Battery problem

CTech are generally accepted as very good and are small.

My vehicle battery is charged for a few hours to 24 hours every 2 to 3 weeks.

I check with a multimeter and charge when the voltage is down to about 12.3 ish.

If static for more than a couple of weeks I leave the charger in situ in the engine bay and mains lead set up but only switch the mains on to charge.

Thanks EJB.  

CTech on Amazon

Thank you again. I ordered the MXS5 today.  Should arrive tomorrow.

Snap

if your van lives on the drive at home, why not get a roof solar panel fitted, which can be set up to charge the vehicle battery as well as the leisure batteries....getting really good value now....

another advantage is that you will be able to park off grid without worrying..

Incidently, if you're van doesnt charge the vehicle battery when on site with ehu, the cab battery is draing all the time despite being on the mains...

nagain, this is easy to remedy with a little device called a Battery Master which takes charge from the leisure batteries (kept up by the ehu) and passed to the vehicle battery.

IMHO any van not charging the vehicle battery when on hook up (by design) is blooming well poorly designed....its not a caravan Elddis/Marquis, its a motorhome that needs its cab battery charged....

You may have already checked this and I may be telling you how to suck eggs, but is the 12volt socket you plug the small solar panel into switched by the ignition key, if it is the solar panel will not be connected to your battery, so cannot charge it.

Most of the Fiat vans from 2006 onwards have switched ignition.

Thought I would mention in the event you were not aware.

Stewart

Lidl have their version of the car battery charger on sale from Sunday 15th Jan.  We have found it excellent.  Other car accessories also on their offer list.

Thanks BB, we had thought about a solar panel for the future but caring responsibilities at present mean we are restricted to a week away at any one time for now so didn't think we would need one.

i agree about the badly designed charging system and the manuals that came with the Motorhome don't make it clear either...you live and learn!

Stewertwebr, the small solar panel (not much bigger than A4 size) is plugged in to the diagnostics socket of the vehicle.  Was told the charge would be enough to compensate for the loss from immobiliser etc but obviously not enough.

Anyway, the smart charger arrived today so that's on now so should resolve the problem.

Wish I had known about the Lidl one though.  Never mind, if we wanted to save money we would have bought a tent. 

Hi AnnB

What do you mean by the diagnostic socket? This type of small solar panels normally plug into the cigarette lighter socket or the 12 volt one next to it which is identical. The problem is these sockets are turned off and on when you stop and start the vehicle. So if the panel is plugged into one of these when you stop the van it breaks the wiring to the battery so the solar panel cannot charge it.

To test where you have it plugged in plug in a phone charger or similar with the engine running then turn the engine off and see if it still charging, if not that is why your batteries are not being charged from the solar panel.