Starter battery on Carthago 138 location and charging problem from B2B

[tufty]

Can anyone advise where the starter battery is located on our Carthgo 138 (2018) please so we can check it & the wiring to it with a multimeter.

We had a problem setting off this morning. The starter battery was only reading 11.4V & lithium fogstar battery reading 13.2V on the Victron app. Solar has been keeping everything topped up till yesterday (daily full sun in Alicante area atm). We have been stopped for 4 nights with no electric hook up. We have 200w solar, lithium, 3kw inverter & B2B all fitted by Vanbitz this year & been working fine. The TV was on last night (media switch off overnight) & we charged 2 electric bikes for a couple of hours. We have used the van in exactly the same way previously with no problem. We have now managed to connect to electrical hook up which has fully charged leisure batteries but starter battery only gets to 11.7 & and doesn't charge further.

We are trying to solve the problem to see if the battery is knackered or whether we have a different electric problem.

Any ideas are appreciated.

D
Edited to add a photo. Our B2B charger has no lights on. Could this be the problem? If so what's the fix?

 

[Landy Andy]

If it is the van in your picture, by your forum name, then your starter battery is under the passengers feet.

First thing I would check is that the reading is correct. Stick a multi meter onto your van battery and see what that reads.

 

[tufty]

Thanks, that was our last van Hymer 414t. It was written off in a rear end collision unfortunately & I haven't changed the photo

 

[berni109]

Undoubtedly there is a trickle charger to keep the vehicle battery topped up but they generally only kick in when the hab battery reaches near to fully charged. If you have been taking loads out of the hab battery maybe it's not got back to full and so none diverted to the vehicle battery.
Vehicle battery while on hookup should be reading at least 13v

 

[tufty]

Undoubtedly there is a trickle charger to keep the vehicle battery topped up but they generally only kick in when the hab battery reaches near to fully charged. If you have been taking loads out of the hab battery maybe it's not got back to full and so none diverted to the vehicle battery.
Vehicle battery while on hookup should be reading at least 13v

Thanks, the lithium battery is now back to full on hook up but it never really dropped that low. Starter battery is still not charging though &
the B2B unit has no lights on so we r now wondering if that's the problem. If so we don't know how to fix it.

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[berni109]

Have you found the vehicle/starter battery?
Do you have a multimeter?

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

2018 battery, that could well be goosed by now. If it's the Fiat, their quite often below the passengers foot space under a lift out cover. Fiat were still fitting maintained batteries as late as 2019 [ I had one] so without any maintenance like fluid top ups the plates will have sulphated leading to flat battery.
Mike.

 

[tufty]

Have you found the vehicle/starter battery?
Do you have a multimeter?

No we still haven't found the starter battery, looked in floor lockers, side lockers under seats, garage, engine. It's a mystery atm. We have a multimeter but not much good if we can't find the battery.

Edit.....just found it under front passenger under footwell thanks to BouncyBoatFolk
Can now test & se if it.it's getting a charge from B2B

 

[tufty]

2018 battery, that could well be goosed by now. If it's the Fiat, their quite often below the passengers foot space under a lift out cover. Fiat were still fitting maintained batteries as late as 2019 [ I had one] so without any maintenance like fluid top ups the plates will have sulphated leading to flat battery.
Mike.

Thanks yes its a Fiat, will have a look there. I think you're right battery probably no good now so will need to source another from somewhere once we find it & know what type it is.
We also still need to understand if we have a problem with the B2B charging the battery.

Edit....found the battery where u said under front passenger footwell. Thanks so much. Husband will now test with multimeter & trace the wiring back to the B2B to see if it's receiving a charge

 

[Lenny HB]

You may have two problems, a flat starter battery any a B2B that is not working.

Do you have a pioneer head unit and does the TV sound run through it. If so if you don't turn the media switch of at night a flat starter battery is very common.

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[tufty]

You may have two problems, a flat starter battery any a B2B that is not working.

Do you have a pioneer head unit and does the TV sound run through it. If so if you don't turn the media switch of at night a flat starter battery is very common.

Thanks. Yes we have a pioneer unit. We had TV on last night (& were also charging e bikes whilst not on hook up) but media switch is always turned off after use. Lithium didnt go below 13.2V.
We are now trying to see if it's the B2B problem but don't really know how to test it. There's no lights on the B2B but no buttons or switches to try.

 

[tufty]

We have got the B2B charger working now....not sure why it suddenly started charging the battery as he had tried it many times this morning. Husband was getting his hair off with it & giving it one last try kept pressing the button & eventually it sprung to life. Time will tell if the battery charges enough to start the engine or whether a new battery is needed. Also we don't know why or when the B2B charger went off. Will keep fingers crossed for a good result.

We are in the Jalon Valley & need to get moving as we have little supplies now & also need to refill our allugas. We would cycle to a shop but we have 3 bike punctures from yesterday from cycling through vineyards & lots of little prickly things on the ground we didn't notice.

That was another job for Mick. He has earned his wine now while we wait to see if the battery takes charge.

Photo is of yesterday's problem

 

[ChrisL]

Depending on how it's set up the B2B may not start charging the hab batteries until the starter battery has reached a pre determined voltage if the starter battery was very flat this may take several minutes.

 

[tufty]

Depending on how it's set up the B2B may not start charging the hab batteries until the starter battery has reached a pre determined voltage if the starter battery was very flat this may take several minutes.

Thanks. The hab lithium is fine & fully charged. It's the starter battery charging that's the problem. It was only 11.4V this morning & not enough to start the engine & B2B was off with no lights showing. We.plugged in to electric & eventually the B2B kicked after keep pressing the button on it. However it keeps going off & starter battery has only reached 12.2V. Will keep trying & hope we get enough charge to start the engine eventually.

 

[DBK]

Thanks. The hab lithium is fine & fully charged. It's the starter battery charging that's the problem. It was only 11.4V this morning & not enough to start the engine & B2B was off with no lights showing. We.plugged in to electric & eventually the B2B kicked after keep pressing the button on it. However it keeps going off & starter battery has only reached 12.2V. Will keep trying & hope we get enough charge to start the engine eventually.

That's confusing, the B2B shouldn't do anything when you plug into EHU. It should only start working when you start the engine as it takes its power from the alternator.

Can you take a photograph of whatever panel or lights you are looking at which lead you to think the B2B is "kicking in"?

The photo you published above is not a B2B but a unit which may only be charging the leisure batteries as well as supplementing the inverter with AC.

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[ChrisL]

It may help if you tell us the make and model of your B2B, I don't have any buttons on my B2B (Victron).

 

[tufty]

That's confusing, the B2B shouldn't do anything when you plug into EHU. It should only start working when you start the engine as it takes its power from the alternator.

Can you take a photograph of whatever panel or lights you are looking at which lead you to think the B2B is "kicking in"?

The photo you published above is not a B2B but a unit which may only be charging the leisure batteries as well as supplementing the inverter with AC.

This is the photo of what we assume to be the B2B charger. The lights have now gone off on this unit. Earlier when he pressed the button (bottom right) eventually the battery started to charge & the battery is now on 12.8V. The lights that were on at that time were 'lead acid' and 'reverse charging'. I was a bit concerned when he told me about the reverse charging button as I don't really understand it fully to know if this is correct. I think we'll give Vanbitz a ring in the morning to see if they can guide us on what the problem might be as it was only fitted a few months ago.

 

[tufty]

It may help if you tell us the make and model of your B2B, I don't have any buttons on my B2B (Victron).

This.is what we assume.is the B2B

 

[DBK]

This is the photo of what we assume to be the B2B charger. The lights have now gone off on this unit. Earlier when he pressed the button (bottom right) eventually the battery started to charge & the battery is now on 12.8V. The lights that were on at that time were 'lead acid' and 'reverse charging'. I was a bit concerned when he told me about the reverse charging button as I don't really understand it fully to know if this is correct. I think we'll give Vanbitz a ring in the morning to see if they can guide us on what the problem might be as it was only fitted a few months ago.



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I think the clue is "bi-directional" written on the B2B. I guess when the engine isn't running and you are on EHU it can work in reverse and charge the cab battery. I hadn't heard of those before - but glad it sounds like you should be able start tomorrow although it doesn't explain why the cab battery went flat initially.

A call to VB could shine a light on things.

 

[ChrisL]

I think the button just changes the battery type, and as above bi directional means it will trickle charge the engine battery when on hookup or solar charging the habitation battery. See the manual attached.