Vehicle Battery Advice

[Deleted member 12539]

Looks like a new vehicle battery is needed for my Peugeot Boxer motorhome.
The solar panel I fitted keeps the current vehicle battery charged up nicely, but I have noticed that when I isolate the vehicle battery from the solar panel the volts drop dramatically from 14.5v down to 11.4v within 60 secs.
After leaving the vehicle battery disconnected from any charging system for 24hrs the battery is down to 10.3v, a poorly battery I am sure!
The problem is I do not want to disconnect the vehicle battery for fear of 'shutting down' the alarm and immobiliser system and might not be able to get the system back up and running.
Can anyone advise me on if there is a danger or not of this happening?????
Also, what would be a good (not costly) vehicle battery for my 2.8 TD motorhome?
Thanks in advance.

Dave

 

[Tbear]

Hi Beemer,

Why not keep the vehicle connected with a couple of booster cables to your car.

Find a good motor factors and they will sell you the correct battery as opposed to a "value" battery which will stop the problem happening again for some time.

Richard

 

[Bigpeetee]

Why not change the battery when the sun shines, solar cell will keep everything alive

 

[Deleted member 12539]

Good ideas! Should have thought of that myself!!!
I have a spare leisure battery, can connect that using my jump leads until new battery is in place....thank you all !

 

[Deleted member 13519]

You do run the risk of shorting something out like that as you will be essentially changing the battery with the cables still live. If the positive clamp touches any metal it will short.
Most immobilisers and radios etc. will be fine for about 10 minutes off the battery. So get everything ready, new battery unboxed next to you, then undo the bracket holding the battery in and finally remove the cables. Then quickly change them over. You'll be fine honestly!

Good luck

 

[Deleted member 12539]

You do run the risk of shorting something out like that as you will be essentially changing the battery with the cables still live. If the positive clamp touches any metal it will short.
Most immobilisers and radios etc. will be fine for about 10 minutes off the battery. So get everything ready, new battery unboxed next to you, then undo the bracket holding the battery in and finally remove the cables. Then quickly change them over. You'll be fine honestly!

Good luck

Yes, the battery is tight into a corner of the engine compartment with many connections onto the positive, I can see that trying to keep the positive 'plate' away from anything metal would be a problem, so I will take your advice and try for a '10 min' change...!!!