# Motor Home Battery Drain



## pgb (Feb 14, 2011)

We have battery drainage problems with our Fiat Ducato Bessacarr motorhome and no amount of searching has helped to resolve the problems. Even after standing a week the leisure battery drains and we need to jump lead to start the engine. Any helpful suggestions out there?


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## cater_racer (May 1, 2005)

We've been here before

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftoptitle-94780-help-please-flat-batteries-in-storage.html


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## GEOMAR (Mar 16, 2008)

*battery drain*

If you have a reverse camera even if reverse is not selected even with ignition off the camera is live all the time unless it is switched off , there will be a switch somewhere . the radio if on standby (red light ) it uses power all the time , if it has a removable facia take it off when in storage
Regards
GEOMAR


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## BorisBolero (Aug 10, 2009)

Don't know how old your Bessacar is, but my 2008 Swift Bolero had the standard fit Blaupunkt Satnav/Reversing Camera fitted which had been incorrectly wired by Swift to have the infra red illumination for the reversing camera to be on all the time during darkness, even with the ignition off. This flattened the engine battery within a week in the winter. (Longer nights = more darkness to illuminate!)
When it's dark and with the ignition off, have a look at the reversing camera lense. If you can see 5 little reddish lights glowing around the lense you may have the same problem that I did.


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## Chrisowen42 (Aug 6, 2014)

*Ace airstream*

In France now, same problem already cost 184 euros to get started by recovery already. Trying to find out why my cab battery is draining so quickly but the leisure battery is fine. Would like to know if anybody as a answer to what I'm doing wrong.


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## Snunkie (Mar 21, 2011)

Would it not be cheaper to buy a new starter battery or do you think it isn't down to the age, inefficiency of the battery in any way? Is it worth buying a small solar panel that you can put in your windscreen and connect to the starter battery to keep it topped up when you're not driving maybe? 
Do you know if the alternator is even charging it?


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

We had a 2007 Bessacarr on a Fiat base. 
You seem to have two problems. The two batteries should not be connected when the engine is not running.
The leisure battery never gave any trouble when Marquis had fitted a switch to isolate the AV equipment.
The starter battery did. There was a standing discharge current of about 170 mA. This was due to the security system and permanent electronics.
Our initial solution was to disconnect the earth lead of the battery, Eventually we had a large solar panel fitted (for other reasons) and this made up for the discharge except in December when we connected up an EHU.
The radio can be a problem if it is not correctly wired.
The only way forward is to connect an ammeter in the earth lead of each battery and start removing fuses until you find the problem circuit. The reversing camera is certainly an early suspect.

The 2006/7 Bessacarrs seem to have gone through a series of A/V systems. They were complicated and ours at any rate never worked well. (Swift solved the problem with a much simpler system in the end)


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## philoaks (Sep 2, 2008)

*Re: Ace airstream*



> In France now, same problem already cost 184 euros to get started by recovery already. Trying to find out why my cab battery is draining so quickly but the leisure battery is fine. Would like to know if anybody as a answer to what I'm doing wrong.


You haven't given us much to go on.

How old is the van?
Is it the original battery?
Have you had the battery tested?
Have you had the charging system tested?
How long have you had the problem?
How long do you have to leave the van before the problem occurs?

On the face of it, it would appear your alternator is working ok as you leisure battery is charging ok. Chances are that your battery may be on its last legs but a test would prove that. If you think the problem is a battery drain then one way of proving that would be to disconnect the battery once you are stopped and see if it starts ok when reconnected.

Phil


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

There are lots of reasons why this could be happening but really you are stabbing in the dark. A good auto electrician would trace the fault.

JohnW


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Have you checked the resting voltage at the beginning of the week and then again at the end, you should be in the mid 12.?v

I'd be suspecting the battery in the first instance, can you check it for load while the key is out, if it's minimal, it is an ex battery it has ceased to be .....

Maybe swap it for a LB for a week and see how that responds, before parting with any hard earned.


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## Zepp (May 14, 2009)

We had the same fault , never did find the what was draining the engine battery but we split the solar 90% to hab batteries and 10% to engine battery never had a problem since .

Paul


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## christletips (Aug 8, 2014)

Hi 
I`ve got the same problem on a Bessacar E560 but its only started this year. I`ve had the cap electrics checked and the accessary fuse contains the leek. this also feeds the habitation when engine running . I am loosing 14amp which is more than the odd clock or satnav which have been there all the time.
I suspect the transformer/regulator in the home side.


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## Jeannette (Aug 7, 2012)

Are you shutting down fully the Sargent unit when you store it using the little black shutdown button?


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## christletips (Aug 8, 2014)

thanks for the advice. I did not know I had one. Please advise function/position of Sargent


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## Jeannette (Aug 7, 2012)

christletips said:


> thanks for the advice. I did not know I had one. Please advise function/position of Sargent


On my Bessacar E562 its on the controller located in the cupboard above and behind the drivers seat that has all the fuses and circuit breakers. You will see a small black button is marked shutdown. This does a total system shutdown and disables everything. If you leave this on and don't have solar then the Sargent will draw power from the leisure battery until it hits 10v and then start pulling it from the vehicle battery. You only leave this on if you have solar running through the Sargent controller so it can manage the intelligent split charge.

The Sargent unit on its own consumes .3 of an amp just sat there and it also leaves other circuits running so over a few weeks it is easy to flatten a battery especially on a standard battery bay and an older battery. Even the rear camera runs through the Sargent.

My solar is connected directed to both the vehicle and habitation batteries and has a Sunworks intelligent controller so I switch the Sargent of fully in storage. I also move the ignition lock to the red position which totally isolates the vehicle battery from the vehicle but still allows the solar to charge.

I hope that helps.

Steve


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