9 Volt Electrical Query

Hi All,

Over the weekend found out that no 9 volt power was available and assumed that the habitation battery was not being charged.

Charged up the battery yesterday and sure enough internel lights came on etc.. Checked today and - nothing. Checked the battery and it showed fully charged.

All internal glass fuses for circuits are fine, visual check on connections seem ok.

Any suggestions please - oh the battery was replaced last year and nor problems until last weekend.

Hi there,

From the heading are you presuming that "9 volts" is fully charged??

If you are then "Ooops!" you probably need a new battery.

The batteries normally run at 12 volts and I haven't seen a 9 volt battery since we had glass accumulators!   

Maybe I am totally out of date of course and a 9 volt is a new "austerity measure"!   

Best regards,
 

Sorry - senior moment, I meant 12 volts

sapphire wrote:Sorry - senior moment, I meant 12 volts

… and here's you "… no'but a lass!"

If the battery is okay then it looks like it may be "a penny problem that has a pound solution"!   

My only suggestion is that there is a bad connection somewhere and for that you will have to start at the battery terminals (which are number one suspect) and then work your way through the system.

I'm sure more electrical know-how people will be on-line soon to give you a better answer though.     

Best regards,
  
Ian

Did the lights only come on whilst the charger was on or did they stay on for a bit after the charger was switched off?

Peter

Hi Peter,

The lights were switched on after the charger was disconnected. The green internal light registered a fully charged battery as well.

Now of course there's nothing.

Hi there,

Sounds for all the world like a dud battery!

The best way to check it is to disconnect the battery, charge it up on the bench and then check if it keeps its charge over a period of three days.

If it does then it's back to the drawing board!  If it doesn't then it means that you need a new battery.

However, before installing the new battery I suggest that if the battery is less that four years old you try and find out how the original battery got damaged.

If it is older than four years then it could be normal wear and tear that has killed it off.

Hope this helps.   

Best regards,
 

Just a possibility, does the battery have 6 water fill caps??
Most leisure batteries are sealed, but if you DO have the fill caps, check to see the water level is above the plates, as if the plates are visible the battery will not hold a charge.
Sometimes if you're lucky, a simple top-up can revive it.
Sealed units require no maintenance, but the 'cap-type' need frequent inspection/topping-up.

Hi Sapphire, You need a mutimeter to take readings.They are cheap and with readings many members can help you with an electrical fault.
Terms such as fully charged and green light on are not sufficient.

regards

Mike

Mike is right, to proceed further more detailed information is required in particular voltage readings taken on the battery terminals when the battery is charging, just after the charger is switched off and every couple of hours (during the day) until the voltage drops to 11 v.

In the mean time you mention a 'green light' - is that the charge indicator in the top of the battery? You then say next day there was nothing. Does that include the charge indicator looking black?

If so then the battery is not holding its charge. If as modelman describes you can check and find a shortage of water then replenishing that with distilled (NOT TAP) water might allow the battery to recover but in that case you should worry about where the water has gone. Loss of water is an indication of overcharging causing the battery to gas. It could be a fault with either the vehicle charging system or, more likely, because the van has been left on hook up for several weeks without being used.

Peter

Many thanks all for your helpful comments.

I will carry out more checks as I appreciate there could be a number of answers and more info is needed.

Is a bit of a mystery though as we used the van for a week in June with no problems. The battery is under a year old so would be surprised if this was the problem.

But as I say many thanks.

Lyndon

Hi Lyndon,
I agree that if you bought a new battery last year, and that everything was OK last month the problem is not likely to be the battery.

I suspect that you've accidentally switched the 12v circuits off on the panel with the "12v" switch? OR depending on the year of your van, you are trying to use the habitation 12v system with the ignition switched on.

The square green charger light on the panel just means that the charger is getting power - it doesn't mean that the battery is charged. The charge indicator only works if you press the water level gauge button.

Frank