Control panel RED and says 50% Battery eek!

[Neddy]

battery! Sorry a bit long winded. But the batteries are a mystery to me!
2014 California SE..Fully charged battery with power cable for 24hrs before leaving home. I put fridge on whilst hooked up, to cool it down. When I left home i had fridge on level 4 ( usually lasts at least three days) Only other power I used on site , off grid, was elevating the pop top and occasional use of the tap! After just 24 hours control panel said 50% and glowed Red! Had a sleepless night worrying about not being able to lower pop top ..eek. Still showed 50% in morning ( I turned fridge off and used a torch!)…and…lowered the pop top ok phew! What a waste of worrying ! Then control panel said battery 80% !
What is going on … any help appreciated . As need to use fridge for 3 days at a time! Thank you

 

[Ozzy Pete]

I think you have more or less answered you own question. Don’t take a lot of notice of the readings you get.
One thing though are these the original batteries in your van ? 2014 would make them 8 years old.
I wouldn’t have worried about getting the roof down you just need to start the engine, in fact it’s probably a good idea to have the engine running anyway to save the charge in the batteries.

 

[GrannyJen]

battery! Sorry a bit long winded. But the batteries are a mystery to me!
2014 California SE..Fully charged battery with power cable for 24hrs before leaving home. I put fridge on whilst hooked up, to cool it down. When I left home i had fridge on level 4 ( usually lasts at least three days) Only other power I used on site , off grid, was elevating the pop top and occasional use of the tap! After just 24 hours control panel said 50% and glowed Red! Had a sleepless night worrying about not being able to lower pop top ..eek. Still showed 50% in morning ( I turned fridge off and used a torch!)…and…lowered the pop top ok phew! What a waste of worrying ! Then control panel said battery 80% !
What is going on … any help appreciated . As need to use fridge for 3 days at a time! Thank you

Don't worry about turning off the fridge. It turns itself off when the battery gets to just below 11v output.

The % gauge is quite unreliable.

As Ozzy said, most" low battery - will it work" worries can be resolved by having the engine running.

 

[Neddy]

I think you have more or less answered you own question. Don’t take a lot of notice of the readings you get.
One thing though are these the original batteries in your van ? 2014 would make them 8 years old.
I wouldn’t have worried about getting the roof down you just need to start the engine, in fact it’s probably a good idea to have the engine running anyway to save the charge in the batteries.

Oh thank you good to know if I start van I will still be able to get roof down .. mind works overtime at night ! . Not sure re batteries as bought van second hand !

 

[Neddy]

Don't worry about turning off the fridge. It turns itself off when the battery gets to just below 11v output.

The % gauge is quite unreliable.

As Ozzy said, most" low battery - will it work" worries can be resolved by having the engine running.

Oh great thanks .. good to know fridge turns itself off!

 

[WelshGas]

battery! Sorry a bit long winded. But the batteries are a mystery to me!
2014 California SE..Fully charged battery with power cable for 24hrs before leaving home. I put fridge on whilst hooked up, to cool it down. When I left home i had fridge on level 4 ( usually lasts at least three days) Only other power I used on site , off grid, was elevating the pop top and occasional use of the tap! After just 24 hours control panel said 50% and glowed Red! Had a sleepless night worrying about not being able to lower pop top ..eek. Still showed 50% in morning ( I turned fridge off and used a torch!)…and…lowered the pop top ok phew! What a waste of worrying ! Then control panel said battery 80% !
What is going on … any help appreciated . As need to use fridge for 3 days at a time! Thank you

As above. % value is very iffy. Voltage is accurate. If Leisure Battery too low, fridge will switch off. Also the Control Panel will tell you to Start Engine if the Leisure Batteries are too low to lower roof.
With the warmer weather we are having at present the fridge will be working harder so consuming more power.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Main thing is to give the batteries their monthly boost. I’m sure that if you’ve been getting 3 days out of the batteries it’s not going to change overnight. There is only a certain time a battery will last but if they Are looked after they can last a long long time.

 

[Beeechke1]

battery! Sorry a bit long winded. But the batteries are a mystery to me!
2014 California SE..Fully charged battery with power cable for 24hrs before leaving home. I put fridge on whilst hooked up, to cool it down. When I left home i had fridge on level 4 ( usually lasts at least three days) Only other power I used on site , off grid, was elevating the pop top and occasional use of the tap! After just 24 hours control panel said 50% and glowed Red! Had a sleepless night worrying about not being able to lower pop top ..eek. Still showed 50% in morning ( I turned fridge off and used a torch!)…and…lowered the pop top ok phew! What a waste of worrying ! Then control panel said battery 80% !
What is going on … any help appreciated . As need to use fridge for 3 days at a time! Thank you

Having recently returned from a 7 week trip through Spain & Portugal where we experienced temperatures up to 38C I noticed there was a significant difference in draw on the batteries between fridge setting 3 and 4. Most of the time 3 was sufficient to keep the rose/beer ice cold. On days when we drove the van in the day then turn up to 4 then back down to 3 overnight when the outside temperature was a little lower. We were able to do 2-3 days comfortably without hook up and/or driving the van.