Leisure battery not charging when hook up

[madangus]

Hi everyone, not had to post for a while so need a little bit of help.

Went out and about in the van last weekend and tried to turn on the eberspatcher heating after a long drive from Warrington to Nottingham it started up with no problems (the leisure battery light went from green to orange). I found that on Saturday after being hooked up for 24 hours that I tried to start the eber up and saw that the battery light went straight to orange and then to red and turned off. It appears that the leisure battery is being charged when driving but not holding the charge when hooked up on the campsite. I tested the battery after the drive home on Sunday and the eber started up no problems.

I hope someone can help if you can I need very basic instructions on what I can check , I have read a couple of posts that say to check the fuse but I dont know where to look and eventhough have had the van for a few years am a complete numpty when it comes to electrics. Im away in Cornwall next weekend and would love to be able to rectify the problem before then. I have a T25 hight top 1988, left hand drive, 1.6 diesel.

[kevtherev]

leisure batteries have a life of 5 years
Take the battery out and charge it up all day on a battery charger, if it holds the charge over night and doesn't drop below 12.6 V then it's OK.

Next you need to tell us what conversion type it is as various van converters put their fuses etc in different places

[madangus]

I have a westfalia conversion if thats what you need . thanks

[California Dreamin]

You may not be a sparky but checking if the charger is working on mains is quite easy.
You do need a multimeter........set to 20 volts DC, put the probes across the leisure battery (engine not running) if the leisure battery is in good nick you should be getting a reading around 12.6 volts.....now keep the meter connected and connect the mains (leisure hookup lead) the volt meter reading should immediately rise by around 2 volts (14 volts plus)
If you are not seeing this rise then the leisure mains charge circuit is not working.
My bet would be that the mini glass fuse has blown in the BBB charger (under the R&R seat O/S) unplug the mains so you can remove the top off the charger (4 screws I think) once removed you will see the fuse mounted on the PCB, lever this out and replace if necessary (think this is 2 amps) available from Maplins or similar.
Carry out the same check again

Martin

[madangus]

Hi there,

Could someone explain to me what the above post means , I need it explained to me what the BBB is and the PCB and if I look under the seat what it is I am looking for.

many thanks

[kevtherev]

Big Black Box
Printed Circuit Board

[California Dreamin]

Yeh...sorry...westies have a charger fitted to the left side (as you look at it) under the rock n roll bed.....effectionately called the BBB charger (buzzing black box) the fuse is mounted inside the box (top of the charger is removed by unsrewing 4 philips screws) then you should see a small (mini) glass fuse mounted on the PCB (printed circuit board.
This fuse often blows....(2amp I think)

Martin