Hi all,maybe a really silly question,but we're going away on Saturday for a week,on ehu.We went away non-ehu a couple of weeks ago,and realised our battery was on its way out.Have been out to the van,and its currently on 7.4.Can any damage be done to anything by using the battery on ehu as it is?And what setting should it be on (we have car,van,or middle position).
When on EHU your battery condition is not really important and nothing uses it (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong)that is other than you 12v lighting but you'll have your 240v lights to use. The switch should be set to van when on EHU. Set to car when towing to charge your battery and work the fridge on 12v whilst travelling (remembering to switch the fridge to 12v) Maybe it'll get up to full charge on your journey. Hope this makes sense
Hope you have a good trip
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The battery may over heat if its on the way out and at worse could explode.I recomened you get a new one as not using a battery may cause an instability withe certain things like,the blow heating.May i suggest you read some replies on the subject of a battery here..Click
Our battery charges when we are on hook up.We always go hook up, only need the battery for our motor mover,plus back up.It may be the battery just needs charging up.
Quote: Originally posted by Rallye550 on 11/8/2011
Set to car when towing to charge your battery and work the fridge on 12v whilst travelling (remembering to switch the fridge to 12v)
The car position on this 3 way switch is for drawing power from the tow vehicle battery while pitched (electrics connected to car of course); on post 1999 caravans with habitation relays the position of this switch should not make a difference to the caravan battery being charged while towing, on some earlier caravans this switch has to be in the centre position in order for the battery to be charged - this often applied when using on EHU as well
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Theoretically the battery is just a capacitor on EHU to protect the charger from power surges. However, if there is a cell down, the charger will be continually trying to charge it. This will cause both battery and charger to get hot. If this goes on for a while 1 of 3 things will happen. Hopefully it will blow a fuse, but it could burn the charger out or cause the battery to explode. Having seen a battery explode, throwing acid everywhere, I would get another battery, even if you borrow it off your car before connecting the EHU.
Quote: Originally posted by Jendelwin on 11/8/2011
Hi all,maybe a really silly question,but we're going away on Saturday for a week,on ehu.We went away non-ehu a couple of weeks ago,and realised our battery was on its way out.Have been out to the van,and its currently on 7.4.Can any damage be done to anything by using the battery on ehu as it is?And what setting should it be on (we have car,van,or middle position).
Jen
Put the selector on "van" and leave it there.
As Rune said, "car" is only for emergency use from the car. Centre position isolates the 12v, but it's not necessary to use this position at all.
Quote: Originally posted by jennifernn on 11/8/2011
Quote: Originally posted by Jendelwin on 11/8/2011
Hi all,maybe a really silly question,but we're going away on Saturday for a week,on ehu.We went away non-ehu a couple of weeks ago,and realised our battery was on its way out.Have been out to the van,and its currently on 7.4.Can any damage be done to anything by using the battery on ehu as it is?And what setting should it be on (we have car,van,or middle position).
Jen
Put the selector on "van" and leave it there.
As Rune said, "car" is only for emergency use from the car. Centre position isolates the 12v, but it's not necessary to use this position at all.
So does this mean if we have it in the middle position,we are bypassing the battery and it should be ok then?
As Rune said, "car" is only for emergency use from the car. Centre position isolates the 12v, but it's not necessary to use this position at all.
So does this mean if we have it in the middle position,we are bypassing the battery and it should be ok then?
Hi Jendelwin, NO with switch in centre position the battery will be isolated from all your 12volt system, and your battery will not charge while you are towing the van. The Van sign on switch, put to van when you hook up to EHU, the battery will charge from the vans battery charger. Put switch to car when towing, and fridge to 12v, this will charge the battery and run fridge while car engine is running. Battery on way out 7.5v, if you have one of those smart chargers, you could take out battery and put on smart charge charger, there was a post on here where the battery was brought back to life after charging on the smart charger, work a try.
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If in Doubt Check it Out.
This isn't quite right, you only need to select Car when powering the caravan from the car battery when pitched .
Normally you set the caravan to Van when travelling and pitched ( you should still select 12volts on the fridge when travelling )( we tend to fill a cool box with all our fridge stuff rather than power the fridge from the car ).
When in storage , if you have a middle position on the switch, set your caravan to it ( the middle position is Off , this position saves your battery as it stops it powering the caravans relays ) .
Jendelwin......This is from the Swift website caravan handbook......
Caravan position
When in this position dc power is available
from the caravan battery to power all 12 volt
electric circuits. If the charger is switched
on, the caravan battery will be charged up
via the charger/transformer unit.
Central position
When in this position with the charger switch
on, power is provided to all 12 volt circuits
via the charger/transformer only. With the
charger off, all dc circuits are isolated. Note:
The switch should be placed in this position
when the van is being towed.
Car position
The switch can be placed in this position
should the caravan battery become
discharged and no mains power is available.
Note: First of all the towing vehicle should be
electrically connected to the caravan via the
12S socket.
Although it says to tow in the mid position, this is not essential.
So, following this advice, if you use central position, you by-pass the battery and use direct from the charger. As you surmised.
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Topic: Will it do damage?
