Westfalia Leisure Battery - sorry I know

[DanO]

Hi all

Just trying to work out if my leisure battery is "dead". I've had the van since Nov and due to hockey season I've not really used the van except for general driving around and taking the bikes out. Season (almost) over now and going away this wknd to Cheltenham so started looking at using the van. I don't believe that any of the original electrics have been tampered with, everything else is original.......hoping anyway

The Westfalia "indicator" is showing red, so very low if it's correct. I charged the battery using a mains charger and within 5 minutes it was telling me the battery was fully charged. But when all connected back up, the indicator still showed red and nothing would run off it. What was strange was that the cig lighter doesn't work when i was running the van, I'd expect it to be running off the main battery.

The internal lights work when the van is running or off. I believe the fridge was getting cold when on 12V setting while driving. The tap wouldn't work when the van was running or stopped - is that because it draws too much current that the leisure battery couldn't supply?

However, hooked up to the mains on 240V the cig lighter did work and so did the tap. I'd expect the tap to work but this just made sure but how come the cig lighter only on 240V.

I've checked the battery connections and it all looks ok.

I understand electricity in terms off the pureness of science - A level physics......but I look at a multimeter and it simply confuses the hell out of me , so many settings and options - which setting do I need to see what is happening when it is running - any practical "simple" diagnostics would be very much appreciated!!! Or can someone already confirm it's dead from what I've said???

[AngeloEvs]

Multimeter. Most of your measurements will be Voltage, set it to Volts DC sometimes marked with a horizontal straight line by the side of the V like this.....V- (not with a an S on its side...thats AC V.

Set the knob/dial to a figure that will enable you to take measurements of around 12V and place the meter across the terminals of the leisure battery with engine off. Red lead to + (positive)and black lead to - (Negative ) of the battery if the leads are colour coded (doesn't matter a hoot if you get them the wrong way round you will just get a minus sign in the display, just ignore it.

Good Battery fully charged around 12.7V


Switch Emgine on and repeat measurement.....if charging circuit works then reading will be anywhere between 13.5V and 14.4 V depending on how badly the battery is need of charging.

Switch engine off, connect hook-up lead and switch vans internal charger on, repeat measurement. If internal mains hook up chargerworking expect a reading of between 13V and 13.4V

Info in the WIKI too......

[VWCamperfan]

Put your battery on charge for about a week. The plates have sulphated and fooled the charger into thinking it's charged. A weeks charge may break down the sulphation and allow a reasonable charge into the battery. Worth a try anyway.

[DanO]

Thanks, I'll get the multimeter out!

Tried the search and looked on Wiki but didn't find much that would directly answer what I was asking.

By the way, just been out to collect a mains hook up cable that a very kind friend has given me (30m one for free!!!), and I had my hud (one of those mph converters) the cig lighter came on after a few minutes of driving. Before I'd plugged it in and got nothing so thought there must be a fault somewhere - does that suggest anything about the main starter battery being not 100%?

[VWCamperfan]

I would be checking for loose or dirty connections on fuses for the ciggy lighter problem. Also the connections behind the lighter may be worth a check.
If you have a split charger that only charges the leisure battery when the main starter battery is near fully charged, then this could be a reason for the leisure battery not charging if the main battery is a bit low on charge.
If the main battery is a bit poor then it may not charge the leisure battery at all due to constantly wanting to charge the main battery.
It's possible the ciggy lighter has been rewired to run from the leisure battery and so will work when plugged into mains due to the zig unit battery charger.