# rapido992mh battery life



## jwinder (Mar 29, 2006)

hi
i would appreciate any members views and experiences about battery life on my rapido 992 mh
we decided to spend the night in the van last weekend of hookup
we parked up about 6pm watched tele (avtex) till 10pm the odd light on all led
we had the heating on all the time truma combi 6 went to bed about 10pm. turned the heating down to number 1 at about 3.30am we had a low battery alarm 10.5v.
we have 2 110amp leisure batteries both brand new the charging system is working ok both from the engine and 240v
both batteries ie engine and leisure are holding a charge 12.7v
i don't expect to be able to stay off hookup for days on end but was expecting to get at least 24hrs or am i expecting to much
i don't think there is a problem with the charging but must admit to be disappointed with my experience so far
cheers 
frank winder


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

How old are your batteries?
How are you measuring the terminal voltage? My Rapido control panel is hopelessly inaccurate).
When you measure the terminal voltage you need to split the batteries or a duff cell in one battery will affect the reading.

12.7v isn't a fully charged battery in my book, a fully charged batter that has been "rested" after charging for a few hours should hold an offload terminal voltage of 12.8v minimum - and yes, the extra 0.1v is significant.


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## jwinder (Mar 29, 2006)

thanks for your input gaspode
the batteries are brand new https://www.tayna.co.uk/XV31MF-Enduroline-Calcium-Leisure-Battery-P9110.html 
the resting volts vary between 12.7v and 12.9v 
i have checked the readings at the batteries and rapido control panel and they seem to be similar in readout 
i have not checked them separately as i presumed brand new they should be ok
cheers 
frank


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

12.6v is accepted as 100% charged on many of the popular distributed tables.
Rested....1hr after charge?....24hrs after charge?
I always use the latter and 12.6 if fine by me.
PS. Only ever use a good meter!


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## WildThingsKev (Dec 29, 2009)

You should get 3 nights out of new fully charged batteries with the usage stated.

Things to check would include; garage lights left on & fridge relay working correctly.


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

12.6 is a bit low in my view, we see 12.8V on Enersys 12V batteries that have been standing since October 2015, so there are probably other electronics that are draining the battery at a low rate.

I'd check and see what the voltage is after a full charge and then see how quickly it drops.

Peter


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

MH vehicle battery....drains due to alarm in 2 to 3 weeks if not used.
Gets a 24hr, sometimes longer when I forget, charge if it drops to 12.4v on a CTek charger.
Came off charge 26 hours ago and it shows 12.58v.
The vehicle battery is less than 1 year old...it's predecessor showed these figures for over 8 years.
Have never ever seen 12.7v over many years and a few batteries after 24+ hours.


Leisure battery shows 12.6v even after many weeks of idleness and has never been charged except when driven or on EHU when away....it's at least 10 years old.


I offer no explanation except that that's what I have always done since buying my first caravan over 50 years ago.
I used to be a spark but that was when I first started:wink2::grin2:


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Clearly you need to establish if you have a quiescent current drain or a duff cell and if so identify and eliminate it.

First thing I would do is fully charge the leisure batteries on hook-up.
Then separate the batteries and check the terminal voltage with a good quality meter.
Then allow them to "settle" taking a voltage reading from each every 4 hours or so.
Note any difference between the voltage reading on each battery at every stage.

Then post here what readings you're getting and we can suggest what to do next according to the readings you get.

If all is well then the next step you'll need to use the ammeter bit of your test meter, have you done this before, it needs to be done with care?


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## jwinder (Mar 29, 2006)

on charge now will have a look in the morning
cheers
frank


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

Frank, your problem sounds similar to a friend of mine who could not spend 24 hours off grid without suffering a low battery alarm in the middle of the night. However his was a Webasto diesel heater system and he was running two x 110a Leisure batteries like yourself.

The problem was in the wiring of the heating system. Webasto recommend it being wired direct to the leisure batteries and not through the control panel, but the manufacturers in their wisdom decided it would contravene regulations (not so as it turns out) and wire it through the panel. Thus the wiring is not up to the job and it leads the panel to believe the voltage level is below a safe level and turns off the heating in the middle of the night.

Now I realise that your system is different but could the problem be similar? His van was a Chausson , so maybe the French have misunderstood the wiring regulations.

Having connected his heating system direct to the leisure batteries (with appropriate fuses of course) his problem was solved.

JohnW


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## jwinder (Mar 29, 2006)

*update*

have charged the batteries overnight left for 1 hr to settle disconnected from van 
after 1 hr 13.12v and 13.16v 
after 4hrs 13.05v - 13.18v
after 6hrs 13.04v - 13.16v
after 12hrs 13.03v - 13.13v
will leave disconnected from van for next couple of days and monitor
then reconnect batteries and monitor again
the van has a alden sun tracking solar panel fitted and yesterday i switched it on to track the sun
on the solar panel readout it was showing 5.2 which i am unsure what that is after 4 hrs there was no increase in battery voltage (12.5v)
would appreciate any info on the above

cheers
frank


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Doesn't look as if there's a lot wrong with the batteries Frank.
leave them disconnected for another 24hrs and monitor just in case.

If the batteries are OK then you need to check for quiescent current, have you got a meter that will read up to 10amps - and do you know how to use it to measure current?

I'm puzzled by your solar readouts?
I assume the 5.2 reading was amps???
If the batteries were fully charged I would expect no more than one or two amps to show on the solar readout - unless of course there's a big current leakage somewhere.

PS: Leave the solar disconnected until you've established where the problem is, it'll just confuse the issue.


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