Auto Electric Madness

An alchemy of sparks, copper wire and earth

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Fritz
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Location: Ormskirk, Lancashire

Auto Electric Madness

Post by Fritz »

I have been putting off sorting a lazy starting problem for a while until yesterday when things came to a head when I was forced to jump start the van every time I left it for a few hours ,,,so armed with volt a meter I find main battery showing a reading of about 13.5 V with the engine running at fast idle . OK or so I thought.

So I remove the main battery Earth lead and test again this time voltage is a pi$$ poor 10.5v,,,,so charger is plugged in and away i go for some tea.

BUT,,,,,,being the inquisitve sort I decided to turn the ignition key and to my surprise all the warning lights came on ( Why would it do this with the battery ground lead removed )?
so with that I touched the loose battery lead to the battery terminal a few times and could here a click which was coming from the leisure battery charge relay,,,,I pulled the fuse from the top of the relay and the lights on the dash went out.

Leisure battery has since been checked and it is almost buggered or it is as far as my fancy charger is telling me.

So am I right in thinking the charge relay may be stuck/sticking causing a drain from the main battery and this is why I am having to jump start because now the leisure battery is goosed.......completely.. :(


Any suggestions/ideas OR has anyone had similar problems ?


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,, :D

Just another thought while I am on the subject ::: Earlier on this year I was having problems every time we went camping with the batterys/ZIG etc.
the result was each time we came to leave a pitch or site all battery power had been lost. I got to the stage of bollocking the kids for leaving the radio on to long , I was even thinking of swapping it over to be fed off the leisure to solve this problem. ( I never got round to doing this BTW)

No wonder the main battery was always flat after a couple of days camping,,,,,Sorry kids,, :oops:
Last edited by Fritz on 16 Sep 2009, 15:13, edited 3 times in total.
One day you will find me,,
Driving in my Camper,
With a Surf and Paisley wrap on both sides....

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ermie571
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Joined: 11 Oct 2005, 11:11
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Location: Minster-on-Sea, Kent: Member 2129 07784052288

Re: Auto Electric Madness

Post by ermie571 »

hi fritz - had exactly the same symptoms when using my zig incorrectly......leisure was buggered, so when 12v left on and in touring position, the two batteries would balance out....result....no starty!!

Em
x
2.1 DJ 1990 Caravelle (died and gone to heaven)
2.0 AGG (1997 ish) 1984 transporter LPG

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