I have a new caravan with a fitted tracker and alarm which requires me to have the caravan battery on the van all the time. My storage area for the van is in the countryside where it tends to be very cold during the winter.
I have had to visit the van several times over the winter to recharge the battery which is a 110amp/hr battery, when it has dropped to 10 volts (the nice tracking people phone me) . The battery compartment is very snug with no room for insulation. The drain on the battery from the alarm and tracker is minimal but clearly the battery suffers in the depths of winter.I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and if so, how was it resolved?
I have considered moving the battery to a safe part of the living area in the van to properly insulate it with expanded polystyrene but I'm not sure how succesful it would be.
Hi chaps, yes, in an ideal world, it would be inside a nice warm building keeping it nice and snug. unfortunately, needs must.
The solar panel option is worth a thought but the practicality means it goes onto a slidy roof in the winter. I would prefer not to damage the skin of the van with something which may not stay there - and there are always light fingers wherever you go.
Had a very similar problem last year, we collected the van after the winter period and had to use the mover to get it on our drive prior to going away, the battery was well flat and had to charge it up. After that I prurchased a cheap Solar Panel from Maplin. It has done the trick as I fetched it back last weekend and the Mover worked a treat.
BTW we don't have a tracker so you may need to get a slightly higher wattage.
Our panel has suction pads on and just sits on the roof with no drilling required.
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