# Leisure Battery Woes



## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

Can someone advise me on resolving my problem with my leisure battery. My battery is only one year old and performed well untill recently. I hadn't used the motorhome all winter but I left the hook up on permanently and last weekend I went away having turned the fridge on the night before. To maintain the fridge temperature during the journey, I left it turned on with the onboard power switched to leisure battery - I now believe I should have set the switch to engine battery. When I arrived at the campsite, the fridge was warm and I had no 12v power. I assumed I had drained the leisure battery and all would be ok after I recharged the leisure battery on return to home - I had no hook up facility at the campsite. However after leaving the motorhome on hook up overnight I disconnected the hook up and tested the 12v system - nothing!! I put a test meter accross the terminals with the connectors off and it was showing 12v. Where should I start looking - all the fuses test OK. With hook up connected, the onboard power meter shows 12v.

Thanks - Namder


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

the fridge will only work on 12volts if the engine is running.... there is a feed directley from the alternator, this lets the fridge work from the 12volts and perhaps you should now start looking at that end... in my view... hope that helps


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

For a Compass the settings on the control panel should not matter. On the journey the fridge should either switch automatically to 12V or be manually switched by you on the fridge itself. This effectively takes its current from the generator on the engine. When you turn the engine off the fridge should go off.
This then poses the question as to why the battery is flat. You need to put a voltmeter across the battery terminals and do two tests;
(1) start up the engine. The reading should rise to about 14V
(2) With the engine off plug into mains - check the charger is switched on and again the voltage should read 14V.

If as seems likely neither works the most likely is an aprox. 20A fuse close to the battery.

So to sum up I think that you did not switch the fridge to 12V and somehow a fuse has blown.

Hope that you can get it sorted.

Safariboy


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

thinking further.... it is usefull to check the mains battery charger output, I did assume that had alread been checked and was just looking at the fridge... yes the main fuse could be... but there has been no mention of the lights or any of the other electrics not working.. so if the engine had been running (normaly there's a charge comeing for the alternator not always) and the mains had been conected so there could well be a common point where the mains charger and the engine charge charge up the battery, I aggree when the mains charger and or the engine is running there should be 14 volt or there abouts...


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

The battery is not flat, it is showing 12v on a meter accross the terminals and the battery condition indicator shows good. There is no increase to 14v with the engine running or the hook up connected although the on board meter shows 14v with hook up connected. The 240v supply to the van/charger seems OK and all electrics seem to work OK. I've just turned the fridge on with hook up to check if OK but I'm sure I checked that before.

Namder


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## Chascass (May 10, 2007)

Have you done as Safariboy suggested and checked the fuses near the battery.

Charlie


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## inkey-2008 (May 24, 2008)

I am afraid 12 volts is not that good drop 2 more points and you have a flat battery. You should be nearer 12.8 volts.

Andy


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

Checked fuses near battery and also four fuses in control panel. And I can't be certain of exact voltage across terminals as the analogue display on my mini tester isn't large enough to be precise but the battery indicator shows green = fully charged.


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

Just found my digital tester and the battery is showing 12.62v across the terminals.

Namder


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

All the 12v equipment works with the control panel switched to leisure battery on hookup and also works without hookup, but only with the ignition turned on and the control panel switched to engine battery.

Namder


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

namder said:


> All the 12v equipment works with the control panel switched to leisure battery on hookup and also works without hookup, but only with the ignition turned on and the control panel switched to engine battery.
> 
> Namder


This is not right. There are a number of relays and more than one does not seem to be doing their stuff. I suspect an earth connection somewhere in the relays but you will probably need an auto-electrician to sort it out. Preferably one who knows your van electrics.
The 240V to the fridge is separate so it working is probably not relevant. (depends on the design of the fridge)


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