Flat starter battery on the van

TJBi said:
David appeared to think that a charger capable of charging both the van battery and the scooter battery might be useful. You said that the scooter battery is 24V, so I posted a link to a 12V/24V charger.
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Ah, I see Tom, I already have a mains and a dedicated 12v plug in charger for the scooter, so not needed really.

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I have two Ctek chargers as well, I don't get why the VB has gone flat as it was showing 12.6v when I plugged it in, it has a permanent ring terminal connection to the VB so there shouldn't be a problem.
 
I've just been down and it is ZERO VOLTS still on the VB but I think it is the battery being knackered or something, I restes the Ctek and it was pushing 14.9v to the VB but then a red light came on so looked it up in the manual.

1737377750336.png

1, The poles are correct, checked and double checked.
2, yes
3, no
1737377846859.png
 
it is not charging as the battery is below the minimum voltage for detection
 
Yes I came to that conclusion all by my own for once David, so plan B.

Let gravity roll the van back so I can get to the bonnet lever, use the booster pack to start it and then drive over to Alpah batteries and see what they say.

But why didn't the Ctek keep it charged up though? this is the second one to die on me.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Yes I came to that conclusion all by my own for once David, so plan B.

Let gravity roll the van back so I can get to the bonnet lever, use the booster pack to start it and then drive over to Alpah batteries and see what they say.

But why didn't the Ctek keep it charged up though? this is the second one to die on me.
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2nd CTEK to die? They are generally quite good. I actually got a refund from Amazon on my CTEK MX-5 Charger as it failed after 2 1/2 years (3 year warranty then). But I did find it outside under a couple of feet of snow at the time it stopped working so maybe not the chargers fault? :censored:

2nd Battery to die? Said it before ... always worth fitting some kind of engine battery maintainer. I like the Ablemail AMT12-2 as it is fit and forget (I forget enough stuff as it is!) but there are plenty of other ways from virtually zero cost to keep that battery healthy.
 
If the van is parked for long periods the battery maintainer would be reliant on enough solar wouldn't it? I may be wrong but don't think Kev has much solar. In any event if its a drain that's pulling his stuff down it would end up doing all the batteries wouldn't it?
 
nabsim said:
If the van is parked for long periods the battery maintainer would be reliant on enough solar wouldn't it? I may be wrong but don't think Kev has much solar. In any event if its a drain that's pulling his stuff down it would end up doing all the batteries wouldn't it?
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Doesn't have to be just solar - can be leisure battery as well. And as the van is sitting doing nothing, don't need the leisure battery/s sitting there charged and doing nothing - no reason they can't help out keeping the engine battery healthy.
This is why I like the AMT12-2 - the logic within it is designed to use energy from the leisure battery to prevent the engine battery from getting dangerously low but will also not risk the leisure battery in the process.

Ultimately if there is no power in the van, a battery can drain, but there is no point in allowing a battery to die if there is spare power elsewhere within it.
 
nabsim said:
If the van is parked for long periods the battery maintainer would be reliant on enough solar wouldn't it? I may be wrong but don't think Kev has much solar. In any event if its a drain that's pulling his stuff down it would end up doing all the batteries wouldn't it?
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just 85 watts Neil.
 
wildebus said:
2nd CTEK to die? They are generally quite good. I actually got a refund from Amazon on my CTEK MX-5 Charger as it failed after 2 1/2 years (3 year warranty then). But I did find it outside under a couple of feet of snow at the time it stopped working so maybe not the chargers fault? :censored:

2nd Battery to die? Said it before ... always worth fitting some kind of engine battery maintainer. I like the Ablemail AMT12-2 as it is fit and forget (I forget enough stuff as it is!) but there are plenty of other ways from virtually zero cost to keep that battery healthy.
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Not sure I'm up to it and the local caravan repairer charges a fortune.

David, I'm tempted by your suggestion of this charger https://amzn.eu/d/4T6zGXA are you still in favour?
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Not sure I'm up to it and the local caravan repairer charges a fortune.

David, I'm tempted by your suggestion of this charger https://amzn.eu/d/4T6zGXA are you still in favour?
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It is a decent charger and has the usual 5 year Victron Warranty. So £70 from Amazon for the 12V/5A unit
Another option is play a little more and get the 12V/7A version from Alpha for £90 minus the forum discount (7.5%?) which would make it about £12 more? https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/1...smart-battery-charger-with-bluetooth-control/
You might be able to to get a bit more off from Alpha Batteries if you call them and say you are getting this to try and having to avoid returning a battery to them under warranty?

Between the two, I would probably spend the little extra and get the more powerful unit (5A to 7A doesn't sound much but it is nearly 50% more current)
 
I shall have a thunk on that, the BT likely won't be any good for me as too far away from the van to work I think.
 
Don't think I put enough detail to explain my thinking on the battery maintainer. I was thinking of my particular circumstance where parasitic drain will drop my starter battery in a week in winter. If I am not using the van (on storage) all power for the maintainer would come from the lab battery that only has solar to keep it up.

I was applying this to Kevs situation as he isn't sure why his starter battery is dropping. In that case would it not risk killing his hat battery as well?

Think that's go it lol
 
nabsim said:
Don't think I put enough detail to explain my thinking on the battery maintainer. I was thinking of my particular circumstance where parasitic drain will drop my starter battery in a week in winter. If I am not using the van (on storage) all power for the maintainer would come from the lab battery that only has solar to keep it up.

I was applying this to Kevs situation as he isn't sure why his starter battery is dropping. In that case would it not risk killing his hat battery as well?

Think that's go it lol
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You are quite right, Neil, if you had a setup where the starter battery was maintained no matter what from the leisure battery then you could suck that battery dry in the process of keeping the starter battery good and then a bit later the starter battery dies as well - so not really acheived a good result.
This is why I said I liked the AMT12-2 - it CAN use the lesiure battery to maintain the starter battery, but NOT to a point where it will kill the leisure battery - and that is a core design feature of the AMT Maintainer.
 
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What I don't understand is how it can have gone flat anyway, I last drove it on November the 4th to Leeds and back, 52 miles which should have topped it up, and I put it on charge two days later, so it should have been fine, the parasitic load can't be that high surely, just the clock and the alarm, the control panel does display 0.20a, but that is coming from the LB not the VB I don't get it.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
What I don't understand is how it can have gone flat anyway, I last drove it on November the 4th to Leeds and back, 52 miles which should have topped it up, and I put it on charge two days later, so it should have been fine, the parasitic load can't be that high surely, just the clock and the alarm, the control panel does display 0.20a, but that is coming from the LB not the VB I don't get it.
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The Pre-AMT 12 installation parasitic load on Brunhilde would kill the VB inside 3 weeks, Kev, especially during Winter. Used to have to do a 20-25 miles drive, including a 5 mile minimum dual carriageway blast, to keep the VB healthy.

Steve
 
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