure battery then when charged switch over to maintance mode and keep it topped up. They dont show it on line you will have to go in store.
If you have the proper connection e.g. in the boot, 80 miles would bring you far in charging, in any case to let the battery work properly for a good period of time. That does presuppose that it was stored well, i.e. with charge, not empty already and that it was put away not that long that it is totally discharged now. But a fully charged battery will take months to discharge totally, I think something like 10% per month. So a few months should be OK.
If you have a cahrger built in you caravan, hookup would charge the battery. You should know yourself whether your caravan has a built in charger (mine does, charges by EHU and by solar). Very comfortable, no hassle. They do say however that caravan-charger do not give such a full load as stand alone chargers, so some people replace the charger in their caravan by a better one. But in principle, with builtin charger EHO will charge the battery automatically.
Thanks all, that's great help. I think it will probably be OK but I think I will nip into Halfords and buy the £30 version, I only want to charge up a leisure battery not launch a space shuttle(LOL) It's typical of some of these caravan shops to want to charge £89 for something that will cost us only a third of the price in Halfords. It will probably need a bit of a boost. The more i read about these things the more I find that the battery obviously has to be fully charged if you are venturing onto a site with no hookup etc. Then of course it would be essential, but as long as there is some charge in the battery when attached to the hookup, the interior lights actually operate from the battery which is a reduced voltage. I think that's right! Anyway, the hookup system will inevitably charge it up if the car itself does'nt do it beforehand. You'r a great bunch, thanks again for replying.
Just remember that it is important to charge your leisure battery on a trickle charge, so make sure your charger has that facility. You could buy a new battery for £80!!
Why do you need to charge your battery if you are going on EHU? Surely you won't be using the battery, and it will get charged up anyway?
Thanks for replying. You are right to ask me the question you have asked. It's just that it says on the thing that the battery when not in use should be charged at least once a month. So i thought I'd give it a boost first. But as you rightly point out it will be charged up in any event and obviously by the method you describe. I would'nt want to get on a site and find they were having problems with their hookup supply, so having a fully charged battery would be best to be safe rather than sorry, although to be fair I don't think that there is much chance of problems on CL sites.
We bought an Rac Battery charger from argos for about £39. It has a trickle charge so we charge up our spare leisure battery that we use for our tv with this.
The caravans battery, We use the hookup and plug it into the house.
Whilst away this Bank Hol we discovered that our battery does not automatically re-charge when using hookup (it's only the second time we've been away in it and it was a new leisure battery).
Question is - do we go to the expense of having it changed so that it will charge up on EHU or do we leave it alone and simply charge up the battery after each trip? What would it cost to get it changed and is it an absolute must to use a trickle charger?
the charger that others have said from halfords states on it for leisure car or motor byck standard or sealed units have just charged mine and son in laws batt
i think it is good value and those that said to you about it must think the same
I've been to the van today and connected the battery up. Amazinglyit is showing a reading just below fully charged. It should get the fridge cool when I am on the move tomorrow. Actually the weather outlook does'nt look too bad.It's about time it picked up.
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Topic: My caravans battery.
