Van Battery Problem ?

2 weeks ago I took my new to me 2017 Symbol on it's first trip without hookup.  After 6 nights everything seems fine with the van battery showing 12.00V although I contracted a serious infection and was transported to the nearest A & E.  A friend contacted my son to pick up my Symbol after 8 nights but the alarm went off to show that the van battery wasn't sufficient to start the vehicle which had to be jump started.
The Symbol has the standard 80W solar panel during a moderately sunny week and the only thing in the van was the fridge running on gas.  Should the vehicle battery also charge from the solar panel ?  Do you think that I have a problem or am I expecting too much from a 4 and a half year vehicle battery ?  Many thanks.  Bill

Can you remind us what control panel and electrical control system you have? That may lead to some suggestions. Typically Sargent systems of that age have the ability to distribute solar charging to both batteries, but not all (the EC155 does not, for example).

I think the OP will have an EC500 and this could get complicated.

Can the OP confirm the setting from the EC500
1) what the "MH Vehicle Type" set to?
2) what is the "solar Charging" is set to?
3) what the "charging mode" is set to?
4) what the "active battery" was set to during the 14 days?
5) was the EC500 a) shutdown or b) on or c) off?

do you have a tracker powered off the Vehicle battery?

"MH Vehicle Type" should be Fiat (even on a Boxer), if the MH Type is set to Peugeot then it will give a low battery alarm at 12.4V, though if he needed to jump it then ...

I note the comment about 12.0V after 6 nights which is lower than I would expect.

Soon after I posted this I was admitted to hospital for over 2 weeks with an infection !

I bit the bullet and bought a new vehicle battery this week and that seems to have solved the issue.  I got a Bosch with 4 year warranty fitted for £125.

On another subject I notice that the battery box for the leisure battery on my symbol is blanked off and will take a much larger unit say 100/120 Amphr.  Is it a simple job of simply unbolting the old and attaching the new ? Is there anything that has to be switched off appreciating the the solar panel will still operating ?  Will the Sargent control unit automatically recognise the new larger battery ?

Any assistance will be gratefully received !  Many thanks.  Bill

Dbvwt wrote:Might be worth reading a recent thread.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thank you.  Bill

The other post saying that it says 75 ah to 120 ah is not correct for a ec500 
Yes you will need to change the settings as to the amps of the battery you fit
I have 200 ah and set the controller as to the battery fitted 
The battery fitted by A/S is small to keep cost down from new and charge extra to go bigger

glyne lock wrote:The other post saying that it says 75 ah to 120 ah is not correct for a ec500 
Yes you will need to change the settings as to the amps of the battery you fit
I have 200 ah and set the controller as to the battery fitted 
The battery fitted by A/S is small to keep cost down from new and charge extra to go bigger

Thank you for that.

It is a fairly simple job to change the controller.  Best wishes. Bill