We have just got back from our first trip away in our new to us, but 2001 caravan.
We were connected to the mains with a new leisure battery too.
The pump and lights started to stop working yesterday and we thought it a problem with the pump and another with the lights. We realised when we got home when the motor mover wouldn't work, that the battery was drained. Luckily we had a charged spare at home.
My question is, why didn't the battery charge? What is most likely to be the problem and how do we look for it and rectify it?
Sounds like the battery charger isn't working, check the voltage at the battery changes when the charger is switched on. If there is no power from the charger check for blown fuses first then delve deeper as you may need a new charger unit.
The easy way to check to see if the onboard charger is functioning correctly is to connect up a voltmeter to the corresponding battery terminals (no battery connected), turn on the charger power and see what the voltmeter reading is. It should be between 13.8 to 14.0 volts so if it's anything less then it proves that the charger is defective. That's exactly how I found out my charger was defective on my previous caravan as the reading was less than 1 volt. I replaced the unit at a cost of around a hundred quid, checked the reading from the new charger which was 14.0 volts.
In addition to the useful suggestions above, might I suggest that you either update your profile to show what van you have, or perhaps post the info back as a reply; it's possible you'll then receive advice more specific to your caravan, eg there have been common faults with some vans in the past.
I've had a quick look. I have a mains isolator that is switched on, where is the battery charger? Any idea on make to look for where? Is it the auxillary fuse on the fuse box?
I have looked where all the electrical connections are, there is nothing which looks like a seperate connection to anything. Could it be in the actual control panel on the wall?
You should have an external hatch giving access to the battery. In there will be the battery and probably the mains EHU hook-up socket. Also in there it's likely you have an isolator.
The isolator should serve the motor mover and if it is off should not isolate the 12 volt inside the caravan.
Inside the caravan, near this box will be a 230volt consumer unit with a series of trip switched. One will be bigger than the others and will be the incoming trip switch. It should have a push to test button on it which is the RCD. The other trip switches, Probably two, are MCBs and will feed the 230 volt circuits.
All trips should be up to be on.
Near this consumer unit or even as a part of it will be a box with lots of small fuses in. There could be 12 or so of these. They are the 12volt fuses and there will be one for each piece of equipment.
There may be a very small and difficult to see switch near this equipment. This may well be a master 12volt switch which will isolate the 12 volt in the van and very likely stop the battery being charged.
I don't know your van so aren't sure on this. There maty be a separate control panel in or on the wardrobe or by the door with a series of switches. Maybe one for lights, one for pump, one for master 12volt switch as I just described above.
On our consumer unit there are as you say, 3 trip switches, several fuses, a 12v on/off switch (which we had "on" while connected to mains. There is a seperate mains isolator switch which has a test button on it.
Hi Nanna, looking at bob's link it looks as if my listing was right except you don't have a pump switch or separate control panel as in my last paragraph.
Bobs link says the charging should be completely automatic when you connect the EHU and switch on the trip switches and main isolator. (All switches up)
Therefore it sounds like the charger is faulty. It will most likely be located along with the electrical you have found inside the van.
Caravan systems did change over the years and yours from 2001 is now 18 years old. I had a 1999 Bailey Ranger which was much as you have described and the charger was a separate box connected by cables and to the electrical unit. The connection was via a plug.
One day the electricity board had a fault which wiped out our entire housing estate's electronic equipment including our caravan charger. We were able to get another from the dealer and simply unplug the old and plug in the new. The electricity board payed the £100 or so it cost.
I think you need to get someone to look at it or do the testing as others have suggested.
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Topic: 12v when hooked up
via mobile 21/4/2019 at 2:20pm
