Dead battery

[Red wine lover]

Just been in the van, dead battery in my t5 camper. Is there something taking a charge when not used?

 

[Loz]

Alarm, USB adapters left plugged in to any 12V socket supplied by the vehicle battery.

 

[Red wine lover]

Thanks for the suggestions but we've nothing plugged in or left on. Thanks

 

[flying banana]

How long stood? Also check things like the glovebox and tailgate courtesy lights have gone out when closed. have you been cleaning it out and using the radio. Left the ignition on? Mine lasts easily 3 weeks and starts fine if that's anything to go by. I'm also driving mine to work and back on Sunday just to give it a blast out on the motorway.

 

[WelshGas]

Just been in the van, dead battery in my t5 camper. Is there something taking a charge when not used?

Which battery?

 

[TripleBee]

What is the age of the battery? As you have a T5, if you still have the original battery, it's life was already hanging by a thread.
Try to see if there is a date stamp on the "-" of the battery. Mine is 44/19 = week 44 year 2009.

 

[Red wine lover]

Just over a year old. RAC came and got us going. Will plug in more often.

 

[Brownbetty]

Hi everyone, my van had a dead battery today, it has stood still for a week but I have been going in & out most days so electric side door getting used.
What I'd like to know is the control panel showing the battery is that the engine battery or leisure, it's showing 100%, engine battery is just over a year old leisure batteries abt 6mths also fitted solar panel late last year. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[TripleBee]

Panel shows leisure batteries.
Engine battery you need to measure yourself with a multimeter. (or USB digital meter in 12V plug)

 

[WelshGas]

Hi everyone, my van had a dead battery today, it has stood still for a week but I have been going in & out most days so electric side door getting used.
What I'd like to know is the control panel showing the battery is that the engine battery or leisure, it's showing 100%, engine battery is just over a year old leisure batteries abt 6mths also fitted solar panel late last year. Anyone got any ideas?

Do you have the Full Electric Sliding Door?

 

[Brownbetty]

Do you have the Full Electric Sliding Door?

Yes

 

[Brownbetty]

Panel shows leisure batteries.
Engine battery you need to measure yourself with a multimeter. (or USB digital meter in 12V plug)

Cheers, thanks for that I've always wondered.

 

[WelshGas]

Yes

Why don’t you switch it to Manual Mode and hence save the engine battery?

 

[Brownbetty]

Why don’t you switch it to Manual Mode and hence save the engine battery?

Yes I'll do that, I've also realized that the control panel has been on all the time, but still surprised that after only a wk a dead battery, I thought the solar panel top up leisure then trickled into engine battery. Thanks again.

 

[WelshGas]

Yes I'll do that, I've also realized that the control panel has been on all the time, but still surprised that after only a wk a dead battery, I thought the solar panel top up leisure then trickled into engine battery. Thanks again.

Doesn’t matter if the Control Panel is On or Off. The Screen drays 0.2v when the screen is On, but when it goes blank that current draw ceases until a button is pressed or Ignition switched On.
Unless you have a 2 channel Solar Panel controller wired to the Leisure and Engine Battery, then the Solar Panel only charges the Leisure Batteries.

 

[Brownbetty]

Cheers Wg, so when on EHU do you put a charge into the engine battery or will I have to take it out for a drive?

 

[flying banana]

On hook up the engine battery is charged but takes a while as it does the leisure side first I think. But definitely charges it. I tested mine with a multimeter on hook up the voltage went up

 

[AlanC]

Formally only the leisure batteries are charged when on EHU, but in practice there is a trickle charge that goes to the engine battery. This is enough to keep a charged battery full but not enough to charge a flat battery.

At the moment I hook my van up very 4 weeks or so for 24-48 hours to keep the leisure batteries charged and separately charge the engine battery for a similar time with a standard battery charger.

Some owners keep their van on EHU all of the time when at home.
Alan

 

[WelshGas]

Cheers Wg, so when on EHU do you put a charge into the engine battery or will I have to take it out for a drive?

As above by @flying banana and @AlanC . Iif on EHU at home I use a cTek charger plugged into the kitchen mains socket and into the dashboard cigarette socket to charge and condition engine battery.

 

[Vagophile]

Formally only the leisure batteries are charged when on EHU, but in practice there is a trickle charge that goes to the engine battery. This is enough to keep a charged battery full but not enough to charge a flat battery.

At the moment I hook my van up very 4 weeks or so for 24-48 hours to keep the leisure batteries charged and separately charge the engine battery for a similar time with a standard battery charger.

Some owners keep their van on EHU all of the time when at home.
Alan

Are you sure? See my post #38 in the thread "Battery maintenance during lock down" (sorry not competent enough to give link). My starter battery at 11.6V fully charged in about 14hrs.on hook up.

 

[Jubilado.]

On hook up the engine battery is charged but takes a while as it does the leisure side first I think. But definitely charges it. I tested mine with a multimeter on hook up the voltage went up

Be careful. I believe I read on here somewhere that T5's on shorepower pre 2008 do not charge the engine battery. To my cost I didn't know the electric closers came off the engine battery, that it wasn't hooked up to the house batteries when on hook-up or that you could turn the electric close off. I've only just read that here just now so would some kind person let me know how to turn the door closers to manual. Thanks.

 

[Brownbetty]

As above by @flying banana and @AlanC . Iif on EHU at home I use a cTek charger plugged into the kitchen mains socket and into the dashboard cigarette socket to charge and condition engine battery.

Just realised from the kitchen in the van haha, they seem to vary in price any idea what I should be paying?

 

[Brownbetty]

Formally only the leisure batteries are charged when on EHU, but in practice there is a trickle charge that goes to the engine battery. This is enough to keep a charged battery full but not enough to charge a flat battery.

At the moment I hook my van up very 4 weeks or so for 24-48 hours to keep the leisure batteries charged and separately charge the engine battery for a similar time with a standard battery charger.

Some owners keep their van on EHU all of the time when at home.
Alan

This is what I thought I'm sure Rodger from solar solutions mentioned that once the leisure is fully charged as mine were it then trickled into starter.

 

[WelshGas]

Just realised from the kitchen in the van haha, they seem to vary in price any idea what I should be paying?

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/b...ctek-mxs-5.0-t-uk-battery-charger-665079.html
+ the Cigarette Plug lead, an extra £11 or so.

 

[AlanC]

Are you sure? See my post #38 in the thread "Battery maintenance during lock down" (sorry not competent enough to give link). My starter battery at 11.6V fully charged in about 14hrs.on hook up.

That is just a trickle charge keeping your engine battery topped up. If your engine battery was flat, hook-up charge would not bring it back up to full charge however long you kept it plugged in.

Full charge needs 14.6 volts initially followed by 13.4 volts approx as a trickle/balancing charge. This trickle charge occurs at the end of the full charge cycle. Hook-up does not provide this voltage regime to the engine battery, only to the leisure batteries.
Alan