Hi all. We have just bought a van, 2002 "Heritage 17" with a battery that we have never had before. Although it was flat it was supposed to have been a good battery.
The van has been plugged in to 240volts with the switch to the battery "ON" for a couple of weeks now whilst I have been doing some reupholstering. It has charged to 13.5 volts. After settling down for 48 hours it reduced to 10.6 volts. All fuses are OK.
There are no problems on 240volts, but I am getting absolutely nothing from the battery at all, not a glimmer of light at any time during and after charging, from anywhere!
Question!... Is 10.6 volts to low for nothing to work? Thanks
I've had my AGM's down to 3.7 and come back again. (one)
Believe it or not.
Charged with a commercial min 60A charger. Some do. Some don't.....
12.2/3 is around the lowest they'll go and give any output. depending on load.
I class mine flat at 12.6v.
When you set your van up for solar.
get enough panels that you still have a MIN of 12.6v left in your battery(s)
the next morning.
and they charged again by around lunchtime on a normal day.
They'll last you 7 or more yrs then.
Let them drain too low.
they don't last any time at all
And if you have multiple battery's.Make sure you have the input power to keep them topped up and floating.
Solar and AC.
Welcome to the world of. You'll never know enough.
I've been using solar panels since the early '70's
and still learning. (Telstra phone boxes in outback)
Under 12v is getting flat . 10v is dead flat . What type battery ? It doesn't seem to be fully charged in the first place and not holding ? How old? Has it been left flat ?
I have two Optima batteries connected to give 24 Volts. The permanently connected battery charger is a Projecta and unfortunately I forgot to switch it on when I hooked up to 240 Volts.
Flat batteries
I switched the charger back on but no good wouldn't charge the batteries.
I spoke to an Auto Sparky who told me that some chargers need to have some power in the battery before it will charge the battery He advised me to put jump leads on the battery for ten mins then switch the charger back on. He told me some of the newer chargers that also have a float setting to keep the batteries charged up won't charge from flat.
It worked charged the battery.
Worth a try before shelling out for a new battery.
Under 12v is getting flat . 10v is dead flat . What type battery ? It doesn't seem to be fully charged in the first place and not holding ? How old? Has it been left flat ?
No idea how old. as I said we have just purchased the van.
I would guess they are buggered ? Need a load battery test ? One thing I worry about free camping out in our great outdoors is having both flat motor and house batteries !! There should be a date somewhere on battery ? Atleast if you get a new one or two ? You know they're GOOD for 7 years or so ? Is it a storage - deep cycle ? Couldn't tell you how many times I've bought things where the seller says the batteries are good !! Yea ??
If it was mine I would take it off the fancy van charger and use my old fashioned simple 4 amp charger and leave it on for a day. Check the voltage every few hours till it gets up to 14.5 at least. If this takes less than 10 hours or so it is probably stuffed but if it keeps going up for a day or even two or more then it may be OK. Discharge it with a small light or something to 12.3 and do it again. Then put it back in the van and see what it does. Quality batteries can recover from being dead flat sometimes.
If it was mine I would take it off the fancy van charger and use my old fashioned simple 4 amp charger and leave it on for a day. Check the voltage every few hours till it gets up to 14.5 at least. If this takes less than 10 hours or so it is probably stuffed but if it keeps going up for a day or even two or more then it may be OK. Discharge it with a small light or something to 12.3 and do it again. Then put it back in the van and see what it does. Quality batteries can recover from being dead flat sometimes.
millsy88 wrote:The van has been plugged in to 240volts with the switch to the battery "ON" for a couple of weeks now whilst I have been doing some reupholstering. It has charged to 13.5 volts. After settling down for 48 hours it reduced to 10.6 volts. All fuses are OK.
That tells me the battery is buggered. Whilst you were charging the battery the voltage should have risen to over 14V, stayed at that voltage for some time and then reduced to 13.5 to 13.8 V. When yu switched the charger off it should have settled back to 12.8 V or so. Anything less than 12.8 V means the battery was not fully charged. Anything less than 12 V means the battery is useless.
There are no problems on 240volts, but I am getting absolutely nothing from the battery at all, not a glimmer of light at any time during and after charging, from anywhere!
You should have had your lights working whilst the battery was being charged. There are two possibilities here. one is that there is an isolation switch that you have not discovered yet. Try operating switches whilst you have the charger operating. The other possibility is you have a fault in your wiring. This will take more sorting out.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
millsy88 wrote:The van has been plugged in to 240volts with the switch to the battery "ON" for a couple of weeks now whilst I have been doing some reupholstering. It has charged to 13.5 volts. After settling down for 48 hours it reduced to 10.6 volts. All fuses are OK.
That tells me the battery is buggered. Whilst you were charging the battery the voltage should have risen to over 14V, stayed at that voltage for some time and then reduced to 13.5 to 13.8 V. When yu switched the charger off it should have settled back to 12.8 V or so. Anything less than 12.8 V means the battery was not fully charged. Anything less than 12 V means the battery is useless.
There are no problems on 240volts, but I am getting absolutely nothing from the battery at all, not a glimmer of light at any time during and after charging, from anywhere!
You should have had your lights working whilst the battery was being charged. There are two possibilities here. one is that there is an isolation switch that you have not discovered yet. Try operating switches whilst you have the charger operating. The other possibility is you have a fault in your wiring. This will take more sorting out.
Thanks for your advise PeterD. I have looked for switches and other than the one battery switch there is nothing else.
The battery is a "Zap" 70ah sealed type which quotes on the label.. 13.5-13.8 standby use....14.4-15.0 cycle use. (what ever that means)
I've had it on charge for 24 hours with an auto projector charger that is now showing the fully charged green light. I did a voltage check at this point which read 13.5volts, but I still get no reading what-so-ever from any 12 volt sockets or lights without the 240 main on. (wouldn't I get some sort of a glimmer at this voltage)
I am wondering if it is the Centurion thing that Jayco use in there early vans (2002) that has a fault as opposed to the battery?? Any suggestions??
Yes there seems to be some sort of disconnection between the battery and the house 12 V system. Check the voltage of the terminals on the back of the Centurion. If you see over 12 V at the battery terminal on the back and nothing on the output terminals then there is a problem in the Centurion. (There is a chance that every fuse is blown in the fuse panel, check those as well.)
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Yes there seems to be some sort of disconnection between the battery and the house 12 V system. Check the voltage of the terminals on the back of the Centurion. If you see over 12 V at the battery terminal on the back and nothing on the output terminals then there is a problem in the Centurion. (There is a chance that every fuse is blown in the fuse panel, check those as well.)
Yes I do have action on the input battery terminals of the panel, but nothing on the output terminals and all fuses are in tact including another glass tubular type I found in the actual centurion. Gave it a good air clean. Still nothing so I guess there is a problem with the centurion.
Now I will need to rectify that I guess. Not urgent so will do some homework on the best option. Thank you for your diagnostic help PeterD, much appreciated.
-- Edited by millsy88 on Friday 29th of July 2016 06:06:13 PM
-- Edited by millsy88 on Friday 29th of July 2016 06:41:27 PM
I have just had a rethink of what PeterD was telling me and it seems I was not testing the correct terminals on the back of the Centurion. I decided to check again with a fresh mind and forget the technical side and act like a chippy (my old trade). Just follow the wires as far as I could until I had no reading on my voltmeter at all.(obvious to a sparky). I couldn't believe what I was coming up with......It didn't matter whether the main on/off switch was ON or OFF the reading was the same "Zero". Got it!!! The switch is faulty seemed the obvious answer, so away I went and took the switch off the cupboard and proceeded to disconnect the wires when suddenly, ON comes the light & radio when I accidently touched another terminal with the wire. Tried again and it happened again. I decided to connect that wire to that other terminal, switched on then off then on off, on, off, on. You beauty somebody had wired the switch wrong in the first place. Beats me whether the past owner ever had battery power or not, but that was the fault.
Naturally I then started to try other lights, range hood and the fridge only to find nothing else worked other than all the lights. Thinking maybe I had blown a couple of fuses with all my messing around, I went about pulling them out to check. Noop all's good. BUT. That's funny! The 2 fuses on the rhs both activated the same lights which stay on no matter which of these 2 fuses are pulled out.
Oh well tomorrow's another day, head in the cupboard ass up again. Trouble is I'm not sure whether to put my chippy or my technical hat on. Any help appreciated.
-- Edited by millsy88 on Friday 29th of July 2016 06:36:46 PM
-- Edited by millsy88 on Friday 29th of July 2016 06:43:10 PM
You wouldn't be the only one . lol . Our motorhome has unlabelled switches all over it . After 3 years we are still working things out . We have an inverter labeled switch . A red switch beside . No idea what it does ? To make things more confusing .. Some switching are up on or down and out !! Ahhhh !!! That's JUST the switches. !!! Sheesh !!
Any help appreciated.
