Our Bailey Senator is fitted with a fairly new 110AH leisure battery. I have removed it from the caravan and charged it several times over the winter and we used the 'van in February when the battery was working fine.
When getting ready to come away yesterday I was getting a reading of 11.4v on my ammeter so I put the battery on charge for about 5 hours on my Halford "fully automatic" charger - which gives a charge rater of 1.5-7 amps on automatic. The battery was then reading 12.7+ and had sufficient charge to move the caravan up our sloping drive. We then hooked up and drove at 50+mph to the C&C site at Keswick. When we arrived at Keswick I used the motor mover a ONLY little to position the 'van. When we got in the 'van, on hookup, the 12v lights were much dimmer than usual and dimmed more when we used the water pump. Overnight the battery did seem to have charged up a little and the lights were a bit brighter. However the lights quickly dimmed. I unplugged the electric hookup and have taken the battery out and the warden has put on charge on the same Halford's charger as I have at home. It was put on charge at 11.00am and so will have been on charge for 7 hours if I collect it 6.00pm.
I KNOW that the battery needs to be on charge for longer than I have had it on charge yesterday and today to fully charge it but is it likely to be usable tonight?
Should the battery have charged up more as we were driving up here, ie, from the car alternator?
Should the battery have charged up more overnight last night from the built-in caravan battery charger?
Can I use mains hookup without a battery in the caravan, ie, to run the mains lights tonight so that I can leave the battery on charge with the warden?
At the moment we are using gas for heating. We were using gas for the fridge too but it went off and without an electricity supply we couldn't relight it- Our frozen food is in the warden's fridge!!!!
Can I use mains hookup without a battery in the caravan, ie, to run the mains lights tonight so that I can leave the battery on charge with the warden?
yes you can make sure the cables can not touch each other,could be wrong but it sounds like your battery is not holding charge.check also there is 13.5 to 14.5 volts going to the battery on hookup.if not check for a charger fault. see battery charging
A reading of 11.4 volts is a very flat battery and could take a long time to fully recharge. Was the reading of 12.7 volts taken immediately after you disconnected the charger? - if so, it will probably give a higher reading that actual. Ideally you should take the reading about an hour after it's been charging.
Sounds like a dodgy battery. If the battery was showing 12.7 after charging it sounds like it isnt charging properly. If you are on hookup your on board charger should bring it up to full charge fairly quickly = If it dosent I suggest you get the battery checked
------------- hawk
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone"
I have the body of a greek god - its in my freezer
Thanks everyone for the advice which was very helpful. I have put the battery back in the 'van - it was on charge in the warden's workshop for 7 hours and my multimeter gave a reading of 12.7 volts when I picked it up. I know that's not long enough to charge the battery properly but I was unsure as to whether I could use the ehu without the battery and I didn't want to site in the dark tonight LOL.
I was unable to check out the later forum answers or I would have left it on charge and used the ehu without the battery overnight. Unfortunately as my laptop battery ran out and I could only use it to check the later answers again after I'd reinstalled the battery.
Thanks to Caravan Forum answers I have now learnt that I can use the ehu without the battery connected. I, also, followed the CT advice and checked the fuses. The battery fuse was okay but the "car" one had blown. That explains why the battery had not charged whilst we were "thundering" up the motorway last night.
It's too cold and dark to be checking the current across the battery terminals now but I'll do so in the morning. If the battery is not coping I'll put it back on charge at the warden's here tomorrow, cover the battery connectors, and use the ehu without the battery while it charges for 24 hours. If it stays charged overnight I'll give it a good charge when I get home next week and then leave it connected to the charger to maintain the charge.
I'm still not sure if the caravan charger and battery are okay but I'll check that out asap.
Thanks again to all who posted CT has come up trumps again.
Now I just hope the weather will improve and so that we can enjoy the rest of our hols and not get flooded out of the site. Derwent Water has advance considerably up the site during today and Reception is refusing all new arrivals unless pre-booked.!!!
Now I just hope the weather will improve and so that we can enjoy the rest of our hols and not get flooded out of the site. Derwent Water has advance considerably up the site during today and Reception is refusing all new arrivals unless pre-booked.!!!
we have been flooded off keswick site,not nice.only had thirty minutes to pack and leave.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
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Topic: Caravan battery problems
