Leisure battery / campervan setup help

[lukethompson86]

Hi all

So we have a t6.1 and the electrics were done just over a year ago.
Made up of a 180watt solar panel on the roof

Leisure battery stored under the seat

Split charge system

We only run an alpicool fridge and 6 small led spots on the pop top bed base .

We had a new starter battery installed last Thursday
Bosch s5 a11

Our first outing Easter weekend and we not only had an error code of F1 on the fridge but the volt meter was reading average around 9/10v

Any ideas what may be causing this or any diagnosis procedures ?

Few pics for attention and setup.

Thank you

 

[roadtripper]

You don't have a split charge system - you have a DC-DC charger (the CTEK)

First urgent thing is to get some terminal covers on that battery. The seat frame should be grounded to the van body so having an unprotected positive terminal that close is dangerous.

I would also encourage you to try and move the crimped positive connection so that the cable runs away from the seat rail, rather than towards it, for similar reasons:

 

[roadtripper]

That looks like a standard Lead Acid battery so they should not be discharged under 50% so around 12v.

Even a handful of discharges below this can cause permanent damage to the battery.

If you are seeing voltages of below this when the battery is at rest (not under load and not being charged) then most likely that battery is dead. Voltages of 9-10v, if that's a reliable volt meter, suggests this is the case for your battery.

I can see in the pictures the CTEK is trying to solar charge and the voltage is showing as 13.9 but with a damaged battery this is still possible. They will appear charge but the damage means they have almost no capacity and the voltage will drop rapidly when off charge.

So I suspect you will be OK in good sunlight where the fridge is essentially running directly off solar but you will have almost no overnight capacity.

 

[roadtripper]

Out of interest how is your solar panel secured, it looks like a temporary flexible unit with the eyelets and lifted edge in the photo?