our motorhome battery (ACDELCO BATTERY Sealed Maintenance Free DEEP CYCLE) used to hold charge overnight no worries.
we have 2 x (80 watt???) solar panels and most days we drive at least an hour or so in our Avan.
Just the past few days we have found the battery drains really fast as soon as the sun goes down and even if we switch off almost everything overnight by the time we wake up it is so dead we have to start the engine and drive to recharge the battery.
Our motorhome is still quite new (purchased in September last year) and is a 2015 model, so the batteries can't be that old.
The only thing we did differently since arriving in Tasmania was to stay hooked to shore power 24/7 for two whole weeks. Does that do the house battery damage?
hoping for some suggestions as we are having to pretty much eat in the dark then go to bed and can barely put the (electric) bed up in the mornings. This has never been the case in the past!
Treecrest14 said
10:34 AM Mar 3, 2016
I'd get the battery checked by someone like Battery World. There is one in Burnie and one in Hobart. Or find a similar business which mainly deals in batteries! If it is the battery, then contact the motorhome manufacturer to get a replacement under warranty!
Jaahn said
11:04 AM Mar 3, 2016
Hi Allirah,
Sounds bad. Are there any meters to tell you what is happening regards the state of charge or the voltage or ! I could not sleep at night without them
Get the batteries checked as said then you might have to reassess the system to see if it is really working as it should or even if it can work properly !!
More information on what your system has in the hardware would help us to see things correctly!
Jaahn
We always use candles. The light is so soft compared to the electric lights
-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 3rd of March 2016 11:07:26 AM
Dav4Cris said
04:32 PM Mar 3, 2016
Yes as others have said, get your batteries load tested, and then get the charging side checked, you may have a fuse or something blown and are not getting charge from the Solar. As long as your battery 240v charger was working properly then staying hooked up to 240v should not have been the problem. Check the charging side, sounds like the Solar is not charging if you can drive and it recharges the battery. Only problem is if battery is that flat you would really need to drive for about 10hrs to put a decent charge back in batteries.
oldtrack123 said
04:41 PM Mar 3, 2016
Hi
AS others have said
I suspect the battery is very sick
It most likely needs replacing, but you will also need to determine why it has failed!!or the next one may not last long either.
To be of any REAL help in that regard we need a lot more info.
Including do you have:
[a] A SOC meter or even a voltmeter that constantly shows the battery voltage? A low battery voltage cutout &if so @ what voltage does it switch the battery OFF?
[c]the details of all the charging systems ;240V, solar, & vehicle alternator?
[d] the loads that you use on the battery?
When we have those, we can possibly ask a few more relevant questions which may explain what has happened
But just one question, has the charge, Always been maintained on the battery when the van has been in storage??
patrol03 said
06:50 PM Mar 3, 2016
The AC Delco is a very ordinary battery fitted by many manufacturers due to their bulk buying discount.Some last some don't,mine did three years with virtually no work at all and was kept fully charged. Suggest you do some research on batteries and find one that will go the distance and suits your charging capabilities and capacity.
Baz421 said
08:17 PM Mar 3, 2016
My guess is your battery is flat, simple as that. (Lets assume battery is Ok as fairly new)
We are in Tassie now and have 480w of panels and 480 ah bat capacity.
Truck fridge has 120W panel to run 50l fridge.
Some cloudy days they both run down gradually.
For only the 2nd time in 8 years I ran the genny 2 days ago to top up batteries.
For info 1 hour driving will NOT charge your battery enough.
If you have full sun you could take 3 days to totally charge your battery (obviously depending on overnight usage)
SUGGEST - plug into 240v and charge for a few hours PREFERABLY overnight and see the result - MAKING SURE THE 24OV BATTERY CHARGER IN ON.
Hope this helps
Cheers Baz
-- Edited by Baz421 on Thursday 3rd of March 2016 08:18:40 PM
baysidetas said
09:51 PM Mar 3, 2016
Where abouts are you at present.
If you are in either Hobart or Launceston then you could call into Island Batteries. In Hobart they are in Derwent Park Road (not far from the showground CP and in Launceston I believe they are in Invermay Road.
PeterD said
11:55 PM Mar 3, 2016
An hour of driving does not give much recharge. Also there are far less sun hours in Tasmania than in northern Oz. Your batteries may be OK up north but you are not able to fully charge them in Tasmania. You have not given us much detail regarding your total battery use (total daily current drain.) Unless you are a light power user your battery charging regime may not be coping.
What battery charger do you have? If it's a quality multi stage charger then it will not wreck your battery. They are designed to charge the battery and switch to a float/maintenance charge. You can leave these chargers switched on al year. See his page on how battery chargers work.
Hi there - hoping for some sage advice here ...
our motorhome battery (ACDELCO BATTERY Sealed Maintenance Free DEEP CYCLE) used to hold charge overnight no worries.
we have 2 x (80 watt???) solar panels and most days we drive at least an hour or so in our Avan.
Just the past few days we have found the battery drains really fast as soon as the sun goes down and even if we switch off almost everything overnight by the time we wake up it is so dead we have to start the engine and drive to recharge the battery.
Our motorhome is still quite new (purchased in September last year) and is a 2015 model, so the batteries can't be that old.
The only thing we did differently since arriving in Tasmania was to stay hooked to shore power 24/7 for two whole weeks. Does that do the house battery damage?
hoping for some suggestions as we are having to pretty much eat in the dark then go to bed and can barely put the (electric) bed up in the mornings. This has never been the case in the past!
Hi Allirah,
Sounds bad. Are there any meters to tell you what is happening regards the state of charge or the voltage or ! I could not sleep at night without them
Get the batteries checked as said then you might have to reassess the system to see if it is really working as it should or even if it can work properly !!
More information on what your system has in the hardware would help us to see things correctly!
Jaahn
We always use candles. The light is so soft compared to the electric lights
-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 3rd of March 2016 11:07:26 AM
Hi
AS others have said
I suspect the battery is very sick
It most likely needs replacing, but you will also need to determine why it has failed!!or the next one may not last long either.
To be of any REAL help in that regard we need a lot more info.
Including do you have:
[a] A SOC meter or even a voltmeter that constantly shows the battery voltage?
A low battery voltage cutout &if so @ what voltage does it switch the battery OFF?
[c]the details of all the charging systems ;240V, solar, & vehicle alternator?
[d] the loads that you use on the battery?
When we have those, we can possibly ask a few more relevant questions which may explain what has happened
But just one question, has the charge, Always been maintained on the battery when the van has been in storage??
My guess is your battery is flat, simple as that. (Lets assume battery is Ok as fairly new)
We are in Tassie now and have 480w of panels and 480 ah bat capacity.
Truck fridge has 120W panel to run 50l fridge.
Some cloudy days they both run down gradually.
For only the 2nd time in 8 years I ran the genny 2 days ago to top up batteries.
For info 1 hour driving will NOT charge your battery enough.
If you have full sun you could take 3 days to totally charge your battery (obviously depending on overnight usage)
SUGGEST - plug into 240v and charge for a few hours PREFERABLY overnight and see the result - MAKING SURE THE 24OV BATTERY CHARGER IN ON.
Hope this helps
Cheers Baz
-- Edited by Baz421 on Thursday 3rd of March 2016 08:18:40 PM
If you are in either Hobart or Launceston then you could call into Island Batteries. In Hobart they are in Derwent Park Road (not far from the showground CP and in Launceston I believe they are in Invermay Road.
An hour of driving does not give much recharge. Also there are far less sun hours in Tasmania than in northern Oz. Your batteries may be OK up north but you are not able to fully charge them in Tasmania. You have not given us much detail regarding your total battery use (total daily current drain.) Unless you are a light power user your battery charging regime may not be coping.
What battery charger do you have? If it's a quality multi stage charger then it will not wreck your battery. They are designed to charge the battery and switch to a float/maintenance charge. You can leave these chargers switched on al year. See his page on how battery chargers work.