Leisure battery not charging from mains.

[Mick Browne]

With the mains hooked up my swift 530LP leisure battery drains over two days when the radio used for long periods of time. Everything else works in the van except two passenger side lights when there is no charge and hooked up. With the mains plugged in the gauge says it is full. Unplug the mains the battery is empty. Run the engine and the battery will charge.

Where should the battery switch be when using mains? Should the leisure battery be selected or in the middle position?

As always any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Wooie1958]

You need to say what make the charging unit / switchgear is or preferably put a photo on, there are many different ones out there.

 

[Deleted member 58274]

As Wooie says above...in the meantime work backwards from battery checking wiring, connectors and fuses...these often hidden under covers. It should charge whichever position switch is in. Other than that you probably need a multimeter to trace fault. Maja

 

[4maddogs]

I had a similar, intermittent charging problem on my 530 lp (2010). On hookup (outside the house so always on hookup) it would still discharge the vehicle battery even with nothing on.
Eventually I took it to a specialist who found the problem. It was shorting out in the pillar behind the driver's seat. There was also another problem.....if I stood on the floor just benind the seats in the centre of the habitation isle, the rear light came on. He found that the dealers had screwed the floor panel through the wiring.
All these problems were intermittent. Very annoying, but he resolved them all in a day, fitted a belt and braces battery to battery charger and one or two other things as well, all for a reasonable cost.
The specialist is Auto-mate near Newark.

These things can be a real pain to diagnose and fix so good luck.

 

[Siimplyloco]

I had a similar, intermittent charging problem on my 530 lp (2010).

SNIP

These things can be a real pain to diagnose and fix so good luck.

I know it's a pain to hear, but Hugo the Hymer is now over 10 years old and nothing goes wrong; goes wrong; goes wrong...:camper:

 

[Mick Browne]

Update.

Went to fault find last night.
With the mains hooked up i have 14,4 VDC coming out of the charger / power supply. which is what i would expect. All fuses ring out good.
6.5 to 7 VDC coming out of the battery.
Circuit diagram shows nothing else in between. Could be something drawing it down? But once the battery is full after driving, it holds its charge. Only drained because of the radio being on whilst on hook up.
May have to go in for repair.

 

[listerdiesel]

Find out where there is an open circuit between the charger and the battery, don't trust things that look OK, check wiring connections, fuse blades for corrosion and ring terminals that are overheated and gone high resistance. Couple of hours should do it.

We are just now replacing a 7-way cable section on our four-wheel trailer that has a broken wire in the o/s sidelight feed.

Peter

 

[Deleted member 58274]

Hi Mick, still sounds like a break between output from onboard charger and leisure batt (not sure why previous person on about "vehicle batt" ) Hmmmn, Leisure batt always charges when engine running huh..but not on hook up..my guess is that a relay is not clicking in, or stuck in one position so that leisure batt is not switched to accepting voltage from onboard charger when hooked up ? Or something like that LOL !! Keep me posted lol !! Maja

 

[oldish hippy]

error

 

[Mick Browne]

Final outcome.

Hi Mick, still sounds like a break between output from onboard charger and leisure batt (not sure why previous person on about "vehicle batt" ) Hmmmn, Leisure batt always charges when engine running huh..but not on hook up..my guess is that a relay is not clicking in, or stuck in one position so that leisure batt is not switched to accepting voltage from onboard charger when hooked up ? Or something like that LOL !! Keep me posted lol !! Maja

I took the motor home back to the dealer as i remembered it was still in warranty. The outcome was that the switch for the leisure battery has to be switched ON for the battery to charge. Rookey mistake from me. I didn't think it mattered what position the switch was in but if the switch needs to be on to take power out of the battery it must need to be on to put power back in.

Thank you all for your suggestions. It was appreciated.

Mick

 

[wildebus]

I took the motor home back to the dealer as i remembered it was still in warranty. The outcome was that the switch for the leisure battery has to be switched ON for the battery to charge. Rookey mistake from me. I didn't think it mattered what position the switch was in but if the switch needs to be on to take power out of the battery it must need to be on to put power back in.

Thank you all for your suggestions. It was appreciated.

Mick

Would still be interesting to know what controller you have fitted to understand the problem you had and the solution you found. (For example, the charger in the Sargent EC155 unit I have installed will charge the leisure battery even if the batteries are "off" via the EC50 control panel - you just need to turn the charger on via its switch on the EC155)

 

[Mick Browne]

Would still be interesting to know what controller you have fitted to understand the problem you had and the solution you found. (For example, the charger in the Sargent EC155 unit I have installed will charge the leisure battery even if the batteries are "off" via the EC50 control panel - you just need to turn the charger on via its switch on the EC155)

I will take some photos for you in the next few days.

 

[Mick Browne]

Would still be interesting to know what controller you have fitted to understand the problem you had and the solution you found. (For example, the charger in the Sargent EC155 unit I have installed will charge the leisure battery even if the batteries are "off" via the EC50 control panel - you just need to turn the charger on via its switch on the EC155)

As promised pics attached. Including pic of the power supply