Rally Chat Flat battery!

BossyBus

BossyBus

Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Posts
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75,377
MH
Autotrail Tracker
Exp
18 months
Have just gone out to show friends our autotrail tracker and couldn’t get the key fob to open anything! She is plugged into the mains but when I checked it says vehicle battery really poor. The engine battery is flat as a pancake. Any ideas why that would have happened please? I thought when van plugged in, it should charge both vehicle and leisure battery?
 
Whether or not the EHU charges both batteries a good engine battery should hold its charge for at least a week or two. I'd start with verifying the engine battery voltage with a meter. It could be that the battery is knackered. They can work perfectly then just die completely.
When you have the meter on the battery terminals it may show 'good' but keep the meter on the battery and put say, the headlights on. If the voltage drops considerably the battery is stuffed.
 
1.Have you made sure the Sargent unit is switched ..
2. Ensure that the control panel has been set to "smart charge" to allow both batteries to be charged.
3. Read the manual (y) Copy will be on the Sargent website.

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Also possible something may have failed to go off and be drawing power, I would advise getting an auto electrician to check it.
 
1.
Turn everything off. Mains and all the switches on the sargent unit including the breakers so it is all dead.
2.
Make a brew. G&T. Or large whisky.
3.
Turn mains on then power up the sargent unit.
4.
Switch everything on.
5.
Check display and see the charging current.
6.
If no charging current check fuses in both the sargent unit (F6. F7. ) and the interface box in the floor behind the drivers seat (F1).
7.
If still nothing get an auto electrician.

It is unusual that all batteries are drained.
Occasionally it has been known for the sargent unit to get confused and resetting can work but it looks to me that the charger is not working so check everything including the fuse in the mains lead.
 
The Ex-Gasman said:
Also possible something may have failed to go off and be drawing power, I would advise getting an auto electrician to check it.
Click to expand...

Autotrail have a small drain even with everything turned off.
On my Apache 700 with the EC500 it was 0.2amps. I queried this with Sargent and they said that was normal. Having the solar (120w) set to smart charge and leaving the sargent unit turned on kept the batteries topped up most of the time. Deepest winter i did have to give it a quick EHU top up if not used for 3-4 weeks. (y)
 
I read it that it's the starter (vehicle) battery that's the problem, not the leisure one(s).
BossyBus said:
....when I checked it says vehicle battery really poor. The engine battery is flat as a pancake.
Click to expand...

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Well I finally found the vehicle battery under the floor in the cab! The leisure battery is fine but vehicle one flat - not even an ignition light. I’ve looked at EC 500 unit and not sure I understand the first thing about a Sargent??? I was alarmed to see several wire connections to the positive on the vehicle battery so not sure how easy it will be to get a set of jump leads on there but will give that a go first! I noticed when I got on van that the head unit was on - not sure if that would drain battery???
 
Unfortunately if the engine battery has been allowed to really flatten then, even if you can restart the MH, the battery is probably damaged and won't reliably hold any charge. You should expect to replace it.

If the battery is really flat, you may need to leave jump leads connected for a few minutes (donor vehicle engine not running, but don't leave it so long that that goes flat too), so some charge can be transferred.

Even with your MH all secured and locked up there will be a small drain on the batteries. There are alarm systems running, and some things have a tiny charge just to maintain electronic chip memories. Most batteries simply loose stored energy over time simply from the chemistry involved.
 
The head unit will certainly kill your battery dead if left on. So much so, I moved mine to the leisure batteries.
 
Most Sargent systems are quite basic (I've spent quite some of money improving the electrics on my van).

The EC500 may be capable of charging both leisure and engine batteries when you are on EHU or solar. You should also get a charge when driving. There is no facility if there is no charge source for the leisure to top up the discharging engine battery.
 
BossyBus said:
Well I finally found the vehicle battery under the floor in the cab! The leisure battery is fine but vehicle one flat - not even an ignition light. I’ve looked at EC 500 unit and not sure I understand the first thing about a Sargent??? I was alarmed to see several wire connections to the positive on the vehicle battery so not sure how easy it will be to get a set of jump leads on there but will give that a go first! I noticed when I got on van that the head unit was on - not sure if that would drain battery???
Click to expand...
If you wish to jump start it there are connections under the bonnet for this, you don’t need to connect direct to the battery.

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Thanks for all your help - where will the jump start connections be under the bonnet please?
 
BossyBus said:
Thanks for all your help - where will the jump start connections be under the bonnet please?
Click to expand...
Depends on base vehicle model and year - the manual will show you where to connect. On most Fiat/Citroen/Peugeot type there will be a bolt sticking up marked as ground. Then on the right hand side of the engine compartment will be a plastic flap with a battery positive indicator and a flat metal tab under it.
 
Geo said:
It does when the charger is switched ON :doh:
Click to expand...
My mate always did that. Plugged van in & never turned on the Ec500 Sargent unit.:doh: I gave up telling him. Then last year both leisures dead. He fitted 2 x new ones & only one was kaput so the other is in my van & has been for 15 months & the other I weighed in
Landy Andy said:
If you wish to jump start it there are connections under the bonnet for this, you don’t need to connect direct to the battery.
Click to expand...
On my transit I couldn't jump off another vehicle using them even with the addition of another fully charged 120AH battery as well. AA man turned up & when straight on the nder seat battery. He said the nder bonnet points weren't worth a toss on the Transit
 
After reading this thread I went on a search under my bonnet yesterday and couldn't find any jump start connections. (Mercedes Sprinter 2017).
A couple of months ago the vehicle battery was flat. (Leisure batteries fully charged). I'd forgotten to turn the control panel off and it had been left with "vehicle battery " chosen.
Local garage jump started it straight off the battery (under floor in cab) when I told him it was there. (Never opened bonnet, hence why out of curiosity I checked yesterday).
Started immediately off his land rover. At his suggestion I drove it to the garage for further checks, only 5mins drive. When checked ( presumably with a multimeter) as soon as we got there it was showing fully charged. No problems since.
Googlebot said:
The head unit will certainly kill your battery dead if left on. So much so, I moved mine to the leisure batteries.
Click to expand...
What's the head unit? Is it the control panel? Since this episode I always check that it's left on leisure.

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Wendo55 said:
After reading this thread I went on a search under my bonnet yesterday and couldn't find any jump start connections. (Mercedes Sprinter 2017).
A couple of months ago the vehicle battery was flat. (Leisure batteries fully charged). I'd forgotten to turn the control panel off and it had been left with "vehicle battery " chosen.
Local garage jump started it straight off the battery (under floor in cab) when I told him it was there. (Never opened bonnet, hence why out of curiosity I checked yesterday).
Started immediately off his land rover. At his suggestion I drove it to the garage for further checks, only 5mins drive. When checked ( presumably with a multimeter) as soon as we got there it was showing fully charged. No problems since.

What's the head unit? Is it the control panel? Since this episode I always check that it's left on leisure.
Click to expand...

The radio or stereo.
 
Wendo55 said:
After reading this thread I went on a search under my bonnet yesterday and couldn't find any jump start connections. (Mercedes Sprinter 2017).
A couple of months ago the vehicle battery was flat. (Leisure batteries fully charged). I'd forgotten to turn the control panel off and it had been left with "vehicle battery " chosen.
Local garage jump started it straight off the battery (under floor in cab) when I told him it was there. (Never opened bonnet, hence why out of curiosity I checked yesterday).
Started immediately off his land rover. At his suggestion I drove it to the garage for further checks, only 5mins drive. When checked ( presumably with a multimeter) as soon as we got there it was showing fully charged. No problems since.

What's the head unit? Is it the control panel? Since this episode I always check that it's left on leisure.
Click to expand...

you are looking for something like this Wendy, yours is a lot newer than ours, but this is one I found on google images , loads of videos on there as well 👍

1CBFAE0F-6A54-46F3-8F91-AA3AB4014C76.jpeg


You push back the plastic disk to expose the pillar
 
Brilliant help from you all! It’s a good point about whether the control panel is switched to vehicle battery - I need to check that. It’s thrashing it down with rain so my plan to try and jump start today currently on hold! The ‘head’ unit (if I understand right) is the music/camera/ Sat nav/ tv unit. When I bought the Autotrail the unit was on its way out do I replaced with a Panasonic but I think if I open the van it switches the unit on and then I don’t think about switching off. I need to sort that or it’s gonna keep draining the battery
 

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