Electric issue

Hi have a 1997 duetto.pretty new to camper van life.
So when stored do you leave the circuit breaker open for hook up or closed.as got drain on leisure side .or is circuit breaker closed and only open while hooked up.any ideas would be appreciated.
Cheers B

Best and easier option if in storage is disconnect -ve terminal of leisure battery.

budboy68 wrote:do you leave the circuit breaker open for hook up or closed

Which circuit breaker? As far as I'm aware, a '97 Duetto only has circuit breakers on the 240V side. If you're referring to that, it doesn't matter what you do - they don't have any impact on the 12V side when not on mains hookup, and will not be the cause of a drain on the leisure battery.

And if you disconnect the battery then any alarm you may have (which may be required by your insurance) will not work!

inspiredron wrote:And if you disconnect the battery then any alarm you may have (which may be required by your insurance) will not work!

It depends if the alarm, if fitted, is powered by the vehicle battery or leisure battery.  In my experience vehicle alarms are powered by the vehicle battery.  If this is the case, disconnecting the leisure battery will have no effect on it.

Never heard of an alarm being powered by the LB.

As I understand it, only caravan alarms are powered by the leisure battery and they can't be fitted to motorhomes.

My only concern with disconnecting the leisure battery would be if the motorhome has a Thatcham tracker powered from the leisure battery, as it could cause an alert and over time drain the tracker's standby battery.  However, I doubt a 1997 Duetto will have such a tracker.

Oh dear - read the post -- I missed the word LEISURE and focussed on battery because it's normally the vehicle battery that drops first, at least on my van!

inspiredron wrote:Oh dear - read the post -- I missed the word LEISURE and focussed on battery because it's normally the vehicle battery that drops first, at least on my van!

I agree.  If all the habitation electrics appear to be switched off, the leisure battery shouldn't discharge in the way the OP has reported.  It may be that something has been left on that's causing the discharge which should be investigated but if not disconnecting the battery should help.  It could be that the leisure battery needs replacing.  The OP hasn't reported a problem with his vehicle battery.

Hi  

Caraman wrote:It may be that something has been left on that's causing the discharge which should be investigated but if not disconnecting the battery should help.

Not “left on” exactly but if it’s the same as mine there will be a permanent 30mA drain on the leisure battery. It’s due to the thermostat in the heater controller which for some reason is in circuit whether the heater is switched on or not.

Not a problem if the van is used regularly but will drain the battery if the van is idle for long periods (or if the leisure battery is a bit duff).

Disconnecting the battery is one option but I solved it with a 10W solar charger which I leave on the dashboard if I’m not using the van for a bit. It only gives about 60mA in very dull conditions so in theory not quite enough in mid-winter (assuming about eight hours of daylight) but in practice there are usually a few bright spells even in mid-winter so it works OK.  

Brod

Or, of course, a 100w solar panel on the roof, dual battery solar controller and forget both batteries forever!!

Hi  

IanH wrote:Or, of course, a 100w solar panel on the roof, dual battery solar controller and forget both batteries forever!!

Couldn’t agree more but the problem is there isn’t much room on the Duetto roof (small van – 3 skylights) otherwise I would have done so by now.

I’m still looking into it, but it will need several smaller panels in parallel and of course all the standard panels I’ve seen for sale are just slightly the wrong size.

I did see a long thin panel (about 80W I think) that would just about have fitted in the largest free space, but I didn’t buy it at the time (fool) and last time I looked I couldn’t find it again.

I remember seeing a Duetto fitted with solar panels (probably on this forum). I can’t remember the total power but even If I can find the post there’s no guarantee that the panels will still be available in the right size.

I also had some ideas about getting inventive with the shape of the mounting brackets (custom made of course). My record of coming up with ideas is good but my record of getting around to them is rubbish !

Brod

May be teaching granny to suck eggs, but google PHOTONIC UNIVERSE if you haven't already.
Big choice and excellent company. Whilst there check out the PWM dual battery solar charger, had 5 now all been perfect, especially with the remote display.

The pics were on a Harmony, 100w, rigid panel

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Hi 

Cheers I’ll have another look. Now that this thread has sparked me interest again.
I seem to remember my rear skylight being further back than that ( might be remembering wrongly though - happens a lot these days).
 
I’ll need to re-measure, my previous measurements are long lost. I remember looking at the space between the skylights and / or length ways
along the side of the skylights, hence the need for a long thin panel.
I like the idea of the conduit along the roof. I was thinking of taking it inside above the headlining - would have been a bit of a mare.

 
Brod

Conduit from B&Q or similar. Hinged on one edge, also self adhesive. I just cleaned its route with alcohol and put a drop of superglue on the adhesive strip every 150mm or so