Can someone give advice over battery please

Nunny666

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Hi all , new to motorhomes , looked doe an answer to this but so many mixed reports , when parked up at home how often should I plug my 240 lead into my motorhome ro put some charge into leisure battery , some say leave it in all time (like the bloke with caravan round corner from me ) others say no it ruins battery , once a month is fine ?? So what's your views , thanks in advance
 
Had ours connected for 4 years before it gave out, and never took it off the van, but used to ho away every other weekend and it was always charged from the split charger, when the van was running.
 
I leave mine connected all the time to a 7 day time switch. I've set it to come on 2 days a week for 10 hours to charge batteries and run dehumidifier. If you are on hookup its connected all the time so I don''t think its going to be too critical.

Keith
 
Before I had a solar panel fitted to our van, I would connect to 240v ehu during the week and disconnect at weekends (when not using the van). I would periodically check the battery power level over the weekend, and reconnect to 240v ehu at the start of the week.

With the solar power permanently supplying a charge now, the batteries are constantly getting topped up, so I can't see the problem with leaving the ehu connected when not using your vehicle.
 
I can't see the point in hooking up to mains , unless you aren't going to be using the bus for a while , any decent run will charge the leisure battery .

Lets face it you don't hook a car battery up when it's not in use do you ?

If you plan on using your MH every couple of weeks , I personally wouldn't bother ( in fact I don't and haven't had any problems so far ).

Steve
 
StevenJ said:
I can't see the point in hooking up to mains , unless you aren't going to be using the bus for a while , any decent run will charge the leisure battery .

Lets face it you don't hook a car battery up when it's not in use do you ?

If you plan on using your MH every couple of weeks , I personally wouldn't bother ( in fact I don't and haven't had any problems so far ).

Steve
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That's very true. However, if the battery does run down it will ruin it very quickly so I personally don't want to take the risk of accidentally running the battery down by leaving something on in the van. Plus, the dehumidifier is handy in the winter and after wet trips.

Keith
 
Keep an eye on the voltmeter plug in when battery drops to around 12.2 volts. And overnight before using the van ,as engine dose not fully charged the L battery ,works for me I also disconnect the battery if not used for afew weeks.
 
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Thanks for taking time to reply all , some great points , I also like the point About a dehumidifier in winter , i will look out for one ,
 
Mines a 1994 hyma b534 with the on board la 110 charger , nothing fancy about the charger , I have option to plug in a solar panel in winter to trickle charge starter battery , as my on board charger just charges leisure battery
 
Have only had my motorhome 7 months and after asking for advise on this forum leave it 24/7 on mains when at home.
2 x leisure batteries always fully charged and have had no issues with wilding for 3 nights without any problems running of batteries.
I reckon the electricity used when on ehu is next to nothing v damaging your batteries if they become discharged.
 
If like us, you move regularly and use little electricity, then no point but if you are staying in one spot for several days and then not travelling far. Your batteries will take a hammering so a trickle charge will do them the world of good. You need to use a decent charger which will detect your batteries requirement so it does not boil or overcharge it.

Richard
 
Nunny666 said:
Thanks for taking time to reply all , some great points , I also like the point About a dehumidifier in winter , i will look out for one ,
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The one we have used in the house for many years was too big and bulky to lug into the van. After a bit of research I went for a Meaco DD8L which is small and light but has super performance. You need to use an extension tube to feed into into a sink or into a larger bottle as the on-board tank is very small.

Keith
 
Contrary to popular belief , letting a battery discharge partially does not cause it any damage , in fact it will probably prolong it's life span , keeping a battery on a constant trickle charge is relatively ok , but if you use a high recharge you are more likely to cause damage the same as letting it totally discharge , it's all about maintaining a happy medium

Steve

Edit to add:

We have been wilding for 4 days , no probs at all with batteries , leisure battery got discharged when I put the inverter on to recharge all our electronics , ( lappy , tablet phones etc ) not to mention her had all the chuffin lights on :D

don't worry you'll suss your own way with your own van
 
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StevenJ said:
Contrary to popular belief , letting a battery discharge partially does not cause it any damage , in fact it will probably prolong it's life span , keeping a battery on a constant trickle charge is relatively ok , but if you use a high recharge you are more likely to cause damage the same as letting it totally discharge , it's all about maintaining a happy medium

Steve

Edit to add:

We have been wilding for 4 days , no probs at all with batteries , leisure battery got discharged when I put the inverter on to recharge all our electronics , ( lappy , tablet phones etc ) not to mention her had all the chuffin lights on :D

don't worry you'll suss your own way with your own van
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What is it about women and lights? They are as good at turning them on as they are bad at turning them off:mad1:

Richard
 
If the OP could let us know the brand and model number of the on-board charger he is using and the type of batteries he has installed, then and only then will someone be able to give him a definitive answer.

don't worry you'll suss your own way with your own van
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Guess OP is hoping not to repeat everyone else's mistakes.
 
Not at home at moment I will update make if batteries and my in board charger later today, thanks , I like the comments about the mouse made me chuckle
 
Hi , the in board charger is elektromatic la 110, the leisure battery is. Tab make / 12 v , 92 ah , , is what it says on top
 
Thanks David , how much of an increase you reckon in home electricity bills , negligible as its only topping up ?
 
I reckon that's a bit of an overestimate though its going to be charger dependent. My Electroblock drops charging down to 0.1 amp after a several hours of charging. If we bank on an average 0.5 amp at 12 V that's only 6 watts. However, the charger will be quite inefficient so I'll guess at 30% efficient. Thus, I make that an average of 20W or 0.5 unit per day.

Keith
 
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