Leisure battery dead

Hello font of all knowledge

My leisure battery is dead no more deceased.. As I have not had chance to use my destiny yet ..If I use an EHU will the internal lights in the dandy still work and water pump, or is that what the battery provides power to and for ..Sorry for my ignorance ?

I will be getting a new battery but may go out in the dandy first so wanted to know what wont work without the battery ?

Thanks

I have downsized from a Destiny now, but on my 92/93 model the internal lights and pump ran off the 12v supply. They did NOT work of EHU

Even when I did have a replacement battery, I found the built in lights quite dim and just used generic ones with one or two 8w fluorescent tubes.

When on a hookup, I bought some clip on mains lights and clipped them to the poles under the roof (they dangled so no danger of melting anything) or to the shelf I had fitted over the sink.

On the subject of the sink and pump.....I found it too small for more than a couple of mugs and used a plastic washing up bowl to keep used crockery in and washed up at the site facilities....with their hot water.

Chris

Thanks for the reply, yes I thought it may be something like that , I agree with the internal lights when i bought the dandy they seemed quite dim, so no doubt will take a page from your book and fit some from the poles so I can use EHU. I suspect I will always use onsite facilities for washing but handy to have should the rain start (not that it ever rains when you camp in the UK )

Cheers

My 2005 Designer has a 12 volt power supply unit and no battery. There is no wiring at all for a battery. The interior light under the shelf and the pump all plug into small 12 volt sockets mounted on the bottom unit of the kitchen.

The power supply unit is black and about 6in x 4in x 3in with ventilation holes in it. It is fed from a 6 Amp MCB in the consumer unit alongside it. A 10 Amp MCB feeds a mains 240 volt twin 13 Amp socket.

If on EHU check the consumer unit mains switch is on and the MCBs and that the lights are plugged in if that is what they do. I know the Destiny is different and has built in lights.

In the 1996 Destiny brochure a 12volt supply is standard and Mains Electric with 12volt transformer is optional. You may or may not have one.

The 1991 brochure does not mention electric supplies so any now fitted were probably fitted by the owner.

navver wrote:My 2005 Designer has a 12 volt power supply unit and no battery. There is no wiring at all for a battery. The interior light under the shelf and the pump all plug into small 12 volt sockets mounted on the bottom unit of the kitchen.

The power supply unit is black and about 6in x 4in x 3in with ventilation holes in it. It is fed from a 6 Amp MCB in the consumer unit alongside it. A 10 Amp MCB feeds a mains 240 volt twin 13 Amp socket.

If on EHU check the consumer unit mains switch is on and the MCBs and that the lights are plugged in if that is what they do. I know the Destiny is different and has built in lights.

In the 1996 Destiny brochure a 12volt supply is standard and Mains Electric with 12volt transformer is optional. You may or may not have one.

The 1991 brochure does not mention electric supplies so any now fitted were probably fitted by the owner.

Our 1995 Designer is very similar to Navver's Designer and also has a 12 volt power supply unit and no battery. There is no wiring at all for a battery. The interior light under the shelf and the pump all plug into small 12 volt sockets mounted at the side of the kitchen unit in our case. I assume this was done by one of her previous owners.

If you haven't got a 12v supply without a battery like Navver and The Admiral but you have a battery charger, you could put that onto your battery using EHU to run your 12v equipment till you get a new battery.

As size 11 has a battery it is generally better to have a battery connected across the chargers terminals it "smoothes" the supply. Lights may be seen to flicker if there is no battery in the circuit. A battery at the end of its life is entirely suitable for this as would be a much smaller lead acid battery like a motorcycle battery. If the battery were physically breaking down there may be faults that would make it unsuitable.

Should you ever think of buying a new battery at some point one of the problems with batteries is because of the chargers that tend to be fitted to caravans and trailer tents. N.B. I HAVE NO DIRECT EXPERIENCE OF THE CHARGING UNITS FITTED BY DANDY THIS IS A GENERAL STATEMENT. So in general the type of units fitted by manufacturers TP2, Sig etc only charge with a maximum of 13.8 volts. I think the manufacturers were fixated at the possible risks of the batteries gassing. That is them giving off Oxygen and Hydrogen and the possible catastrophic result of this igniting. It matters not if there is a vent nor if the battery box is external to the camper. The thought of an ignition of this gas seems to be the limiting factor. Unfortunately this makes the units a bit naff for charging batteries. The charging takes ages and batteries arent ever "properly" charged. If a battery has come back from a weekend partially discharged it's much better to couple it up to an external charger rather than use the device fitted. They sort of work if you are permanently on EHU but that begs the question why have a battery?

The tech reasons behind charging isn't a three minute explanation and it starts to go beyond my understanding, navver and Peridot being better able to explain if you have complex questions. General battery buying advice [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] from someone who designs battery chargers for boats. These are far more gas sealed than campers but his chargers work at above 13.8 volts though you can't afford one and don't need it anyway.