1st outing a dissaster so far

[cookie]

:boat::boat:

 

[oldish hippy]

well it sounds like you lesuire battery is not charged do you have a charger on your van and what is the van do you have control panel that you have to switch on the charger to charge lesuire battery

 

[cookie]

control panel

yes we have a control panel for the leisure battery and the battery has been on charge for a day before we set off, even the control panel keeps going out
its an old van and although it our 1st long run we have been around the door with it at home and everything worked ok

 

[donkey too]

our 1st journey out this season and its been none stop dissaster and were not even wildcamping were on a site in york for an event Im supposed to be going to on Sunday so we thought we'd make a weekend of it,drove down in tipping rain and the wiper fell apart,stopped to fix that,then on site with main connection but I dont know whats going on with the electric's we have power to the sockets but none of out internal lights are working the water pumps not got enough guts to pump water round, and we have no hot water, when we do manage to get the lights on they are barely glimmering even though we are connected to mains I dont know whats going on! total none starter its been today roll on daylight.

Ha Ha. Been there done that, got all the tee shirts, and most people on here will say the same. The important thing is that you learn from your experiences, and also learn to laugh at them.. Enjoy your next trip.

 

[Firefox]

What is the voltage reading across the top of the leisure battery?

 

[cookie]

Ha Ha. Been there done that, got all the tee shirts, and most people on here will say the same. The important thing is that you learn from your experiences, and also learn to laugh at them.. Enjoy your next trip.

yes your right and as soon as I find out what Ive done wrong I promise you I will laugh,:lol-049: but according to the control panel the leisure battery was fully charged when I set off after being on charge for almost 2 days and its a fairly new battery so it should be holding a charge and was still charging on route down here also, so Im still at a loss to know why Ive got no lights

 

[oldish hippy]

yes we have a control panel for the leisure battery and the battery has been on charge for a day before we set off, even the control panel keeps going out
its an old van and although it our 1st long run we have been around the door with it at home and everything worked ok

ok here we go my ideas could be wrong ok you are on mains hook up and the interanl light are dim and you say lesuire battery is charged

1 have you blown a fuse from the lesuire battery to the aux equipment {light pump etc}

my thought on this are that if your light are dim and you are on main hook up the the battery charger if there is one on the control panel is trying to run the light and the amperage is low because it is a trickle charger for the battery so that you are not running from lesuire battery but the battery charger in the contol panel ok icould be completely wrong but you did say it was all ok before so it could a simple blown fuse

 

[cookie]

What is the voltage reading across the top of the leisure battery?

thnks for replying firefox
sorry I have no idea, hubby has gone ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz our battery hasnt got any kind of meter on it so Im not sure what Im looking for ? can you elaborate

 

[Firefox]

Treat yourself to a multimeter from Maplins if you haven't got one. They are £10 or less. It's almost impossible to diagnose and fix any electrical problems without one... like doing a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces inside a binliner :lol-053:

 

[cookie]

ok here we go my ideas could be wrong ok you are on mains hook up and the interanl light are dim and you say lesuire battery is charged

1 have you blown a fuse from the lesuire battery to the aux equipment {light pump etc}

my thought on this are that if your light are dim and you are on main hook up the the battery charger if there is one on the control panel is trying to run the light and the amperage is low because it is a trickle charger for the battery so that you are not running from lesuire battery but the battery charger in the contol panel ok icould be completely wrong but you did say it was all ok before so it could a simple blown fuse

mmmmmmmm right I see what your saying, makes sense will take a better look in the morning as hubby might well have missed it when he checked them, as by the time we discoverd the lights wernt working it was too dark to do much about it but he did try and look for a blown fuse, maybe he didnt spot it. thanks for the imput.will let you know if you theory was right tomorrow

 

[cookie]

Treat yourself to a multimeter from Maplins if you haven't got one. They are £10 or less. It's almost impossible to diagnose and fix any electrical problems without one... like doing a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces inside a binliner :lol-053:

I dare say hubby has one of those must have impliments but what he wouldnt have is the savvy to bring it with us :rolleyes2: but dont tell him I said that hes not in the best of moods already :mad1: but if he aint got one ! guess what hes getting for an early fathers day pressie ?

 

[Deleted member 12539]

Ha Ha. Been there done that, got all the tee shirts, and most people on here will say the same. The important thing is that you learn from your experiences, and also learn to laugh at them.. Enjoy your next trip.

I agree...although that is no help for cookie at the moment!
During my first year of owning a motorhome I learned valuable lessons in ensuring I have a good 12v habitation supply. It did cost a couple of hundred pounds but worth it. It does not matter how much you paid for you camper / motorhome, they are practically useless without a 12v supply.

It certainly seems like you are literally running off the battery charger, not the battery. So I would think you would need to determine if your battery is being charged.

 

[snowbirds]

Lighting probs

Hi Cookie,

You could swap with the main van battery to see if its a battery problem, and are your battery connections tight, check all earths to chassis but it does sound like a batttery fault.

Regards Snowbirds.:hammer::hammer:

our 1st journey out this season and its been none stop dissaster and were not even wildcamping were on a site in york for an event Im supposed to be going to on Sunday so we thought we'd make a weekend of it,drove down in tipping rain and the wiper fell apart,stopped to fix that,then on site with main connection but I dont know whats going on with the electric's we have power to the sockets but none of out internal lights are working the water pumps not got enough guts to pump water round, and we haterminave no hot water, when we do manage to get trhe lights on they are barely glimmering even though we are connected to mains I dont know whats going on! total none starter its been today roll on daylight.

 

[kimbowbill]

Sorry to hear you've had the problems, however, as donkey too says, you will laugh about them, that's if you are cut out for this sort of holidaying, some aren't some are, these things are sent to try us, i could bore you with all my traumas, 17 years of them, but i love it and wouldn't have it any other way, there is always someone on here to help or offer a shoulder, i'm just the shoulder i'm afraid, but all the advice you will get will be good advice, chin up, you will have good times and bad, but the good outweighs the bad :dance:

 

[DRoader]

I do hope Cookie updates us on this whatever the problem. It will be helpful for others embarking on their first outing in a motorhome.

One thing I would suggest, and no I'm not being a smartarse, is try everything out either on your path or on a really local site before you head off any further afield.

Hope everything has been sorted out

 

[Teutone]

leisure battery could well be fully charged but maybe fuses corroded and not enough current is flowing? That could be the cause of the dim lights.

 

[cookie]

update on the battery problem

After checking every fuse on the motor this morning,We had a very kind motorhomer on the site who was carrying a spare fully charged battery which he loaned us today, and as soon as we put it on everything worked so for some reason we found our battery was as flat as the proverbial witches *** .so we went out and bought a battery charger for now to see if the battery takes a charge and holds it, then once we get home tomorrow we will be able to do more to determine why it didnt hold the charge before we indulge in any new parts. so hubby was a lot calmer today ha ha. thanks everyone for your help and I will still let you know our findings on the problem once were home.

PS firefox. he has got a multimeter and I was right it's at home in the shed ! ( like the sheds ever gonna need it ) its probably tucked in underneath the must have unused electric sander, or behind the must have unused jigsaw. yet we are probably carrying everything we are never gonna need

 

[Firefox]

Great to hear you have got one Cookie!

3 important voltages to know:

1. Charging: 14 to 14.5V (approx... proves your charger is working properly)

2. Fully Charged : 12.8 to 13.0V (After removing charger and allowing to rest for a few hours to a day... proves battery has been charged and is holding it)

3. 50% Discharged: Around 11.9 to 12.1V (To get the max life out of your battery, probably best not to discharge more than this before charging again)

Since the difference between fully charged and max discharge you should allow can be as little as 0.7V, this is where an accurate voltmeter comes in handy. Unfortunately those LED traffic light systems on most motorhome control panels are not really sensitive enough to give you an accurate picture of what is happening in your battery.

 

[cookie]

update -----top of the class snowbirds

Hi Cookie,

You could swap with the main van battery to see if its a battery problem, and are your battery connections tight, check all earths to chassis but it does sound like a batttery fault.

Regards Snowbirds.:hammer::hammer:

you were spot on snowbird it was an earth strap that caused us so much trouble. we finally got away on our way home after fixing it, and everything was tickety boo, and I was just about muster up a laugh:lol-049: about the whole fiasco when the gremlins struck again and the bleeding clutch started slipping and the gears wouldnt stay engaged 40 miles from home so I have struggled to limp it home and never so relieved to get there,so the laugh is on hold for the moment it will have to wait till this long cold alcoholic drink takes effect.

 

[oldish hippy]

well glad you home safe now to sort out problems next time wont be as bad see we all tried to help out and pointed you in right direction to getting it sorted