curious loss of main battery power .....

[waltraud]

Dear all,

1983 westy joker 45a starter battery and 80ah fairly new leisure battery. 40watt solar panel. All interior lights are led. Over the four days I usd the Eber once for a few mins, lights on a bit in evenings and several charges of mobile phones. From memory this does not normally make any difference when camping. Anyway, aster four days th starter battery only turned over the starter very slowly and then not at all. I'm pretty sure that I have wired everything to be powered by the leisure battery only. So in theory at least the main battery was not being used at all. The only thing I found odd or potentially problematic was when looking at each battery's wiring situation the earth wire on the leisure battery was very loose and pulled away eailymfrom its crimped terminal. Surely this would have meant the lb would not take or hold much charge?

On the way to camping I drove for 4 hours. Using sat nav. Have feeling that the fridge was mot cooling on 12v hitch is a new fault! I have a tester but mot sure what to check first. Thanks.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Methinks you ought to write that in English - it reads like a Chinese instruction manual!

[CovKid]

With both batteries fully charged, try disconnecting starter battery and see what power you have to what. At least you'll know whats on the leisure and what isn't?

[waltraud]

hi
thank you both. I will disconnect things in turn and see what is connected where. I have previously wired the lights, eber, 12v sockets and ...........hopefully not the fridge via the LB.

[Oldiebut goodie]

That starter battery sounds a bit small to me.

[CovKid]

Yup, around half what it should be. Turn the stereo on for half an hour when its parked and that would be that. If its not new, even worse than that...

[waltraud]

Ok, thought so. Maybe ill fit a better one and chevk for any drsin or loss. Ill check out that ljnk abouf which starter battery fits-.....

[CovKid]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Genuine-O ... 19e5f76f66" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very good value 096 battery with plenty of poke. Fits in battery box if thats what you mean. Buy Bosch if you like but much of the cost is in the name, at least until you get to a Bosch S5 type which just out-classes all the 096 clones:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bosch-S5-Car- ... 4d1fa060c9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bigherb]

Nowt wrong with the size of the battery if it is just a starter battery, a lot of vans that's what they came out of the factory with.
Something was running it down if it went flat in a few days, fitting a bigger battery will only delay it going flat by a few more days. The starter battery shouldn't be supplying power when the vehicle is camping. Find out if anything is still connected to the starter battery when it should be connected to the leisure battery (did you have the doors/sliding door open a lot and the interior lights on).

[ghost123uk]

Possibly the starter battery is self discharging due to being on it's way out. If you normally use the van often then the 4 days of none use (no charging of the main battery) might have been enough to cause this. Do the usual overnight charge, leave for 2 hours, measure (should be around 12.8V) then leave for 24 hours (with one lead off) and then measure again. If it has now dropped more than 0.4 of a volt from the other reading then it needs replacing. Personally, if replacing, I would for sure get a bigger one, like the great vfm one CovKid linked to.

[waltraud]

Thanks Herb. I will check this out today. The starter battery has two of three red cables comjng off it. One I know because I replaced it goes to the starter. Another must be connected to the split charge relay (nb is this usually under the drivers seat adjacent to the leisure battery on early jokers?) And possibly one more....I will check. I have the lights. Eber. 12v sockets and somethkng else running from the LB via blade fused supply. Ill do some pics......

[waltraud]

..update. So, all lights are running off the Leisure Battery, The Ebert too. Aloe a 12v socket in the beck of the van. The fridge panel lights (the tiny ones that come on when de-frosting or to tell you how much power / water is there) also run off the LB. All of these are via fused panel to LB. BUT I still have the stereo and 3x 12v sockets (for my band to charge up mobiles) in the front all of which run off the starter battery!! So as I was charing up phones and using the stereo a bit this must be the culprit. SO I have replaced the starter battery with an 096 (thanks CovKid), lined the battery tray (under OS seat base) with wax then stuck on sound sounds deadening pads. My next plan is to re-wire the stereo and all three 12v sockets via a fused supply to the panel supplied by the LB. Also going to get a larger solar panel (100w semi flexible) which should be plenty to power a few LEDs occasional stereo use, phone charging and a bit of DVD if it rains during our Croyde bay trip in a few weeks.

[Oldiebut goodie]

.... The Ebert too. Aloe a 12v.....

You really must use a spellchecker or preview your post before submitting! Is an Ebert a character from Sesame Street or the Muppets?

[waltraud]

Oh yeb, yu er qite rite abowt me gramma. Must cheq it prooperly.

Any ideas how to check westy fridge for 12v function. It does not work currently on 12v but was fine. Does the split charge directly feed the fridge? Many b thanks for useful hulp (*&^/$#@) so far.

[Oldiebut goodie]

If your setup is original I'll leave it to someone else who is well versed in the intricacies of Westy's wiring.