# batteries keep going flat?



## weldted (May 1, 2005)

anyone got the answer? I have two 110 amp hour batteries
supplied by Swift which I fitted to my March 08 
Bessacar E765 following the one of the originals failing
Ii am wild camping in Portugal and have to run my generator
for four hours everyday to maintain sufficuent power,
I have two SPR 90 watt solar panels fitted, and today drove
over 100 miles. Wwith only the fridge running on gas
but needs twelve volt supply to monitor it and the
water and light circuits live but not in use Ii use
0.6 amps with the tv and sat dish on total consumption
ia 3.6 amps within four hours battery voltage is down to
11.6 I have tried a meter between the + terminal of the battery
and the positive lead to check for a short nothing found
any ideas please as running a generator for long periods
is not the way to wim friends?


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## satis (May 5, 2008)

Hiya Welted

Have you got a rear reversing camera that may still be live even with the ignition off? Or possibly your radio is permanately live even with the ignition off? Or another possibility is that you might be getting drain off your leisure battries if your blocking diodes on the solar panels are not working? adaisconnect the front of the radio to remedy the radio if it is still on with ignition off,Check to see if your rear reversing camera is glowing in the dark,if it is,Switch off if you have a switch,If not get one fitted, Hope this points you in the right direction,Kind regards Satis


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## Fatalhud (Mar 3, 2006)

The charger unit in the van will give out a max of about 12amp, over 4 hours thats only 48amp/hours Your batteries = 220 amp/hours
If there flat you would in theory need about 18 hours to recharge

can you not stop at a site with hookup for a day to let them recover

Alan H


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## Andysam (May 10, 2005)

I don't know what you mean about the fridge using 12v to monitor it. If your using the fridge on 12v on battery there's your problem. 

Driving 100 miles with the panels should have put at least 60Ah back in- more with the genny. Unless your batts are deep cycle; don't forget that with your current battery set up you only have a max 88Ah of usable power. 

Don't forget standard halogen lights are a huge drain on the batts. Aren't you using the heater etc. Are you saying that your total consumption is 3.6 amps?


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

I agree with Fatalhud IMO the first thing to do is get the batteries up to full charge which means an all day charge.

If you have been running down to 11.6V (80% discharge) or lower frequently you will have taken a lot of the 'newness' out of your batteries


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## nozzel (May 10, 2007)

The possible answer may be one which cost me many $$$$$$ here in the US to resolve. Parasitic discharge, is something in the background that is switched on all the time...like a clock or sensor . Mine was the fridge....the auto switching sensor and frost bar....the sensor is always on to find the best source of power (12/110 volt or gas) The frost bar is just a heater element in the section between the fridge & freezer to stop a build up of any frost that would tear the seals when the doors were opened. The rocker switch for that is under the "eyebrow" control panel at the top of the fridge. To get at it, open the freezer door and run your finger under the top control strip (not inside the compartment) its on the right. That is a very big drain when your parked, switch it off.

The best way to find these power drains is to:- Switch everything off.....remove all fuse's.....disconnect at Neg battery post and insert a 12v test lamp or volt meter between the two......replace a fuse, one at a time...with every thing turned off the test lamp/meter should not light or show a reading.......if it does light/read..... there's your power drain circuit. Check all items that draw power from it, disconnect it if its not needed.

On finding mine we could "boon dock"(free camp) in the desert for 5-6 days instead of the 2-3 before going for a run to recharge the batteries Deep cycle batteries do need 2-3 times longer to recharge than standard lead acid

Hope this helps


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## weldted (May 1, 2005)

*further info?*

thank you for your replies. I have tried going on hook up for 48 hours
van is fitted with a 20 amp charger, tried charging the batteries seperately,
check solar panels for discharge at night, turned of heater mat on fridge
thetford auto energy fridge requires 0.25 amp to monitor temp etc
tried removing all fuses put ammeter between battery terminal and lead to check for
shorts still no good I can switch to engine battery and run for over two days ans still
start engine ok.max discharge recorded 3.6 amps to 4.2 with
heating on have led lamps fitted but have been using candles
now at a loss?


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## Andysam (May 10, 2005)

Got you now- an auto switching fridge.

The only thing left then is a leech. It will be a time consuming process but it's got to be done.


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## tuftey (Nov 21, 2008)

hi i had same problem thought is was a cell in battrey down but glossop caravans tested the battery it was fine just really flat so i tested the battery charger ti find it was not kicking the voltage out i need so bought a new battery maintance charger 

ta da no probs now they stay full all the time


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

A friend if mine has a 2007 Bessie E something or other and is also having rubbish voltage and can't survive for more the one day on TWO 110 ah batteries. He now has been sent a new control panel and is currently (no pun intended) waiting for his local Auto sparks to fit it.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Have you tried measuring the charging current?


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## weldted (May 1, 2005)

*charging current*

genny running after one hour voltage 13.9-14.1
amps down from 19 to 8.3


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I think I have just found another parasitic load apart from alarms, radios, rearview cameras, engine computers and fridge electronics. 

Reading the Truma instruction manual today because the -5c temps opened the emergency boiler dump valve, it seems this is normally held closed with a 12 volt supply. 

Add all these together and no wonder batteries go flat within a week with no 'Ground Power'. 

Ray.


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi Weldted it does sound like one of the batteries may be faulty, it may be worth having both of batteries tested, but a more valuable test may be if you isolate one of the batteries, at a time and try to charge and then run using the battery that remains in circuit, then swap to the other battery. 
Hopefully this will show the faulty one?
I hope this helps, but please let us know.

If you need to contact us please call our tech support people on (01482 678981)

Best regards

Ian Sargent


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## weldted (May 1, 2005)

*batteries going flat*

Hi Ian, thank you for your reply, i have tried using the
batteries seperately each one over a 24 hour cycle, there
is a slight difference but both drop down quickly. if i switch
to the engine battery it will go two days befroe it switches
off when these batteries came the terminals had no caps
on and were a dull grey with a powdery surface and on of
then the tell tale is yellow the other one green
but the yellow one shows the highest voltage?


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Hello welted,
I have just checked all four of my camper batteries. It's only a rough guide but after charging them all up fully to about 13.4 volts, I disconnected them all and isolated each one.
After 48 hours they all still have a voltage of 12.8 to 12.9 so I assume they are all in good condition. If one or more had of dropped to below 12.5 or lower it would indicate a wek battery. In the event of one reading only 12 volt, it would mean that battery was vertually usless and needs changing.

But then we have another problem with coupling disimilar batteries.

Now I have taken the front off my Sony radio, the van can sit more than two weeks without ground power and all batteries are usuable.

Ray.


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

From what you have said if the engine battery lasts longer than the leisure batteries then it would seem logical that the leisure batteries are at fault and nothing to do with any unknown power drain which would have affected the engine battery too when it was switched over to run the habitation side.

Are they standard lead acid batteries with refillable cells? If so is there sufficient water in the cells? Also if they are then try and get hold of an electrolite specific gravity tester which would show if you have a faulty cell.

JohnW


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