# Autotrail vehicle battery



## Tucano (Jun 9, 2006)

Collected our van yet again from Baldwins, better condition than it was but only time will tell if it is BETTER.
I was told that the vehicle battery has a permanent drain of 1.5 volts because it monitors the EMS, engine management system, every 40 minutes or so.
It is normal, I was told, to install a switch to cancel this EMS scan on older vehicles but to do so on our new van would invalidate the warranty.
Also, the cab under seat plastic doors have been modified because the older design was useless.
No longer care but thought that some of you may find this of interest.
Norman


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

The battery drain sounds a bit "fishy" to me! Have you a Merc chassis then if you have underseat plastic doors. How have they been modified please?

peedee


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

A drain of 1.5mA would be acceptable (your battery self-discharges by much more than that).

A drain of 15mA would need monitoring if you left your van in storage for months.

I'm afraid a drain of 1.5V is meaningless


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

> Have you a Merc chassis


Hi Peedee. The Apache range is only available on Fiat chassis.

Trevor


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

> I'm afraid a drain of 1.5V is meaningless


Yep, I agree. Battery drain is measured in amps or ampere hours, certainly not volts.

Trevor


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## mike_rolls37 (Feb 3, 2006)

trevorf said:


> > I'm afraid a drain of 1.5V is meaningless
> 
> 
> Yep, I agree. Battery drain is measured in amps or ampere hours, certainly not volts.
> ...


The garage may have misquoted - or they may have been quoting how far the vaoltage had fallen as a result of the drain.

Mike


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## Tucano (Jun 9, 2006)

Gents, thanks for the replies,
I agree that what I was told at the dealers about the battery dropping 1.5 volts is meaningless and I should have quizzed them about it but to be honest I was just glad to have the van back and the electrician was conveniently not there at the time. 
The van is on a Fiat chassis, the covers to the front seat lockers have had their metal retaining clips replaced by plastic clips.
Norman


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