# battery charge!



## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

I have inherited a two habitation battery and solar panel configuration when I bought the van.
Just recently the charge of the two batteries as displayed on the hymer panel has fluctuated widely - at first I thought that one of the batteries was defunct but on examination discovered a broken connector and other loose connections which once corrected restored the charge display to normal for both batteries.
This morning I visited the van and while there checked the battery charge using the panel toggle switch. Battery 1 no register (panel complete dead) battery 2 full charged. The van started first time as normal.
I will check the battery but could it be another fault somewhere in the circuit??


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Aren't the two leisure batteries connected Gordon? It's just that if they are I don't see how there can be a reading for each of them, Alan.


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

Yes they appear to be connected - so the point you raise is very valid. The next time I'm at the van I intend to draw the circuit and label the connections.

However for the last twelve months the panel has been giving readings for b1 and b2 but now only for b2 so I'm confused as the only thing that has changed is I've corrected the loose connections (after which I had the normal readings for b1 and b2) 
Now only B2?


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## pieterv (Feb 3, 2009)

On the control panel of my Hymer (which is slightly different from yours) the two batteries are starter and habitation.


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## premiermotorhomes (Feb 13, 2008)

Gordon, 

The battery 1 and battery 2 switch is likely to provide you a means to test the voltage in both the starter battery and leisure batteries, not each leisure battery individually as these are a bank and when joined together are essentially one battery.

I will assume that Battery 1 is referring to your leisure batteries which when connected together where the voltmeter is concerned will read as one battery, and that Battery 2 is your starter battery as it showed a voltage and you were able to start your engine.

The first thing for you to do is to disconnect and check each battery independently using a multimeter to determine what voltage is in them. If this is sub 12V then the batteries will be discharged. The lower the voltage beyond this, the age of the batteries and how long they have been left at that voltage will determine whether the batteries can be recharged to hold a good charge again. Let us know what they say. If everything appears to be Ok, put them on another charger seperately, not the motorhomes until they are fully charged. If you have access to a Ctek charger, then you have the option of a recon charge for older batteries, and it will also tell you if the battery cant't take a charge and they have a multiple charging cycle that does the best job of maintaining batteries. Let us know what the voltage is before, and if you can let us know what the voltage reads after (please leave the batteries to settle for an hour or so after charging before you take this reading) then let us know what they are.

If the voltage is low and can not be recovered, then the batteries may have reached the end of their serviceable life and they should be changed in pairs having both been fully charged first to ensure optimum life. Its also possible for there to be poor connections, blown fuses or a faulty charger causing the batteries not to charge so its worth checking these items as well.

Regards,
Chris


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Beat me to it Chris, Alan.


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

premiermotorhomes said:


> Gordon,
> 
> The battery 1 and battery 2 switch is likely to provide you a means to test the voltage in both the starter battery and leisure batteries, not each leisure battery individually as these are a bank and when joined together are essentially one battery.
> 
> ...


You are correct and when consulting the manual B1 should be the vehicle battery and B2 the living area but these may have become changed around over the years!. I must admit to not taking much notice of the battery / charging system until now so I'm learning all the way.
I'll follow your advice and remove and check each battery charging as necessary! I had them off about two weeks ago and fully charged them then.
I use a Schaudt LA 1210 charger.


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## premiermotorhomes (Feb 13, 2008)

To be fair, generally Schaudt manufacture good electronic components, however as with all things they can go wrong. If you do need any further help with Shchaudt you can contact them through their website http://schaudt-gmbh.de/ where you can also obtain manuals.

Let us know how you get on!


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

went to the van this morning and firstly checked all fuses both vehicle and habitation - all correct. 
Then disconnected the habitation batteries one at a time and checked them - readings B1=14.07 B2= 14.12.
Then removed the habitation panel and checked the connections to the toggle switch and got B2 = 14.10 B1 = 12.58.
My conclusion is the circuit board in the panel has a fault!
Would welcome any comments.


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## premiermotorhomes (Feb 13, 2008)

Gordon, 

This is a little odd. A reading of 14.10V would indicate that a battery is taking a charge, has just been taken off charge or that the engine is running when the reading was taken a batteries will only sustain this voltage under these circumstances.

Can you let me know what the voltage of the starter battery is accross the terminals rather than on the panel, and also re take the measuments with the batteries with tham all having been off charge for a little while as they need to settle to read the actual voltage after a charge, not the voltage that has come from charging. 

If you can then fill in the following for me that would be great.

Readings taken accross battery terminals;
Leisure battery 1 V:
Leisure battery 2 V:
Starter battery V:

Readings taken from control panel meter;
Leisure battery 1 & 2 combed V:
Starter battery V:

Thanks,
Chris


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

the readings were taken immed after disconnecting the batteries - I have a solar panel so they are being trickle fed continuously!
But i will take the reading you suggest and revert.

My problem which was or is the readings on the habitation panel after some thought must be down to a defective toggle switch. If both feeds to the switch are live and the common feed works on one side it must be the switch!! I'll prove that tomorrow.


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## premiermotorhomes (Feb 13, 2008)

The control panel is only very basic, and its only a switch and a meter and some wiring. Perhaps everything is ok, and its just a wiring issue, or poor connection causing an anomolous reading on the panel.

From the voltages you provided I would have said that the 14.10V would have been the leisure batteries being on charge and the 12.58V being the starter battery as of course its not on charge.

Going back to my original thoughts of B1 being leisure, and B2 being starter. I would now be inclined to think that as per your recent voltage readings that B1 is your starter, B2 is your leisure and that the batteries were all charged in the first place and the only issue was that the panel or switch simply had a poor connection and wasn't reading a voltage.

What do you think of my hypothesis?

Chris


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

if you have a solar panel you have disrupted the charge by disconnecting the batteries, you need to disconnect the solar panel from the controller and then reconnect as the controller needs to read the battery voltage before connecting the solar panel to it

joe


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

so for completion:-

After being convinced that the battery selector switch was faulty I have discovered that the fault lay in a defective 30 amp fuse under the bonnet in a cable from the battery.
Simplessssssss!
As for the batteries I was able to measure across the terminals on the vehicle battery and got 12.7V (same reading as the gauge on the panel after the fuse had been changed)


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

joedenise said:


> if you have a solar panel you have disrupted the charge by disconnecting the batteries, you need to disconnect the solar panel from the controller and then reconnect as the controller needs to read the battery voltage before connecting the solar panel to it
> 
> joe


no I only disconnected one battery at a time!


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## premiermotorhomes (Feb 13, 2008)

Good afternoon Gordon, 

I'm glad to hear the root cause of the problems has been found, and hopefully everything is back to normal.

Regards,
Chris


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