Conroy
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Hi. As I mentioned in my earlier newbie post, we have an annoying technical problem. I'm afraid to explain it properly this could get quite long, please bear with me. I should point out I don't have much technical knowledge myself.
We have a Devon Monaco 54 reg, with a 110 amp leisure battery, a solar panel, a Waeco compressor fridge and a Steca Solsum 8.8x, which I believe is some kind of charge regulator. In the past we have spent several days off-site with no problem, examples being; a week on Mull with no hooking-up at all, but a bit of driving most days; 5 days parked up at Glastonbury with no hook-up and no driving. In both cases the battery never got too low and the fridge continued to work. Presumably the solar panel helps a in such circumstances.
For the last 12 months it's been a different picture. Now we can have been hooked up for a while or been driving and the battery shows good charge, say about mid-day, but once we're off hook-up or stationery the charge seems to drop far too quickly. By early evening it's getting low and by bed-time it's not enough to work the fridge (or heating) so the fridge goes off. This is a big problem when you like wild camping as we do. Sometimes the charge starts to go up again quite quickly come morning, so the fridge comes on again, but the only source is the solar panel, which I thought only gives a trickle charge.
We visited an auto electrician, who said all seemed to be working ok and could only suggest the battery may not be up to scratch. We went back to ATS where we bought the battery (in just July last year), who checked it and it showed as a 'good battery', so of course they couldn't change it under warranty. Last month we rang ES Hartleys at Ings (near Kendal), who referred us to another auto electrician in Kendal that they use. We took it there feeling rather optimistic. Again we were told they couldn't find anything wrong and confirmed the battery is ok. They couldn't explain why we had done so well in the past but not now. They explained it's a matter of maths; a fully charged 110 amp battery running a fridge using 5 amps per hour will only last 22 hours before running out. I've googled this quite a bit and get the maths, but 2 other factors; the fridge doesn't use power constantly as it works like a home fridge and is thermostat controlled, going on and off intermittently; secondly the solar panel will be giving some top-up too. Here's where the maths don't add up though; if the battery is fully charged at mid-day why has it gone so low the fridge stops working by bed-time, no more than 12 hours later?
Something must have happened or gone wrong for us to have such a different experience now with our van. I hope someone can help, as I don't know where to turn next. We love our van but are now even considering changing it, with the added problem however of selling it in its present state.
I am really sorry about the length of this post, but it seemed necessary to give full info. If anyone can help, please let me know if you need any more information. Many thanks, in anticipation.
Ian.
We have a Devon Monaco 54 reg, with a 110 amp leisure battery, a solar panel, a Waeco compressor fridge and a Steca Solsum 8.8x, which I believe is some kind of charge regulator. In the past we have spent several days off-site with no problem, examples being; a week on Mull with no hooking-up at all, but a bit of driving most days; 5 days parked up at Glastonbury with no hook-up and no driving. In both cases the battery never got too low and the fridge continued to work. Presumably the solar panel helps a in such circumstances.
For the last 12 months it's been a different picture. Now we can have been hooked up for a while or been driving and the battery shows good charge, say about mid-day, but once we're off hook-up or stationery the charge seems to drop far too quickly. By early evening it's getting low and by bed-time it's not enough to work the fridge (or heating) so the fridge goes off. This is a big problem when you like wild camping as we do. Sometimes the charge starts to go up again quite quickly come morning, so the fridge comes on again, but the only source is the solar panel, which I thought only gives a trickle charge.
We visited an auto electrician, who said all seemed to be working ok and could only suggest the battery may not be up to scratch. We went back to ATS where we bought the battery (in just July last year), who checked it and it showed as a 'good battery', so of course they couldn't change it under warranty. Last month we rang ES Hartleys at Ings (near Kendal), who referred us to another auto electrician in Kendal that they use. We took it there feeling rather optimistic. Again we were told they couldn't find anything wrong and confirmed the battery is ok. They couldn't explain why we had done so well in the past but not now. They explained it's a matter of maths; a fully charged 110 amp battery running a fridge using 5 amps per hour will only last 22 hours before running out. I've googled this quite a bit and get the maths, but 2 other factors; the fridge doesn't use power constantly as it works like a home fridge and is thermostat controlled, going on and off intermittently; secondly the solar panel will be giving some top-up too. Here's where the maths don't add up though; if the battery is fully charged at mid-day why has it gone so low the fridge stops working by bed-time, no more than 12 hours later?
Something must have happened or gone wrong for us to have such a different experience now with our van. I hope someone can help, as I don't know where to turn next. We love our van but are now even considering changing it, with the added problem however of selling it in its present state.
I am really sorry about the length of this post, but it seemed necessary to give full info. If anyone can help, please let me know if you need any more information. Many thanks, in anticipation.
Ian.
