Drain on Engine Battery

[dspuk]

It did.... but we kept putting it back on again. We had a couple of trips and it's not been an issue. This is the first trip where it was a very short drive to the campsite. Im thinking now, I'll use the EHU and connect a smart charger, or (another source) to the engine battery whilst we're there. what do you think? We love the sound in the van and have the radio and music on constantly

cheers

greg

It’s not just powering the radio - every time you switch off and on to reset the 20 minutes it’s rebooting the entertainment, priming pumps etc. All a drain. Noone seems to have solved the “issue/feature” and your suggestion seems overkill and will increase the battery cycles. We use a good JBL Flip Bluetooth speaker with a phone and it saves technical battery faff.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

It’s not just powering the radio - every time you switch off and on to reset the 20 minutes it’s rebooting the entertainment, priming pumps etc. All a drain. Noone seems to have solved the “issue/feature” and your suggestion seems overkill and will increase the battery cycles. We use a good JBL Flip Bluetooth speaker with a phone and it saves technical battery faff.

Hi mate,

thanks for the response,

yeah maybe, I do tend to overspec. a lot! I do have a good bluetooth speaker too, so that's def on the checklist next trip aswell as a belt and braces. We are music fans so tend to love the sound in the van, those quad speakers are just too bloody good!

So....I can leave the ignition off and the stereo will run and then auto off after say 20mins at that stage it's just a case of waking it up again..Yesterday though, (after two days with no EHU) it started giving a warning that its getting low and switching off completely which meant using the ignition to liven it up again. In the morning it was jump leads.... It's all part of the camping experience for me though, you struggle a bit, you learn something you didn't know... and you're a bit wiser next time as a result. Ive learnt something thanks to you guys so thanks again.

greg

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

You could. But if you check the engine battery voltage when on EHU and it rises then it is being trickle charged.

Will do... ive bought a plug in volt meter on amazon today, im all over it now!

thanks for your help

Greg

 

[dspuk]

Will do... ive bought a plug in volt meter on amazon today, im all over it now!

thanks for your help

Greg

Note if it plugs into the 12v socket and you have a later 6.1 all the sockets come from leisures.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Note if it plugs into the 12v socket and you have a later 6.1 all the sockets come from leisures.

Ahhhh..... priceless information on this forum thank you

mines a T6 2018. Does that mean the ones in the front are from the engine battery? And the ones in the rear are from the leisure's?

cheers

greg

 

[WelshGas]

Ahhhh..... priceless information on this forum thank you

mines a T6 2018. Does that mean the ones in the front are from the engine battery? And the ones in the rear are from the leisure's?

cheers

greg

They might be. Pnly testing can confirm.

 

[dspuk]

Ahhhh..... priceless information on this forum thank you

mines a T6 2018. Does that mean the ones in the front are from the engine battery? And the ones in the rear are from the leisure's?

cheers

greg

Generally, yes, but as WG says, will need to check. The old rule was everything in front of the headrests apart from the invertor was starter battery, but that's no longer valid on the newer Cali for the 12V sockets. Threw me when I was using it to check my starter voltage.

For the price of a 12V battery LED it's worth getting and having anyway.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Generally, yes, but as WG says, will need to check. The old rule was everything in front of the headrests apart from the invertor was starter battery, but that's no longer valid on the newer Cali for the 12V sockets. Threw me when I was using it to check my starter voltage.

For the price of a 12V battery LED it's worth getting and having anyway.

Ok so my bits arrived from amazon. (battery LED and smart charger)

Ive charged the engine battery to full and removed the smart charger. Also left the EHU hooked up overnight and the control panel now reads 100% on the leisures and drawing zero current.

so I can see now the engine battery sits at 12.5v with no EHU read from the from the dash 12v socket. When I plug in the EHU (after a wait period) the voltage rises to 13.2v

so it is trickle charging.... happy days

Also, it a consistently slightly higher voltage on the rear sockets, so they are def. split between dash and rear on this model as we thought.

Im gonna order some jump leads to stay in the camper next! thanks for your help,

Greg

 

[dspuk]

Ok so my bits arrived from amazon. (battery LED and smart charger)

Ive charged the engine battery to full and removed the smart charger. Also left the EHU hooked up overnight and the control panel now reads 100% on the leisures and drawing zero current.

so I can see now the engine battery sits at 12.5v with no EHU read from the from the dash 12v socket. When I plug in the EHU (after a wait period) the voltage rises to 13.2v

so it is trickle charging.... happy days

Also, it a consistently slightly higher voltage on the rear sockets, so they are def. split between dash and rear on this model as we thought.

Im gonna order some jump leads to stay in the camper next! thanks for your help,

Greg

T6 for sure the front of headrests rule stands.

You will get a trickle if the leisures full, but it's a slow 1A trickle and only when they full - better than nothing though.

Get the same on our Solar but the conditions to trickle are so tight it almost never happens for long enough to make a difference, as Roger warned me.

 

[WelshGas]

T6 for sure the front of headrests rule stands.

You will get a trickle if the leisures full, but it's a slow 1A trickle and only when they full - better than nothing though.

Get the same on our Solar but the conditions to trickle are so tight it almost never happens for long enough to make a difference, as Roger warned me.

Explains why on my T5.1 with a 100w solar panel it still starts after 5 weeks at Heathrow. Wasn't sure it would do that from Solar.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

T6 for sure the front of headrests rule stands.

You will get a trickle if the leisures full, but it's a slow 1A trickle and only when they full - better than nothing though.

Get the same on our Solar but the conditions to trickle are so tight it almost never happens for long enough to make a difference, as Roger warned me.

Anything wrong with connecting a smart charger to the van battery from the internal 240v socket do you think? Im thinking on mains hook up, it could potentially be feeding from both ends. It's all the same voltage, all DC and there's some relays in between.... and I guess the smart charger will only output when it senses some level of resistance....

Any thoughts as to why it might be a bad idea...?

 

[Norfolk Jim]

So on a 6.1 does engine battery get trickle charge when on EHU; it'd seem mad not to??

 

[dspuk]

So on a 6.1 does engine battery get trickle charge when on EHU; it'd seem mad not to??

It does. Generally. I think there was a poll a while back.

 

[dspuk]

Anything wrong with connecting a smart charger to the van battery from the internal 240v socket do you think? Im thinking on mains hook up, it could potentially be feeding from both ends. It's all the same voltage, all DC and there's some relays in between.... and I guess the smart charger will only output when it senses some level of resistance....

Any thoughts as to why it might be a bad idea...?

Still feels very reactionary. Sounds a bit like perpetual motion!

After we had a flat, which was my fault, we bought a portable battery jump starter which we keep in the draw and have never had to use.

You must be desperate to have that radio on 27/7

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Agreed! its true, im a radio and music nut and its on all the time at home and It feels strange without it... ... It's not necessary at all, and the blue tooth suggestion is undoubtedly the better idea when camping .... Im now into the science of it now unfortunately. That's the problem with rabbit holes I'm thinking.... ? and.... the Cali does have great sound when you're in the right mood for it. I do love my lovely camper and would hate to do anything that blows a circuit board, so any wise and experienced words welcome. Thanks in advance

cheers

greg

 

[kurienp]

Agreed! its true, im a radio and music nut and its on all the time at home and It feels strange without it... ... It's not necessary at all, and the blue tooth suggestion is undoubtedly the better idea when camping .... Im now into the science of it now unfortunately. That's the problem with rabbit holes I'm thinking.... ? and.... the Cali does have great sound when you're in the right mood for it. I do love my lovely camper and would hate to do anything that blows a circuit board, so any wise and experienced words welcome. Thanks in advance

cheers

greg

Not read the whole thread, but, to keep the radio on, why not wire it to the leisure batteries. Search and you will find a few threads. If not handy with DIY, absolut5 will do it for you.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Not read the whole thread, but, to keep the radio on, why not wire it to the leisure batteries. Search and you will find a few threads. If not handy with DIY, absolut5 will do it for you.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

Hi,

yes I thought that aswell, it could (in theory) be done using two male 12v Ciggy lighter plugs and a length of two core cable. You could then link the front dash (van battery) sockets to the rear sockets which would then give three batterys in parallel.... as long as the current remain low, it might be ok... however, the link would need to be removed when cranking the engine to avoid potential problems. Remembering to do this might be a reason not to do this all...

or would it..... ?

Greg

 

[andyinluton]

Hi,

yes I thought that aswell, it could (in theory) be done using two male 12v Ciggy lighter plugs and a length of two core cable. You could then link the front dash (van battery) sockets to the rear sockets which would then give three batterys in parallel.... as long as the current remain low, it might be ok... however, the link would need to be removed when cranking the engine to avoid potential problems. Remembering to do this might be a reason not to do this all...

or would it..... ?

Greg

Or just use a cheap cigarette lighter to cigarette lighter 12v jump starter.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Hello Andy,

thanks for this I didn't know these things existed! brilliant thank you.

cheers

Greg