# HELP PLEASE! **Leisure Battery Dangerously Low problem**



## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Can someone help or advise us please?

We collected our Auto Trail from Camper UK yesterday after they had had it in for 3 weeks doing an insurance repair job along with some warranty work. Our motorhome was brand new in September but one of the problems we were experiencing was with the electronic control panel. Every time we stopped and went to switch the habitation area onto 12 volt a message would come up on the screen saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and we had no power whatsoever, even though it had been on EHU or on a longish drive! However, we discovered that if we switched the panel over to another mode and then back again it would clear the message and the battery level would then show the correct reading and normal power would be resumed! Camper UK decided to replace the 2 leisure batteries believing it to be a fault in that area but as soon as we drove it back home yesterday much to our horror we discovered it was still suffering the exact same problem as before but this time it was even worse! What is happening now in addition to the previous problem where it comes up with a message saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and loss of power etc we now find that the new batteries will not charge up to more than 12.2 volts even though we have had it hooked up to the electric overnight and all day today with nothing switched on whatsoever! Now as soon as we then switch on only a couple of lights it immediately drops to 11.5 volts! So if we were to put on the TV or the blown air heating it would lose power pretty quickly! On the previous batteries it would charge up to 13.5 volts after being on EHU and we then could enjoy reasonable power for several hours before we saw a noticeable drop in the voltage. WHAT on earth could the problem be? 

We are going away tomorrow for a few days on business in the motorhome and when we are camped up overnight and on EHU it will (fingers crossed) be fine but during the day when we are away from the campsite we are staying on we really do need to have 12 volt power, so as you can appreciate this is a real nuisance. We have a Honda generator but it's not always convenient to use it but I suppose we will have little choice under the circumstances!

If anyone has any ideas what the problem could be then please let us know and is there is anything my husband can do to rectify the problem himself?

Will wait with baited breath for your replies!   

Sue


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Autotrail*

Hi Sue

I seem to recall you have a control panel similar to the one in the Swift. My first chain of thought - given that you can clear the error message - is that there is a fault with the panel.

Other than that, the battery charger?

I know very little about technical matters.....but if Autotrail were on the forum.....

Russell


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

Sonesta said:


> Can someone help or advise us please?
> 
> We collected our Auto Trail from Camper UK yesterday after they had had it in for 3 weeks doing an insurance repair job along with some warranty work. Our motorhome was brand new in September but one of the problems we were experiencing was with the electronic control panel. Every time we stopped and went to switch the habitation area onto 12 volt a message would come up on the screen saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and we had no power whatsoever, even though it had been on EHU or on a longish drive! However, we discovered that if we switched the panel over to another mode and then back again it would clear the message and the battery level would then show the correct reading and normal power would be resumed! Camper UK decided to replace the 2 leisure batteries believing it to be a fault in that area but as soon as we drove it back home yesterday much to our horror we discovered it was still suffering the exact same problem as before but this time it was even worse! What is happening now in addition to the previous problem where it comes up with a message saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and loss of power etc we now find that the new batteries will not charge up to more than 12.2 volts even though we have had it hooked up to the electric overnight and all day today with nothing switched on whatsoever! Now as soon as we then switch on only a couple of lights it immediately drops to 11.5 volts! So if we were to put on the TV or the blown air heating it would lose power pretty quickly! On the previous batteries it would charge up to 13.5 volts after being on EHU and we then could enjoy reasonable power for several hours before we saw a noticeable drop in the voltage. WHAT on earth could the problem be?
> 
> ...


Sue,

Sounds like a problem with the control panel, it is either faulty or the software is getting its knickers in a twist.

As its a business trip, hope you are keeping detailed records of expenses and claiming it all back against tax! Cheaper than trains and hotels so the tax man can't complain if you do.

Regards


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Peter, thanks Russell! My hubby is right fed up about all this at the moment especially as we have got to go early in the morning and he is not a happy bunny tonight.  

Why do things always go wrong either when you are about to go away or at a weekend when everywhere is closed?

Sue


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Hi Sue,

I agree with Russell and Johnscross,with the symptons you describe it points to a faulty control panel.I would get it into your dealers service dept asap 

Steve


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Leisure battery*

Hi Sue

My display panel had a funny turn once. As you can see, it claimed to be taking 47.1 amps IN. How very strange on a hook up with 16 amps!

Russell


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## 100004 (Jul 12, 2006)

Must admit, I'd ignore it and/or give it thump. Make Hubbie feel better :lol: Only snag I can think of, is if the 'fault' can drop things into a fail safe mode. At least you have the genny, so no sweat. H


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## trigrem (May 1, 2005)

Souds like a faulty control panel to me, time to bother your dealer again.
If you are not charging then it could be the charger but if the charging circuit is via the control panel you are back to a faulty control panel.
Also if you cannot charge when on hookup then using your generator will not be any different, unless you have a 12volt output from the generator which you could couple up to the battery's direct.


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

Hi Son

dont understand why it's changed with new batteries.. sounds like it was better with old ones..

not much help to you right now


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Faulty display panel?*

Hi

I like your style - give it a thump. Reminds me of a temperature guage on a 1999 Plaxton/Volvo coach. Every now and again the termperature light would come on and the warning bells started to ring. A good hard thump and all was well!

Russell


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## 100004 (Jul 12, 2006)

My old Merc had a water temp gauge that all of a sudden would go to the red and quiver 8O Checked all the cooling system and no worries. Result? Give the dashboard a smack and a fix. 'course it made selling it a bit problematical when it did it on the test run :lol: :lol: H


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

johng1974 said:


> Hi Son
> 
> dont understand why it's changed with new batteries.. sounds like it was better with old ones..
> 
> not much help to you right now


You are quite right Johh it was better with the old ones! We just wonder if they just put new batteries on rather than trying to fathom out what the problem was and by a stroke of bad luck one of the new batteries is a bit iffy! Whatever the reason we can't do anything about now until we get back from our trip so we will just have to keep connected to either the EHU or our generator and forget about using 12 volt only until the problem is fixed.

Right me and hubby are just going to go and give the control panel a good thumping! 

Sue


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## SwiftGroup (Jun 27, 2007)

Sonesta said:


> Can someone help or advise us please?
> 
> We collected our Auto Trail from Camper UK yesterday after they had had it in for 3 weeks doing an insurance repair job along with some warranty work. Our motorhome was brand new in September but one of the problems we were experiencing was with the electronic control panel. Every time we stopped and went to switch the habitation area onto 12 volt a message would come up on the screen saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and we had no power whatsoever, even though it had been on EHU or on a longish drive! However, we discovered that if we switched the panel over to another mode and then back again it would clear the message and the battery level would then show the correct reading and normal power would be resumed! Camper UK decided to replace the 2 leisure batteries believing it to be a fault in that area but as soon as we drove it back home yesterday much to our horror we discovered it was still suffering the exact same problem as before but this time it was even worse! What is happening now in addition to the previous problem where it comes up with a message saying "LEISURE BATTERY DANGEROUSLY LOW" and loss of power etc we now find that the new batteries will not charge up to more than 12.2 volts even though we have had it hooked up to the electric overnight and all day today with nothing switched on whatsoever! Now as soon as we then switch on only a couple of lights it immediately drops to 11.5 volts! So if we were to put on the TV or the blown air heating it would lose power pretty quickly! On the previous batteries it would charge up to 13.5 volts after being on EHU and we then could enjoy reasonable power for several hours before we saw a noticeable drop in the voltage. WHAT on earth could the problem be?
> 
> ...


Sue,
I believe the control panel in you Autotrail is a Sargent control Panel, if you send me a PM with a contact number I will ring the Technical Director of Sargents in the morning on his mobile and see if he can help you,

Thanks
Andy - Swift Technical


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## drmjclark (Feb 19, 2006)

sargent electrical were great to me when my charger died - took it off, sent it in & back in3 days - wow!!!!

and a very low fee for doing it about £30.

their no:- 01482 881655

hope this helps if their md doesnt ring u - but they were a very customer focused company.


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

SwiftGroup said:


> Sue,
> I believe the control panel in you Autotrail is a Sargent control Panel, if you send me a PM with a contact number I will ring the Technical Director of Sargents in the morning on his mobile and see if he can help you,
> 
> Thanks
> Andy - Swift Technical


Wow Andy - thank you so much for your very kind offer of help. We loved our last motorhome a Swift Kontiki and just wish Auto Trail had such a helpful customer service team. You are a true star!

Sue


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

drmjclark said:


> sargent electrical were great to me when my charger died - took it off, sent it in & back in3 days - wow!!!!
> 
> and a very low fee for doing it about £30.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much and oh what a lovely helpful bunch of people we have on this fantastic forum. 

Sue


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## seamusog (May 10, 2005)

the sargent control panels are suspect sue,I had four changed on my last 840,I was told at first to remove the panel,pull out the multi plug from the rear of the panel for about 30 secs,then replace it,must say it worked for a while,then reverted to fault mode again,I was told by the man from auto-trail that there was a faulty batch,anyway,the new van seems to be fine,fingers crossed,regards seamus.


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Morning Sue, I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with the electrical system. I have spoken to Andy Spacey and will ring you around 10.00AM. I will see if we can resolve this problem ASAP

Regards

Ian Sargent


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Sargent said:


> Morning Sue, I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with the electrical system. I have spoken to Andy Spacey and will ring you around 10.00AM. I will see if we can resolve this problem ASAP
> 
> Regards
> 
> Ian Sargent


Hello Ian,

Thank you so much for your kind offer of help and must confess it is very welcome and appreciated.

We are setting off to Birmingham this morning and will be away in our motorhome for the next few days at the NEC Spring Fair Trade Show doing all our buying for the forth coming season and we are just praying that everything will at least work okay on EHU and generator as in this cold weather we desperately will need our blown air heating on.

Once again thank you so very very much for taking the time out on a Saturday to try and help us and both yourself and Andy from the Swift group are a credit to your profession and your company. 

Sue


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

seamusog said:


> the sargent control panels are suspect sue,I had four changed on my last 840,I was told at first to remove the panel,pull out the multi plug from the rear of the panel for about 30 secs,then replace it,must say it worked for a while,then reverted to fault mode again,I was told by the man from auto-trail that there was a faulty batch,anyway,the new van seems to be fine,fingers crossed,regards seamus.


Thank you Seamus we appreciate your suggestions and everyone has been so kind and helpful. Ian from Sargent is very kindly going to try and help us solve the problem so we will more than likely wait to see what he advises us to do before we touch anything as my hubby is not very conversant with the electrical side of things.

I am delighted to hear your new van is behaving her/himself. We are very pleased the Cheyenne 840 and just love the layout. Which layout have you got? Ours is the 2 single beds with full width rear end bathroom.

Thanks again.

Sue


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## seamusog (May 10, 2005)

Hello again Sue,

I see that Ian has kindly offered to assist you,I am sure he will fix things for you,fair play to him,its reassuring to know that he is looking after our interests. That's what I like about this forum,help is always just around the corner.Yes the new van is fine,apart from the water problem.We had the twn bed one when they first came out,liked it very much,when the x250 came out we bought another one,however,we had so many problems with it we gave them it back and we now have the island bed model,the jury is still out on it,I think I prefer the twin bed,the toilet is beautiful(when is the next show :lol: )Hope you get the problem sorted,regards,seamus


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## sailor (Aug 23, 2005)

Good that this seems to be getting sorted.
My experience of control panels is that they can be a bit misleading. I had a CI which sometimes showed less than 11 volts for one of the batteries. Eventually I tracked the fault down to loose wiring in the battery circuit, tightened up one nut and it was then OK.

Comment to Russel, I think it was. Since the 16 amp limit on most sites is at 240v it is perfectly possible for this to generate a current of 47 amp in the 12v circuit, if the battery is low enough. (My van has a 50amp fuse in the charging circuit) 
Inverters do the reverse. A 250 watt device at 240v takes about an amp current, but the same 250w at 12 volts would take over 20 amps, which is why inverters rapidly flatten batteries!

Jeff O


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Control panel*

Hi Jeff

That's something I did n't know. The panel has been replaced and all is well.

As for Sargent Electrical, I have spoken with them in the past about a faulty charger on the previous motorhome. Whilst the part was faulty, it was replaced at high speed/courier to the dealer and an explanation given. Nice to see it is a family firm too.

Russell


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

Hi Sue. 

I'm afraid I can be of no help to you but even so we wish you the best of luck getting your problem sorted, I know how frustrating these things can be.

Colin & Mary


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