Battery charger, on or off ?

I am learning many things from this forum, but one thing I cant find a positive answer to is this. When on E.H.U. does it do any harm to leave the battery charger on all the time ?. I have an 2012 Autosleeper Nuevo ES.

Hi JHT.

When using your van and on EHU it is normal to leave the leisure battery charger switched on.
If you connect your van to electric when it is parked up at home for any length of time it is better to switch the charger off as constant charging will evaporate the water/acid in the battery which could damage the battery permanently.

Cheers. Whisky.

The Sargent unit is designed with a float charger which means it can be left on all the time and will do no harm. It does not put charge into the batteries constantly but monitors them the same as a smart charger that people buy for classic cars etc to be left on all winter.
When the battery needs topped up it will then charge the leisure battery again.
As for you Engine battery what you need to do is turn on your control panel and select engine battery on it, the battery charger will then charge your engine battery instead of your leisure batteries. Took me a while to figure out why my engine battery was not being topped up when i got the motorhome.

Thanks for those comments.

Thanks for that info Robbie. It is amazing how you find out things you never knew!

Hi guys - wondering if you could help this newbie?

I've recently acquired a Peugeot Pescara 2.4tdi and came to start it today, after its been standing for two days, and it wouldn't start! I wouldn't say the battery was flat, but when it was connected up to the battery charger it showed 4amps so it *must* have been low! This is the engine battery, not the leisure batter. As far as I know, no lights were left on, but a phone was charged which could be the problem.

I just wanted to check I'm not missing anything obvious!

The MH is not on EHU btw. Nor do we have a solar panel fitted.

Thanks,

Lesley

cymraes wrote:Hi guys - wondering if you could help this newbie?

I've recently acquired a Peugeot Pescara 2.4tdi and came to start it today, after its been standing for two days, and it wouldn't start! I wouldn't say the battery was flat, but when it was connected up to the battery charger it showed 4amps so it *must* have been low! This is the engine battery, not the leisure batter. As far as I know, no lights were left on, but a phone was charged which could be the problem.

I just wanted to check I'm not missing anything obvious!

The MH is not on EHU btw. Nor do we have a solar panel fitted.

Thanks,

Lesley

Hi Lesley,

It is possible that you need a new battery. If you have recently acquired it, do you have a guarantee? if so get them to check it out and don't worry about demanding a new one

"H"

Hi H,

We've only just acquired the van - private sale - the battery looks new, but there's no guarantee in the paper work. The van started fine when we viewed, and when we picked it up. It's a bit of a mystery as to why it won't start ... It was too late last night to go out, but I'm going to,be investing in some heavy duty jump-leads today...

Fingers crossed!

Lesley

Cracked it!

We got in touch with the chap we bought it from... We were using the wrong key! Apparently, only one will start it, as it has the chip needed to deactivate the immobiliser... And it started first time! *relief*

One to remember ... Eh?

Lesley... Off for a drive in the sun! :)

One thing to bear in mind Lesley for the future, if you leave the van too long without running it on board stuff that has a memory will be drawing off the engine battery (ie: Alarm,Radio memory &etc)

roli wrote:One thing to bear in mind Lesley for the future, if you leave the van too long without running it on board stuff that has a memory will be drawing off the engine battery (ie: Alarm,Radio memory &etc)

Which is why many of us stick one of these on the dashboard when we don't use it for a couple of weeks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SOLAR-POWER-BATTERY-TRICKLE-CHARGER/dp/B002V9JEF0/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

Best regards,
 

One further suggestion: Having a spare key that won't start the van is pretty useless! I'd recommend that you look into getting the van immobiliser re-coded to accept the second key. On some vans (e.g. older Transits) you can do it yourself if you know the (rather convoluted) procedure, but I don't know if that's true on Peugeots.

Thanks guys!

Mojo - we got a key cut at Timpsons (the cobblers) in town today - cost a bomb but we needed it so ... And it works :)

Dutto.... Heheh ... It's on the list! :)

Roli - I did wonder about that, so thanks for the heads up. ;)

Cheers again!

Lesley