# Leisure battery problems



## Otto-de-froste

Our 2008 E460 hasn't been used over the winter, but has been started and run round the block a few times

We decided last weekend was warm enough for us to venture out, but found the leisure battery flat again

This also happened in the winter of 2008/9, but was supposedly fixed

We ran her about 15 miles to the campsite and found the charge was showing 12.5 volts for the leisure battery
She ran on hook-up all weekend, and I haven't checked yet to see what charge there is, but will do that tomorrow

Last winter it had a new charger, leisure battery and in June had a modification to the radio that allegedly prevents current leakage

I always remove the radio faceplate, ensure all electrics are turned off (no fridge, no heater blower, no bathroom lights), and power down at the control panel, but it always shows an output of 0.5 amp going somewhere if I switch the control panel back on
I can't believe this 0.5 amps is for the control panel or radio memory as these could surely run for a year on a watch battery and wouldn't drain a battery in a couple of months

When we came home the leisure battery indicated 13 volts

This time I have turned off all the trips at the fuse box, and still find 0.5 amps output

Want to use the van for rallies with no hook-up but don't know whether I can rely on it

Any experts out there or is it back to the dealers again?

PS It still has 18 months of warranty but don't want to chase dealers and manufacturers if nothing is wrong


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## RichardnGill

Some of the 2008 models had a problem with the reversing camera, if yours has one fitted it might be worth getting it checked to see if it is live all the time.

Our van has aprox 0.2 amp drain on the leisure batteries measured with a multimeter. But as we have a solar panel it does not bother us.



Richard...


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## DABurleigh

I'd say 0.2 to 0.3 amps with JUST the control panel powered (backlight off) is normal.

Much more constant drain than that merits multimeter investigation.

Dave


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## skiboycey

On my Autotrail a similar 0.3 amp drain was the reversing camera which for some reason had been wired up so that even if the monitor to it was turned off the camera still had power. I noticed it because I went around the back of the motorhome at night when leaving it and the infra-red LED's around the camera were glowing even though everything was turned off. I found the supply lead to the camera and just wired it into the same switch as the monitor so it now switches off with everything else.

If you really can't find the drain why not put a 25amp switch onto either the positive feed to the leisure battery or the earth lead to it? This will isolate the battery completely so no drain will be possible. You can buy them at Maplin. You could also just put a big battery isolator switch on it but that might be a bit overkill for leisure battery loads. You could also pull the fuse to the master controller but check that nothing powers straight from the batteries if a previous owner has wired things up improperly. I had this on my Autotrail where the inverters for the TV's went directly to the leisure batteries meaning they would flatten them if you left them on and wouldn't show a drain as they were not passing via the master controller. I ripped them out and now the TV's run directly from 12v...

Finally if neither of these solutions works for you then get a 20w trickle charger solar panel from Maplins for about 30 quid and wire that up to your leisure battery when not using the motorhome. Chuck it up on the roof via a skylight so it gets plenty of power and run it straigt to the leisure battery terminals or leisure battery feed to the controller.

Hope this helps you out. Good luck with it.

Cheers, Mark


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