Chasn
Full Member
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Vehicle Battery Care
Motorhome vehicle batteries have a hard life. Firstly, like all diesel engine batteries,
the loads in them during starting are particularly demanding. High current heater coil loads and high cranking amps due to higher compression ratios takes their toll.
Secondly they are often left for months allowing the battery to slowly self discharge.
Two situations where failure to start can be avoided by wiring a smart charger into
the system.
Long lay off with EHU
Even with EHU (electric hook up) connected many motorhome vehicle batteries don’t receive charge. Some owners rely on solar, either through an extra connection from a solar panel controller or by connecting a temporarily mounted portable panel. Neither of these work reliably during the depths of winter. A smart charger permanently plugged in to a 240v socket in the MH with its output hardwired to the
vehicle battery will overcome this.
Cold start during wild camping
Very often the first indication that a battery is dying is the failure to start from cold in winter. This can be a particular problem when you are remote from help with no mobile signal. Even if you find help, jump starting some MH’s can be difficult due to the vehicle battery’s location. The irony is that there is often unusable energy sitting in the habitation battery. These batteries are unsuitable for jump starting but transferring 10A of energy for 30 minutes is usually sufficient to breathe new life into the vehicle battery. With a smart charger wired in as described above, if you have an inverter, by just turning it on the vehicle battery will receive charge.
A 10A smart charger can be bought for about £30. With a couple of hours of work you can overcome both the above failure to start scenarios.
Motorhome vehicle batteries have a hard life. Firstly, like all diesel engine batteries,
the loads in them during starting are particularly demanding. High current heater coil loads and high cranking amps due to higher compression ratios takes their toll.
Secondly they are often left for months allowing the battery to slowly self discharge.
Two situations where failure to start can be avoided by wiring a smart charger into
the system.
Long lay off with EHU
Even with EHU (electric hook up) connected many motorhome vehicle batteries don’t receive charge. Some owners rely on solar, either through an extra connection from a solar panel controller or by connecting a temporarily mounted portable panel. Neither of these work reliably during the depths of winter. A smart charger permanently plugged in to a 240v socket in the MH with its output hardwired to the
vehicle battery will overcome this.
Cold start during wild camping
Very often the first indication that a battery is dying is the failure to start from cold in winter. This can be a particular problem when you are remote from help with no mobile signal. Even if you find help, jump starting some MH’s can be difficult due to the vehicle battery’s location. The irony is that there is often unusable energy sitting in the habitation battery. These batteries are unsuitable for jump starting but transferring 10A of energy for 30 minutes is usually sufficient to breathe new life into the vehicle battery. With a smart charger wired in as described above, if you have an inverter, by just turning it on the vehicle battery will receive charge.
A 10A smart charger can be bought for about £30. With a couple of hours of work you can overcome both the above failure to start scenarios.
