Van battery never above 11.8-12v

[NickJ]

Hey its been a while since I posted. Usually I'm in the mk6 area but I'm trying to find out info regarding my work van to winge to my boss about.

My work van is a 15plate custom. It has an invervter in the back which I would like to use for work. However

The van has never given me a volt reading over 12v usually its 11.8v in a morning even after a good run the previous day.
In my head this is too low.

I have a camper comversion with aux battery for my inverter. I dont think they've had these vans set up like that..

To use my inverter I have to start the van. Leave the drivers seat. Climb in the back to turn the inverter on. As the inverter reads a low voltage and wont run if the vans not running.

Witht the whole engine off to use then the phone now. Leaving the van with the engine running is in the same legal realm.

Its been in and checked but just this morning I did the above to charge a drill battery on my way to a job. One turn over of the engine and a 10min charge on a 4ah drill battery has killed it as I had to turn the van off for 10mins to send a couple of emails.

Any thoughts?



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[loot]

There's a lot of drain on these van batteries, i have factory twin batteries and the front 1 is constantly low, it's enough to keep working but the battery saver kicks in virtually immediately and stop start doesn't work.

It's a hilti van so they fitted invertor and second alternator etc, you can have the inverter set to remote so it'll kick in when there's enough power and it is switched on, i can do that from my drivers seat (depends on the inverter)

I don't know if you have 2 batteries but guess you have 1?
If that is the factory setup then the cheapest and quickest way you'll do it is get another battery and connect a split charge relay.

There's options there but tbh without the engine running you'll be risking it by drawing power from the battery as it is now

Bloody Ford.

Ps. Some ppl have solar panels too.

[yasser]

i dont think any twin battery system with a split charge relay is working as it should on these vans. It keeps the 2nd/leisure battery topped up to the same level as the main batteries but if they are running low so will your 2nd/leisure battery. I did have twin batteries and a leisure battery (split charge relay) fitted with an inverter, all worked great for a short while and then inverter kept cutting out because of low battery volts.

With this smart charging stuff i think the only reliable way to go is either of these 2 ways.

https://sterling-power.com/collections/ ... =978775683

http://www.ringautomotive.com/uk/produc ... ro/RSCDC30

[mistericeman]

Agreed....
either the sterling power or the ring battery to battery chargers are about the only viable option when it comes to 'smart' alternators...

Fortunately on our mk6 Jumbo camper we can run 3 x 100ah leisure batteries charged by 2 X 100w solar panels on the roof and a Durite voltage sensing split charge relay to power our 3000w inverter for the microwave/toaster /kettle /slow cooker etc.

[NickJ]

Well I had the AA come out and they did a battery diagnostic. Recomendation is to have it replaced ASAP. This is after the garage having it 3 weeks ago saying they cant find a fault.

I've suggested we have a breaker switch fitted in the front to turn the inverter off with.

Its simply a crap 1 battery system with a 1000w inverter. My mk6 camper has an aux battery with a 300w inverter. Guess which is more reliable.

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[loot]

The front battery takes a beating all of the time problems occur when it gets tired.

I have 2 alternators on my van, both 150A standard twin battery setup tho and a big power box that adjusts power and engine revs to the demand and 110v output etc.

Either way, without the engine revving while the inverter is in use, it'll never stand up to much, especially a single battery

Asking for a non start in that situation.

Imo.

2017 you'd think they'd let us all have the non degrading power source by now wouldn't you

[moley551]

I gave up with charging my leisure battery from the alternator via a smart relay, I looked at the 12v to 12v chargers but opted for a 100w solar panel and it works really well the battery is kept at 100%, I've gone from getting 1or2 Makita batteries charged before the inverter cuts off to charging 4 at a time, Friday I charged 9 batteries back to back and only had a red light on the charge controller the inverter was still on, and obviously it charges when parked up.

[S60r]

Got a link to that moley? Sounds good.


Best advice to anyone with battery issues is to ditch the Ford battery and get a decent one smartish.... if you have warranty - disregard it - and buy anything without Ford written on it......they really are bad.

[richbee]

i dont think any twin battery system with a split charge relay is working as it should on these vans. It keeps the 2nd/leisure battery topped up to the same level as the main batteries but if they are running low so will your 2nd/leisure battery. I did have twin batteries and a leisure battery (split charge relay) fitted with an inverter, all worked great for a short while and then inverter kept cutting out because of low battery volts.

With this smart charging stuff i think the only reliable way to go is either of these 2 ways.

https://sterling-power.com/collections/ ... =978775683

http://www.ringautomotive.com/uk/produc ... ro/RSCDC30

I did read something in the BEMM documents that the smart charge is designed to keep the battery only partially charged for fuel economy reasons. But it also mentioned a jumper setting somewhere that can be used in eg. camper vans to disable the smart charging and go back to normal ie. full level charging. Not sure where exactly, but might be worth looking for?

[Rigmarole]

To charge without the smart bit of the alternator, just hit the turn off 'Eco' or 'Stop/Start' on the dash (I forget which). Apparently this charges with the alternator as it normally would (i.e. dumb charging). It's detailed in Body and Equipment Mounting Manual (BEMM). Though it'll reset everytime to you start up the van.

The low voltage is apparently kept that way to use power from slowing down etc to top up the batteries, but yes, siding with most people on here, mine doesn't seem to work very well too.