Testing your battery

Perhaps Andy you just go and do what you want to do and find out, but have a (borrowed) spare battery waiting at home just in case.

Surely this is the correct answer.

  We had a case exactly like JennyC explained a fully charged battery showing a good voltage.   Completely flat within an hour of being attached to the caravan.  Simply solution buy another battery. 

Getting your caravan onvthe drive when you get home? You've always got your car  

Not much cop when you want the van parked hitch inwards!

 

Getting your caravan onvthe drive when you get home? You've always got your car  

Not much cop when you want the van parked hitch inwards!

We can't always have what we want 

If your worried about being able to get the van onto the drive, why not, with a fully charged battery 12.7 / 12.8 volts, run it up and down the drive a few times with the mover. Not onto the road or anything, in case you get problems. Our OK battery shows 12.5 to 12.6 after significant mover use and recovers to 12.6 to 12.7 after a few hours. It would still be good to do the same again. If yours is similar, I would say you will not have any problems if you leave the site with a charged battery.

Hi all just got back from our first caravaning weekend and would like to test the battery.

I have a screwfix metre with loads of options and I've  no idea what so ever. So could someone talk me through what I do.

Thanks in advance 

Andy

Write your comments here...do what we did , we purchased a very good used second leisure battery off eBay 110amp less than £40  , it's always there fully charged & ready to go.

Hi all

 Thank you all for your comments however I am now more confused.

my main concern is after we have been on rallys will my motor movers still get our caravan on the drive so wanted to be able to test the battery

Andy

Write your comments here...

To try and un-confuse you, if that is a word ! How much power is remaining in your battery when you get home depends on how much you take out of it during the rally, the age and condition of the battery and how much manoeuvering you need to do when you get home.

A digital multitester set on 20 volts DC, (which is a letter V followed by a solid line above 3 dots) will give you a "rough" idea how much is in the battery. 12.7 or above should be full, 12.5v is 75%, 12.4v is 50%, 12.2v is 25% which for a mover is as good as flat.

As others have said, having a spare full battery at home will rescue you, if the vans battery if struggling when you get home.

Have a read about solar panels, there's loads of info on here. I have just come home from a Rally for a long weekend, my panel is a 40watt and with a reasonable amount of sun I came home with a full battery. 

If your car & caravan are wired correctly, your caravan will be charging while on your way home.

As jennyc suggests, even a battery showing 12.7 volts on the meter could still be on its last legs, it depends on how long it takes to discharge. Think of a mobile phone, when new, the battery will last longer than it does when it's 12/18 months old. Your car's & caravan's battery is the same.

Getting your caravan onvthe drive when you get home? You've always got your car  

Write your comments here...

My caravan has 13 pin socket dose that mean it will charge the battery.

Take care

Andy 

My caravan has 13 pin socket dose that mean it will charge the battery.

It means "perhaps".  The wiring in the car and in the caravan needs to be correct, complete and no blown fuses.  I can't tell from here if that is the case. 

The earlier 7-pin connectors were also meant to charge the battery but often were let down by someone skimping on the wiring.

Hi all

 Thank you all for your comments however I am now more confused.

my main concern is after we have been on rallys will my motor movers still get our caravan on the drive so wanted to be able to test the battery

Andy

Write your comments here...

To try and un-confuse you, if that is a word ! How much power is remaining in your battery when you get home depends on how much you take out of it during the rally, the age and condition of the battery and how much manoeuvering you need to do when you get home.

A digital multitester set on 20 volts DC, (which is a letter V followed by a solid line above 3 dots) will give you a "rough" idea how much is in the battery. 12.7 or above should be full, 12.5v is 75%, 12.4v is 50%, 12.2v is 25% which for a mover is as good as flat.

As others have said, having a spare full battery at home will rescue you, if the vans battery if struggling when you get home.

Have a read about solar panels, there's loads of info on here. I have just come home from a Rally for a long weekend, my panel is a 40watt and with a reasonable amount of sun I came home with a full battery. 

Write your comments here...

Thanks for your help I've set my meter to the Voltage setting with the solid line and the 3 dots. At this point the meter showing 3 naughts 

Do I test the battery now 

Take care 

Andy 

 ....

My caravan has 13 pin socket dose that mean it will charge the battery.

 

Take care

Andy 

It will if your car's wired up to charge it  

Plug your caravan into your towcar, get your multi meter & set to 12 volts DC as described above, put the probes onto the terminals of the caravan battery (doesn't really matter which way ... you'll get a minus reading if 4rse about face), get your better half to start your car and the meter should show around 14 volts. If it stays at 12.7, and a rev of the car makes no difference, then your car's not wired to power your fridge or charge your caravan battery.