Leisure battery drain ?

I had a battery drain a while back even when everything was switched off, I used a similar tool to this to test all the circuits and found two circuits were drawing 5A. This turned out to be loose wiring on the ECU and easily rectified. I have both the standard and mini blade fuse tools now:

Amazon product ASIN B001SBFZK0
 
autorouter said:
Basically I agree, but it's not actually in float mode. That would show about 13.8V not 14.5V,
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And the panel is showing 14.5v which is why I said it seems to be in float mode
 
Geistguy said:
I've attached to photos showing the state of the battery, after 24 hours the capacity has only gone up by 1% and this morning showing 0 ah input. Does this point to a duff charger unit ?

Battery now been on mains hopk up for three days and only increased from 37% to 59%.
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A damaged or tired battery can lose capacity due to sulphation. The bits that aren’t sulphated will still charge up to a normal voltage and the charger would properly change into the float charge mode. However your 130Ah battery might now only be capable of holding 77Ah (59%). Some chargers have a de-sulphation mode which send pulses of higher volts to try and shift the sulphates off the plates and recover the battery.
 
SMB said:
I had a battery drain a while back even when everything was switched off, I used a similar tool to this to test all the circuits and found two circuits were drawing 5A. This turned out to be loose wiring on the ECU and easily rectified. I have both the standard and mini blade fuse tools now:

Amazon product ASIN B001SBFZK0
Click to expand...
I'm not seeing the item you have posted other than an error code. Is it possible this is downloaded from an active Amazon account !
 
PhilandMena said:
I'm not seeing the item you have posted other than an error code. Is it possible this is downloaded from an active Amazon account !
Click to expand...
No its copied from a webpage rather than an app and I wasn't signed in, I'll try again!

Amazon product ASIN B001SBFZK0

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In bulk charge at 14.5v with a suspected 25% battery, should be a LOT more than 0.2 amps flow.
I would suspect the battery at this stage but without further investigation with an actual volt meter on the battery itself, I wouldn't trust that control panel as far as I could throw it.
Do you have a multi meter?
Are you able to take readings at the battery with negative disconnected and left to sit for 30 mins?
 
SMB said:
I had a battery drain a while back even when everything was switched off, I used a similar tool to this to test all the circuits and found two circuits were drawing 5A. This turned out to be loose wiring on the ECU and easily rectified. I have both the standard and mini blade fuse tools now:

Amazon product ASIN B001SBFZK0
Click to expand...


You say easy fix. Was the ECU in the main electric control box ?
 
Jo662 said:
You say easy fix. Was the ECU in the main electric control box ?
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The ECU is the main control box though I didn't fix it myself (I've no idea about electrics and most other moho systems) but the technician who did said it was just loose wires and took two minutes. The circuit tester itself is very easy to use though.

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SMB said:
The ECU is the main control box though I didn't fix it myself (I've no idea about electrics and most other moho systems) but the technician who did said it was just loose wires and took two minutes. The circuit tester itself is very easy to use though.
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that sounds exactly like the problem I have at the moment.Thanks for the info?
 
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HandyAndy Is 14.5 a bit high for charging?

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Hi Sue, you can see from the V max figure at the bottom what my solar puts in when on bulk charge roughly 14.4v.
Screenshot_20191109-132917.png

Cheers
Ed
 
An update and hopefully the end of my "problem "

The technician at the dealer asked me to test the battery with a multimeter, firstly with no charge input at all when the battery read 12.84v, then with the engine running it read 14.1v, lastly with hook up connected it read 14.3v. This indicates that the charger is working satisfactory.

I then had the battery tested and this test proved the battery was in good order.

Finally I monitored the battery with no charge or drain at all, after 24 hours it read 12.6v and after 48 hours 12.1v, apparently this is acceptable. I was told there would be a very small drain due to the Xperience tablets memory needing an amount of power.

In short I have perhaps been worried by the variations in the battery symbol which are not really relevant to the battery state and could be being fooled by the fact my battery is 135ah and I can only set it at 130ah or 140ah.

The battery technician agreed with the dealer so with my very limited knowledge I have to accept their opinions.

Thanks to everyone for their input and advice.
 
Well, the above readings confirm your battery charger, alternator and Hook up are working as they should which is good news and I'm of the view that's about as far as it goes. I'm fairly confident the test your battery was subjected too was a Cold Cranking Test, which is the test required for a starter battery and about as much use as a chocolate teapot for testing a Leisure Battery. Your leisure battery falling to 12.1 V (This is just over 25% charged )from being fully charged after 48 hrs (assuming no drain on the battery) is not good and if the technician told you this is acceptable he is pulling the wool over your eye's. You either have a drain on your leisure battery or it's had its day. If the battery was disconnected when you measured these voltages, then it's had it.
 
Geistguy said:
Radio and 12v van sockets only work when in "Aux" position on Xperience tablet so never left on, again thanks. TV not on standby either.
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Presume its a car radio, if so most have two power inputs, one to power the radio when in use, and one to keep the settings memory going. If it has the latter, then that is not switched off at all so will represent a small current drain.
 
Reading your post again, I'm of the view that perhaps the dealer and technician have not actual seen the motorhome and the test was undertaken at a local garage perhaps ! I think your dealer needs to see your motorhome and explain to you why your charger, as shown in the pictures you have posted on this thread is putting in less than one Amp when the battery is on charge and only 58% charged. It simply does not make sense. Your battery is almost flat and you believe everything is OK ! You need to get this sorted otherwise your going to end up putting in a new battery for it to all happen again.

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Whoops ! an error on my part. 12.1 V is around 50 % Charged not 25%. Still not right though and needs to be resolved. (y)
 
After 2 weeks standing my engine battery was showing 12.3v and I know it is powering the ecu, a tracker and an alarm. 12.1v after 2 days sounds a very quick drop off. If it started off at 12.8v and dropped to 12.1v then I would say there is either an unknown load or the battery is sulphated. My guess would be sulphation. Drop tests and voltages alone will not give you the answer, a measured load over 24 hours on a disconnected battery would be more meaningful.
 
I have to agree with Phil PhilandMena .
Geistguy said:
I then had the battery tested and this test proved the battery was in good order.
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Unless a controlled discharge was undertaken which will take a couple of days there is no way the battery could have had a test that would show it's condition for lesiure use.
If the battery was tested in a few minutes it would have been a CCA test which is meaningless for a leisure battery.
I have had leisure batteries pass a CCA test with an 80% pass rate but on a low discharge of 5 amps (leisure use) were only capable of supplying 10a/h.

Geistguy said:
Finally I monitored the battery with no charge or drain at all, after 24 hours it read 12.6v and after 48 hours 12.1v, apparently this is acceptable. I was told there would be a very small drain due to the Xperience tablets memory needing an amount of power.
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That is totally unacceptable, either there is a higher than normal current drain or the battery is duff.
Even if in standby the system has a high drain of say 400 - 500ma it would take 6 - 7 days to reach 50% DOD not 48 hours.

Your figures suggest the system is drawing over 1.4 amps in standby. My experience of systems with LCD panels is with the panel "on" current raw is around 400ma. With the panel in standby 150- 200ma.

Your system is drawing 10 times what I would expect.
 
Last edited:
I can almost smell the bullplop you and being fed from here

Like I suspected and said early on in the thread, I still say that battery is a duffer !!
 
As I have said before I am not tech savvy but appreciate all of the comments.

The battery test was done by my neighbour, a forces trained auto engineer who was trained and specialised in auto electrics, and fellow motorhomer. To be honest I would trust him more than any garage.

The dealer sent the Xperience photos to Pilote and their opinion is that all is ok.

We use the van all year round so I will continue to monitor the situation until it goes to the dealer for the first habitation service.

Thanks again everyone.

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Geistguy said:
The battery test was done by my neighbour, a forces trained auto engineer who was trained and specialised in auto electrics, and fellow motorhomer. To be honest I would trust him more than any garage.
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How did he test it?
Geistguy said:
The dealer sent the Xperience photos to Pilote and their opinion is that all is ok.
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If the battery is OK it must be drawing far higher current than is acceptable and they are just fobbing you off.
 
Geistguy said:
As I have said before I am not tech savvy but appreciate all of the comments.

The battery test was done by my neighbour, a forces trained auto engineer who was trained and specialised in auto electrics, and fellow motorhomer. To be honest I would trust him more than any garage.

The dealer sent the Xperience photos to Pilote and their opinion is that all is ok.

We use the van all year round so I will continue to monitor the situation until it goes to the dealer for the first habitation service.

Thanks again everyone.
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Members on here have tried to advise you that you have a problem, either with your battery or your system. The evidence that something is wrong is quite overwhelming yet you choose to reject it. You know the old saying 'If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got' Best of luck going forward, I assure you this problem is not only going to continue but will in fact get worse. After you fit a new replacement battery, you will be ok for a short while and then your likely going to see this problem all over again if its a system related problem! Hopefully your neighbour will be able to sort it out for you as your dealer says everything is ok.
 
PhilandMena said:
Well, the above readings confirm your battery charger, alternator and Hook up are working as they should which is good news and I'm of the view that's about as far as it goes. I'm fairly confident the test your battery was subjected too was a Cold Cranking Test, which is the test required for a starter battery and about as much use as a chocolate teapot for testing a Leisure Battery. Your leisure battery falling to 12.1 V (This is just over 25% charged )from being fully charged after 48 hrs (assuming no drain on the battery) is not good and if the technician told you this is acceptable he is pulling the wool over your eye's. You either have a drain on your leisure battery or it's had its day. If the battery was disconnected when you measured these voltages, then it's had it.
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That is exactly the problem I have and still have. Something is not right as it should not drain like that ,and I am still waiting for an electrician to look at mine.
 
Jo662 said:
That is exactly the problem I have and still have. Something is not right as it should not drain like that ,and I am still waiting for an electrician to look at mine.
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Perhaps you would be kind enough to post here how this finally pans out. ! I'm sure it would be helpful to other members.
 
PhilandMena said:
Perhaps you would be kind enough to post here how this finally pans out. ! I'm sure it would be helpful to other members.
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I will do if and when I get it sorted?

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