Voltage drop

Hi all
We collected our new to us motorhome 10 days ago, when we got home as I always do I hooked up, there seemed to be a slight hum coming from the charger unit which I ignored I thought maybe it was a fan? We had our 1st weekend away on the bank holiday in the rain and the mud at Crick boat show. 1st day the leisure battery went flat, so I got a new one, this enabled us to stagger through the weekend even though I had to run the engine several times, we got home on the monday at 6pm the battery showed 12.2v and today at 9am it shows 5.5v. Now the key fob has stopped locking and alarming the van.

Sorry that was all negative, it was a trying weekend, however on the positive side the accomodation and quality of the van was everything we hoped it would be and the transit base was superb to drive and didn't miss a beat.

When on hook-up can you direct the charger to either the engine battery or habitation battery? I was told by my dealer that apart from charging the engine battery, the switch if you have one should always be switched to habitation. Otherwise, back to your dealer.

Thanks for your input Paulmold, I've just hooked up and the display panel now immediatly reads 13.5v, when prior to hook up it read 5.5v????? Confused or what?

On hook up your voltage will read 13v if your charger is on as that is the voltage your charger puts out. When battery is charged Check battery voltage again when off hook up and then keep checking for a couple of days

Hovis wrote:
Sorry that was all negative, it was a trying weekend

Don't worry about that - from my own personal experience, the first weekend away in a new van is generally a bit of an ordeal, unless the dealer/seller has explained how everything works really well.

The issue with the key fob is ~probably~ unrelated. They typically have a lithium coin cell and these need replacing every few years.

The thing to do is to sit down with the user manual and read through it while you're in the van - that way you can get to try all the controls with the manual to hand, without any time pressure and other priorities...

Hi and thanks mojo, what is really strange about the key fob is that now the van is hooked up the key fob is now working perfectly?????? When it stopped working yesterday I went to my local Ford main dealer for as I thought a new battery for the fob, they told me that the fob doesn't have a replaceable battery,the fob is a sealed unit that charges via the ignition itself when you are driving??? and if it fails you have to replace the whole unit and have it programmed at a cost of £220.

Hovis wrote:When it stopped working yesterday I went to my local Ford main dealer for as I thought a new battery for the fob, they told me that the fob doesn't have a replaceable battery,the fob is a sealed unit that charges via the ignition itself when you are driving??? and if it fails you have to replace the whole unit and have it programmed at a cost of £220.

Yikes - not come across that one before! Built-in obsolescence again...

If that's how it works (no reason to disbelieve the dealer) then it should be nothing to do with the vehicle or leisure battery, as the van's alternator should be supplying power to the ignition while it's running.

It sounds likely that the van has sat on a forecourt somewhere unused for a while and the fob battery has not had enough of a chance to "top up". If so, just leaving it in the ignition with the ignition on for a while may get it back to a reasonable state of charge (if it's a diesel this should be fine). Otherwise I'd be looking at how to crack the "sealed" unit open and see what battery is inside, but not everyone is that way inclined!

It might be worth approaching the dealer that sold you the van, on the basis that a "sealed" key fob should last a reasonable length of time?

Thanks mojo already done.

Which battery was 5.5V? If it was that low the key fob would not operate the central locking, which could explain why it works when on EHU.