Should I hook up to the power at home?

Unless you have a solar panel the alarm will drain the battery in a couple of weeks so you need to leave it plugged in or fit a solar panel.

You need to get the Habitation check done ASAP. Did you not get it checked BEFORE you bought it. Bailey's do seem to suffer from damp.

Cannot help with the Master Switch don't know how they wire them up.

Something like a battery master will keep both leisure and cab battery topped up if connected to the mains. I keep my Bailey 740 in our back garden and have it connected to the mains for several hours a day.

Fitting a solar panel might be useful if you intend to use the van off piste so to speak but if you always use sites with electrics and have a conveniet 230v connection at home the money could be spent on something else.

David 

Unless you have a solar panel the alarm will drain the battery in a couple of weeks so you need to leave it plugged in or fit a solar panel.

You need to get the Habitation check done ASAP. Did you not get it checked BEFORE you bought it. Bailey's do seem to suffer from damp.

Cannot help with the Master Switch don't know how they wire them up.

 

So Q4, Do I have this aspect correct?: 

If parked on a camp site or at home on EHU, the leisure battery is getting charged? On my old caravan I could flip a switch to charge the leisure battery.  I don’t see any options for this in the Approach, so I assumed it was automatic.

I assume the vehicle battery is not being charged whilst on EHU? Isn’t that the battery that the alarm will be powered from?  I thought I would have to put a smart charger on that from time to time. 

I assume whilst driving, both batteries are being charged?

I’m thinking about a solar panel as we hope to do some wild camping from time to time.  I think it would be lovely waking up at the side of a loch some morning with no one else around.

best

vintageb3

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Hi C & CC,

 

 

That's a different & more friendly club....

On my Elddis plugging in to EHU only charges the Hab battery, I would need a battery master or something to keep my cab battery charged (so I simply hardwired a CTEK charger to the cab battery).

You would need to check your handbook to see info relating to your van........

Hi C & CC,

 

 

That's a different & more friendly club....

OH MY GOD!!!! I DIDN"T!!!!!

Sorry...Shoud l have been CC :(

I think each club is friendly :)

I hope anyway :(

vintageb3

On my Elddis plugging in to EHU only charges the Hab battery, I would need a battery master or something to keep my cab battery charged (so I simply hardwired a CTEK charger to the cab battery).

You would need to check your handbook to see info relating to your van........

 

I'm just going to do that now.

Thanks

TinTent 

from David K's reply (mentioning a Battery Master and being a Bailey owner)  i would guessthat perhaps a Bailey does not charge the cab battery via an EHU...

if this is the case and you wish to camp off grid, youll need to find a way to keep the cab battery up....this is likely to be a Batery Master or similar which will take charge from the leisure battery and apply it to the cab battery, under certain states of charge.

this would also do the job with solar of the panel was wired imto the hab batteries, which is usual.

We have a 2012 Bailey Approach, it sits outside the house. It is never left plugged into the mains unless on a site. When plugged in ONLY the leisure battery is charged not the vehicle battery (unless something else has been fitted) 

Would agree with Q4 about getting a habitation check done ASAP, we have had terrible damp in one area of our van, it was fixed at the begining of the year under warrenty and the repair has failed, so needs to go back and be done again. Bailey are aware of the problems with some of the Approachs (2012's) so do please check it out all over for signs of damp especially around the rear wheel arches where the problem seems to be the worst.

We have a 2012 Bailey Approach, it sits outside the house. It is never left plugged into the mains unless on a site. When plugged in ONLY the leisure battery is charged not the vehicle battery (unless something else has been fitted) 

Would agree with Q4 about getting a habitation check done ASAP, we have had terrible damp in one area of our van, it was fixed at the begining of the year under warrenty and the repair has failed, so needs to go back and be done again. Bailey are aware of the problems with some of the Approachs (2012's) so do please check it out all over for signs of damp especially around the rear wheel arches where the problem seems to be the worst.

 

Hi Tammy,

I've just read the manual (again) and you are right, the leisure battery only gets charged when on EHU. I would have to charge the van battery separate.  Thats fine, I have a smart charger here I can hook up. I just wanted to know what the score was.

I also read that you should’t charge the leisure battery all the time and as soon as you plug in the EHU, the battery is getting charged. I would have thought there would be an over charge circuit in there for that. Weird.

I will charge the vehicle battery now and then and plug into EHU every so often then to boost the leisure battery…or as David has suggested…fit a solar panel and battery master.

Its one of things on the list to do. 

Thanks to all!

vintageb3