Battery flat can anybody help ?

Aerialmark

Aerialmark

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Hi
We are currently in northern Spain and have a problem. The cranking battery on the MH has gone flat in a matter of minutes when I plugged into the mains on the campsite. The onboard charger is saying that there is no mains connection when there is, the battery test lights on the panel are showing leisure battery fully charged but cranking battery is in the red and the 12v system ok light is flashing. I have disconnected from the mains but it’s still the same with the main battery. Has anybody any ideas ? . The engine will not now turn over in fact no lights will now come onto the dash and it looks like we will have to call for breakdown assistance.
 
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Unfortunately I have no jump leads just one of those power packs to start the car. I am keeping that in reserve in case nobody turns up on a Monday as we are very remote.
 
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I would ask the campsite owner if you can borrow one, he must know where there is one available. If it works then you need a new earth strap. Not hard to fit and not expensive.
 
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pappajohn said:
But hard to source in the middle of the Pyrenees. :doh: :D2
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Why not try a length or two of biggish electrical cable twisted together?

It may at least prove the theory about the earth strap.

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David and Sally said:
Why not try a length or two of biggish electrical cable twisted together?

It may at least prove the theory about the earth strap.
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Agreed, anything metallic will do. A garden spade, a metal bar, a large spanner... Anything which will fit between unpainted chassis and engine or gearbox.
I think the first item Aerialmark needs to buy when they reach civilisation is a multimeter and Google the various functions.
It saves a lot of grief and money.
Diagnostics by explanation online is seldom successful
 
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Aerialmark said:
Unfortunately I have no jump leads just one of those power packs to start the car. I am keeping that in reserve in case nobody turns up on a Monday as we are very remote.
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I didn't think the power packs had enough amps to start a MHome, probably OK for a car though.
 
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Good news from the Pyrenees. Thanks to your suggestions and help I have managed to get it going. I borrowed some tools from a Dutch chap and I have removed the battery from inside the cab. I cleaned the terminals spayed it a little WD40 and it started fist time. While I was on a roll I did the same with the leisure battery and managed to get the solar panel working. The only fault I have now is that the motorhome control panel does not recognise that its connected to the mains and says there is a 12v system fault but Im hoping we can have fixed when we get home. Also I have just noticed that the ctec charger trips out while charging it so there is still a fault somewhere. Hopefully we will finish our holiday and get it home a week tomorrow.
 
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pappajohn said:
I think the first item Aerialmark needs to buy when they reach civilisation is a multimeter and Google the various functions.
It saves a lot of grief and money.
Diagnostics by explanation online is seldom successful
Click to expand...
100% agreed, should be no.1 item in your MH toolbox :)
 
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The annoying thing is that I have one but it’s in my LandRover ?

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It may be because of the other problems the control panel electronics have failed... A common occurrence evidently.
There are companies that repair them cheaper than a new one.
Others will have more info
 
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Bart said:
100% agreed, should be no.1 item in your MH toolbox :)
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Aerialmark. Agreed here too. Cheap and cheerful but can save loads of time and hassle.
I'll bet you are so glad that you didn't part with you holiday dosh, for that new battery off the recovery guy. ;)

Glad to hear that you are on the road again. (y) BTW, does you panel possibly have a reset function on it, which needs taking into account when a battery is disconnected or replaced?

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
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Glad to here you have got it sorted enough to hopefully get you home. (y)
 
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Thankyou all very much for your help. I think I will tell the breakdown firm not to bother on Monday and take my chances getting back to Santander over the next week for our Sunday sailing.
 
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Aerialmark said:
The onboard charger is saying that there is no mains connection when there is,
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Grandma and eggs so forth, and apologies if I'm not keeping up but are you sure that there's power at the site's mains bollard?
Also, on some you need to turn your plug in the site's bollard socket to switch on the mains voltage.
Perhaps try a different outlet in the bollard or get another m/h owner to plug into your bollard's socket. Borrow his mains lead to try?
I'm not familiar with your m/h and I may be way off the line but if the mains isn't getting to your onboard charger that may be why it's showing a 12v fault. Some systems are too clever by half.
I realise that the fault was showing before the storm knocked out power but maybe the site's bollard or your m/h system panel or MCB has tripped and needs to be reset...........?
I suspect that the vehicle battery problem and your 12v issue may not be connected (by 'connected' I mean connected circumstantially, not electrically).

Aerialmark said:
The cranking battery on the MH has gone flat in a matter of minutes when I plugged into the mains on the campsite.
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It's highly likely that the cranking battery fault occurred whilst driving. I doubt that plugging in the mains had anything to do with your finding that it was flat 'in a matter of minutes after you had plugged in the mains'. Whilst driving the vehicle's alternator would power the vehicle's electrical needs whilst the cranking battery was duff but you wouldn't have noticed until trying to restart the vehicle.

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Always check the earth cable. I have a near 40 year-old 100hp tractor. A Case 956xl for those what know their tractors. A real beast.

For years it suffered with poor starting and “flat batteries”, almost impossible in the winter. I went through two or three new ones and they all died sooner or later. I assumed it was the alternator or a short, etc. Could never track it down.

Eventually I bought a new £20 earth strap (a right chunky truck one as battery is 850 cranking amps) and cleaned the chassis attachment to bright metal.

Fired up first time like a Ferrari and has been terrific ever since.

Here she is (Gladys)...just finished topping some fields today. Clearly a bit close to some trees though!

8583F9AF-6ED7-40E6-A022-469EECF69EDD.jpeg
 
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David and Sally said:
Oh no! Sorry.

But, is some stuff sensitive?
Click to expand...


Some are, the 12v/240 panel on the PVC we had would not charger the 12 volt or run anything 240v if it detected reversed polarity and shone a big red light in our face until it was happy with the 240v polarity.

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A bad connection on the starter battery can result in high voltages from the alternator, which may have generated some faults in the habitation electrics, including the panel. In theory they should be able to take such overvoltages, but maybe they couldn't stand it.
 
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Glas Robin said:
Always check the earth cable. I have a near 40 year-old 100hp tractor. A Case 956xl for those what know their tractors. A real beast.

For years it suffered with poor starting and “flat batteries”, almost impossible in the winter. I went through two or three new ones and they all died sooner or later. I assumed it was the alternator or a short, etc. Could never track it down.

Eventually I bought a new £20 earth strap (a right chunky truck one as battery is 850 cranking amps) and cleaned the chassis attachment to bright metal.

Fired up first time like a Ferrari and has been terrific ever since.

Here she is (Gladys)...just finished topping some fields today. Clearly a bit close to some trees though!

View attachment 323556
Click to expand...
OOh my favorite tractor as a kid. we still have it but now it has an extra external radiator for extra cooling and the boost turned up :D Still purrs like an angry kitten to this day..
 
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Spriddler said:
Grandma and eggs so forth, and apologies if I'm not keeping up but are you sure that there's power at the site's mains bollard?
Also, on some you need to turn your plug in the site's bollard socket to switch on the mains voltage.
Perhaps try a different outlet in the bollard or get another m/h owner to plug into your bollard's socket. Borrow his mains lead to try?
I'm not familiar with your m/h and I may be way off the line but if the mains isn't getting to your onboard charger that may be why it's showing a 12v fault. Some systems are too clever by half.
I realise that the fault was showing before the storm knocked out power but maybe the site's bollard or your m/h system panel or MCB has tripped and needs to be reset...........?
I suspect that the vehicle battery problem and your 12v issue may not be connected (by 'connected' I mean connected circumstantially, not electrically).


It's highly likely that the cranking battery fault occurred whilst driving. I doubt that plugging in the mains had anything to do with your finding that it was flat 'in a matter of minutes after you had plugged in the mains'. Whilst driving the vehicle's alternator would power the vehicle's electrical needs whilst the cranking battery was duff but you wouldn't have noticed until trying to restart the vehicle.
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I suspect you may be right. There is 240 volt power as the sockets are all working. I have moved my ehu to another power outlet and it’s still the same. I have also turned the 2 pin socket upside down to see if it is reversed polarity and again it’s still the same. I have decided to let the breakdown people come out and see if they can do a few checks but I am not letting it get towed away. I have tried it out at various stages tonight and it’s started with no bother every time. It is now showing 3/4 charge on the panel as is the leisure battery. There is another storm coming in as it’s just started to rain heavy and we can see the lightning in the distance. It was not due over Anso until 1 ish. Battening down the hatches as we speak.
 
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Could I perhaps re-mention resetting the control panel? They often work similarly to a computer i.e. rebooting them sorts them out. Not familiar with your van but if there's no reset option it's usually possible to access the connections on the back. If you can remove the panel - often the screws are hidden behind the bezel - you should find a multi-plug. Remove that, it will probably have some sort of catch that prevents accidental disconnection, and leave for a few minutes, then reconnect. Worked for me when my control panel started doing stupid things.
Disclaimer - you do this of course at your own risk, and might be an idea to disconnect mains hookup first and turn everything electrical off that you can.
 
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Hi All,
A slight digression or it might be good advice?
We had a similar problem in France a few years ago which led to hotel stays, cowboy garages and our motorhome FALLING OFF A LOW LOADER!!
Fortunately, we can laugh about it now.

One thing I learnt from that experience is that breakdown ins is focused more towards recovery than anything else unless it’s a simple problem. Most of the problems associated with motorhome breakdowns are electrical and ideally need an auto electrician rather than a recovery type call out. Having had a lengthy (tearful) conversation with our then ins company (RAC) they didn’t offer this option which would be far cheaper for them if they did do.

Anyway my point is, after I forcibly removed our motorhome from a back street french garage going nose to nose with John Wayne’s french cousin we retreated to an aire and then googled auto electricians in the area to which there were plenty.
One came out to us and fixed the problem (no indicators, horn,fuel gauge) which turned out to be a short. I think it cost me 60 euros in total, although I gave him a good tip and would probably have offered to have his babies if he’d have asked me!!

Sorry for long post but sometimes you can sort things like this out yourself if you think past the insurance and ask mr google.

Steve

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Fixed it ? I had nothing better to do yesterday so I took the onboard charger apart with my own limited tools and thought I found a dry joint. I managed to borrow a soldering iron this morning and resoldered the joint and it worked !!! Thankyou to all for your time and input as I would not have attempted it without a little prior knowledge. Let’s hope the second part of out hols goes better than the first. Thankyou all.
 
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