Re: Battery Puzzle

by Aethelric Tue Jul 25, 2023 10:24 am

glyne lock wrote:
To test a battery for its condition needs a battery cranking amp tester and will test the amps in the battery .12.8 volts could be the voltage but the battery may now be only charging half the cranking amps
What has been said by this person is no help for the fault with the the electrics the person has that started this post for help

Hmm, thank you for those kind words. I am sure your post will be of great help to the OP.

BTW he did not mention a a cranking problem, or a starting problem, or even an electrical fault. He actually said everything was working correctly.

What he asked was:-
"Would be grateful if anyone can offer advice as to why the low vehicle battery alarm is sounding and possible remedy. This fault does not repeat when on EHU"

He also said "The vehicle battery is only 1 month old"

I think I gave a possible reason as to why the alarm is be sounding, i.e.fitting a different technology battery 1 month ago.

by glyne lock Tue Jul 25, 2023 11:54 am

Aethelric
If you had the electric system that the person has that started this post has you would understand more what his problem could be and what checks need doing first and there has been talks about this on lots of post on the forum .putting the correct settings in the controller is most important .the leisure battery is on charge as to the voltage showing in the picture and is above the 14.8 setting it should go to. I was explaining to you and others that a voltage will not tell your the overall condition of the battery it may now only be taking half the amps it’s should be holding .this was the reason I said needs testing with a correct battery tester
If the person was to come back and say that all the settings are correct then would need to then do other checks
To find a fault the basic checks need doing first

by Paulmold Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:02 pm

Glyne - perhaps you could be a little less abrupt to others who are only trying to help. We know you have a vast knowledge of all things motorhome but your responses are being noted as abrasive.

by FreelanderUK Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:24 pm

Aethelric wrote:

He also said "The vehicle battery is only 1 month old"

I think I gave a possible reason as to why the alarm is be sounding, i.e.fitting a different technology battery 1 month ago.

Where does it say he fitted a different technology battery , he has not fitted lithium,

by FreelanderUK Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:45 pm

The original poster was on the forum on the 14th of July and not put any updates on this thread so I suppose he got it sorted

by glyne lock Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:54 pm

FreelanderUK wrote:

Where does it say he fitted a different technology battery , he has not fitted lithium,

it clearly did not as you are saying Freelander
even if its a new battery could have a fault and for warranty would be tested as I said with the correct gear
it would be good if Apple came back and said if he has sorted the problem
lots of people have put the control to run the habitation off the vehicle battery and I have shown them the problem and do get lots of thank you said and is not nice having to show them the fault
this Is the reason you have to start at the basics and the controller settings is the first for this fault with this make of electrics fitted

by Appretice Tue Jul 25, 2023 3:34 pm

Can I add another comment to my previous one?
It concerns the low voltage battery alarm sounding at the over-door panel on my Bourton. I was getting alarms at odd times even during the night. They sounded "peep-peep-peep" in quick succession but not for long enough for me to see what the message was saying. On checking the voltage at the display it always read 12.5v or thereabouts.
I took it up with A-S who told me that it was associated with the terminals at which the voltage was measured and that they were not the same as the terminals used for the display at the over-door panel.
I delivered the van to their premises where they made the modification to the wiring and that cured the problem for me.
I hope this helps those in a similar situation.
Best Wishes

by Aethelric Tue Jul 25, 2023 6:48 pm

FreelanderUK wrote:

Where does it say he fitted a different technology battery , he has not fitted lithium,

Hi Chris

He doesn't say what technology starter battery he fitted. We don't know if it was standard flooded, enhanced flooded, AGM, or Gel (or Lithium??) Neither do we know what was in before. My point was simply that these all have slightly different o/c voltages. A good standard flooded battery will show 12.6V at 100% charge. An AGM battery would be only 75% charged at 12.6V. Maybe that would trigger the alarm.

To clarify, I am fairly au fait with batteries, but I know nothing about the Sargent charging system or how it is set for different types of battery.

by gassygassy Sun Oct 22, 2023 8:44 pm

Brian6845 wrote:Postings refer to changing from Peugeot to Fiat what do you change to on a Mercedes base vehicle I have the same alerts and nothing wrong with the battery. Happens during the day but not at night could this be something with the solar panel causing the alert during the day.

I have a Merc based Bourton and it HAD the screaming piezo alarm when one panel said the vehicle battery was 12.6v and the alarm panel said in RED (so it must be important) the battery was below 10.5v. I am on holiday in France, and feel very much inclined not to go to or send anything to Sargent, they will only sell me the same rubbish as is currently installed. The 2019 Bourton I have, does not have a lithium LB nor does it have the Peugeot / Fiat option in the settings. It's on a Mercedes base.
In order to save my holiday I ripped out the infuriating alarming piezo sounder, which revealed a surprisingly amateurish method of constructing the touch screen panel and the perspex A/S surround. Anyway, no more banging of heads on brick walls for me, it can silently alarm as much as it likes and I won't wake up.
Meanwhile . . . . .the ever present 'operate the hab door lock and the door light and awning light' intermittent events continue.
I'll try to find a way to rip out the Sargent electrics, which I doubt meet the required BS standard for caravans and replace it with a decent (probably German) make. I don't think that Molex connectors are meant to take two mains wire conductors to each pin. I need to trace the mains wiring, but from what I have seen so far I suspect that more than two 13A sockets are running from one cable on the CU. If that is the case the whole thing needs rewiring. The first fault I had to fix with this camper was to rectify this situation where whoever tried to stuff two mains wire conductors into each of the Molex pins failed to do so. I might add that in the Nuevo I owned and now this Bourton I can confidently state as a retired Gas Safe Registered engineer that A/S do not install the Truma combi boilers in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. One result of this is that the electronics live in an unnecessarily hot environment, which reduces their life expectancy and makes resetting the overheat button unnecessarily difficult. The other is that as a GSR 'engineer' I would have great difficulty in issuing a habitation certificate for any of the vehicles with the Truma boilers fitted like this. A pre-requisite of any boiler safety certificate is that the boiler must be fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. On my Nuevo I rotated the boiler so that it conformed to the manufacturer's instructions, and was puzzled to find that it would have required no extra materials or labour for A/S to fit it properly.

Removal of the Piezo alarm sounder:
Before, with the piezo sounder: (the big black round thing)

After surgical removal of the offensive weapon: Sorry my camera, even on close ups doesn't do close ups very well.

by gassygassy Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:12 pm

In any case I wonder why we 'need' a low battery warning at all. Surely if your lights are dim, it follows that you have a low battery. I don't think we need to know if the battery is 10.8v or 12.5v or 14.5v. If the lights light brightly and the boiler lights and the cooker lights and the fridge gets frosty who cares what the battery volts are? If the lights go dim or the fridge doesn't cool, look for the reason and when you find it, fix it.

by The Bargee Mon Oct 23, 2023 9:44 am

gassygassy wrote:In any case I wonder why we 'need' a low battery warning at all. Surely if your lights are dim, it follows that you have a low battery. I don't think we need to know if the battery is 10.8v or 12.5v or 14.5v. If the lights light brightly and the boiler lights and the cooker lights and the fridge gets frosty who cares what the battery volts are? If the lights go dim or the fridge doesn't cool, look for the reason and when you find it, fix it.

We never used to fit anything other than an ammeter on our boats, and we knew when the battery was getting flat because the TV picture got smaller! However modern TV's don't do that and I don't watch much now so I do have a simple voltmeter installed on the Hab system (not Sargent!!!) just to keep me abreast of the voltage

Gassygassy: I have sent you a PM.