# Flat Leisure Battery



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

Having watched my leisure battery discharge every 10 days or so since I parked the MH up for the winter I decided to fully investigate what the culprit was. It would seem that my motorhome has a constant discharge of 0.5 amp and there was nothing I could do to get rid of it - On delving deeper into the myriad of wiring I discovered that there are a number of relays, one of which only 'closed' when the battery was connected, there seemed to be no other purpose for it and the only thing keeping it closed was the battery ie; battery connected 'click' relay closed, battery disconnected 'click', relay open.

This errant relay seems to have no other purpose in life than 'close' when the battery is connected and in doing so drains the battery... After some 10 days the battery would fully discharge and the relay would 'probably' open (I never let the battery go that low)

The other two relays all do as advertised ie; switch the van electrics off when the ignition is on, isolate everything when the relevent 'isolator' switch is made and 'open' when the vehicle battery is selected - None of the previous actions made the slightest difference to my third and suspect relay...

I have temporarily bypassed this relay and as a result get zero drain - Iwill let you know how I get on but what could be the purpose of such a pointless design?


----------



## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

If its a bog standard 12V relay it wouldn't open until about 8V so as you say no good as a battery protector.


----------



## 101405 (Oct 15, 2006)

*batt drain*

Have you got a clock in the circuit. you could put a battery Isolater in line.


----------



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

No - The 0.5 amp drain comes from the apparently pointless relay which the battery is permanently powering to hold it closed. No relay, No drain.

I could understand it if the isolator switch near the step switched this relay but that fuction is carried out by a different one

Everything seems to be working fine with it bypassed (relay out of the circuit)


----------



## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

Could it be something that a past owner has fitted. I had an Explorer group van and had a 80mA leisure battery drain when all was off but never anything like 500mA.
A second one never had any drain at all.


----------



## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Just for interest I have taken a new automotive relay out of its box and measured it's coil resistance it was about 70 ohms. So I was not surprised to find it drew 170mA when energised on a 12V supply. So your relay autoquest appears to be feeding something for there to be a 500mA draw.


----------



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

Very interesting.... I suspect that the law of unintended consequences is likely to kick in as a result of my bypassing this relay but at the moment all is well!

So far I have measured the alarm at 0.03amp and the voltmeter display at 0.05amp which is my only drain. With the relay 'ON' the drain increases to 0.5amps.

I agree about the excessive drain Frank - There must be something else taking this power? After all, what is the point of taking two feeds off of the battery only for one feed to power a relay that allows the other feed to power the van electrics?

Safariboy - The van is a new Explorer Compass 115

All suggestions welcome?

PS - Sorry I have just thought about what I have stated above... The line that went through the relay is still connected and live, it just doesn't get switched by the relay anymore, so any drain that was on the line with the relay 'on' would still be there with the relay bypassed... It isn't therefore I have assumed it's the relay coil drawing the power???


----------



## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

I have had a look at the circuit diagram that Explorer put on line and there is a relay in the master On/OFF circuit. Is it possible that this is the relay and that there is a fault in the ON/OFF switch. When this is powered up quite a lot seems to come on.
Hope that this is of some help.
Safariboy.


----------



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

I have just enlarged to A3 the postage stamp sized wiring diagram that appears in the back of my handbook and I believe I have tracked it down.

I think the relay in question is switched by the pump on/off switch near the voltmeter :roll: I don't have my van in work with me at the moment so I can't check it out but I am pretty sure I have cracked it.

I will confirm it later on but for those of you who experience flat leisure batteries it might be worth checking that the pump on/off switch is in fact 'off' when you park the van up for an extended period as leaving it on leaves a relay in the powered 'on' position which will do your battery in after a week or so.

Safariboy - On the downloaded diagram the relay in question is the one on its side at the bottom.


----------



## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

I am on the autoquest circuit - which may not be correct; and am looking at a relay just above the fuse units. I cannot find one that is pump only.
perhaps I have the wrong diagram.
Safariboy


----------



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

You have the right diagram - The big relay you are looking at is indeed the master switch, below that relay there are two banks of fuses, the first bank has BATT at the top, the second bank has PUMP at the top. To the left of those fuse banks are three relays, the top two are vertical in orientation and the bottom one is horizontal - It is this horizontal relay that is switched by the pump ON/OFF switch.  (the coil in these relays is not drawn)

Much easier to see in A3 format.


----------



## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

I am sorry to desert you but without both the van and the circuit diagram I can't be much help. I have the diagram up on my screen as large as I need. I think that you have a fault. It looks the same as my 2006 model (though I have not checked the detail) It did not have this problem.

I hope it all is sorted quickly for you. I feel that 500mA is certainly much to large, but do not see why the pump is not getting hot at this current!

Safariboy.


----------



## PFJ (Feb 16, 2007)

*Flat leaisure Battery*


Dear All, Very Interested of Clapham here: my Trigano (2006) leisure battery started running out of juice in autumn 2007 after we stopped doing trips whilst She Who Owns It had her new hip done.

A reasonably reliable Fiat dealer tested the battery, said it was dead and supplied a new one. That has continued to perform no better than the previous one: it apparently charges up nicely from either hook-up or engine but rarely lasts more than a couple of hours with little more than blown air heater, water pump and a couple of lights on as we do day-picnic runs.

We do NOT leave the alarm on when it is parked up; we switch off at the control panel so in theory everything is off.

It's going in for 24 month / annual habitation check next week: at the very least if you could just supply me with some techy sounding words that I can use to make them think I know what I am talking about. At present I have said to them that simply testing for the battery taking a charge is insufficient: we need to test for it draining power for no apparent reason - any improvment on that gratefully acknowledged.

Paul


----------



## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

The essential measurement to take is the current in lead to the battery. This is very easy to do. A well set up garage would have a D.C. clamp meter but one sensitive enough (10 mA ) is expensive and realistically they need to take off the lead and put in a meter. Then you know what the discharge is and have some chance of finding the problem. It will certainly tell you if you have a faulty battery or if the battery is being discharged.
Even if your alarm is OFF it could be taking a current. I understand that if you have wireless sensors the current can be quite large.

It may be worth remembering that if you leave a battery discharged for more than about a week it will be wrecked.


----------



## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

I thought the PFJ were a bunch of splitters  Perhaps I am thinking of the JPF...

It would appear that you have the same sort of problem as me old chap, you will need to get an AV meter on to the battery and measure the discharge rate before we can progress your problem.


----------



## PFJ (Feb 16, 2007)

*Flat leaisure Battery*


Thanks safariboy and autoquest

i'll take your replies to STJ woking when i get the service / AHC done and i'll ask them for the readings.

Paul


----------

