Good luck!! Can you get a loan of a bigger charger?? With two batteries (one known good and one suspected low/dead), your smaller charger will be up against it trying to get some charge through BOTH batteries of SAME type. But worth a try before throwing in the towel. I have had only temporary success with one battery, and failure on two others. How old is the battery you are trying to recover???
Yeah @garfield28 , it is only a thin paper covering as some others on this forum have found out. Any strong adhesive can cause that delamination to the cheap surface. Sad lesson to be learnt!
Yeah I will try and get hold of a bigger charger boots. The battery would be about 2 years old as I have had the van for about a year and the guy I bought it from said it was new 12 months earlier.
It sucks! Not sure how I can fix or hide it now.
Good point about the silicon Drover I didn't think of that. If truth be known I didn't know there was a way to screw it on until I dropped the other outlet vent and it came apart and I noticed there were screw holes in it, but by that time I'd siliconed it in the van... Bloody idiot I am I could have saved wrecking the finish on it and would have been so much easier to screw in. I'm thinking now of relocating the vent so I remove the possible fumes from the silicon and maybe covering the whole area with a large air vent in black.
@garfield28 , it may be only 2 year's old, but it all depends on how previous owner "used, abused or misused" the battery, including left in discharged condition for long periods before recharging. May be too close to the limit of usable life? Now you have to suffer the consequences of previous owner's possible lack of maintenance and care! Also noted that charger was a 6A version which would normally be satisfactory in maintaining charge in battery.
Yeah I'm not sure how it was looked after by the old owner and I cannot remember it being connected to power when I originally turned up to first view it.
It is my fault for the battery Drover. The power cord I had plugged into the van was probably bumped by the kids who knows how long ago, but it wasn't getting any charge to the battery because of it. Up till then the battery wasn't used much but seem to always be charged up while left there, and it seemed pretty good when we were away a for a few nights using a little while ago.
Yeah I have that setec box Drover but my battery doesn't charger through it. Pretty sure the guy I bought the van off either said it didn't work, or he preferred his own charger but I'm pretty sure the way I got it the setec isn't connected to the battery for charging. I'm not sure how I could investigate and see if it works or how to connect it to it if it has just been disabled by the previous owner.
If the Setec is turned off or NOT connected to the 240v GPO, there will be no power to the internal transformer and rectifier within the unit itself to provide current to charge battery. To see if the Setec is working, disconnect your battery charger first and see if there are any wires coming from Setec connected to battery. If not, check that these loose wires have not shorted out. These wires should be connected to the POS and NEG of battery. Then connect the Setec with the 3 pin plug to a KNOWN live 240v outlet. If Setec working, two lights should come on on the front of unit. (If unit is a Setec ST20 Series III. From memory, if an earlier Series II model, only red light indicating 240 volt power available will light up). Red indicates 240v power available (why you can operate without battery while on 240v power) and a GREEN light which indicates Battery power available. As @Drover said, when 240v power connected, the Setec will supply power to 12 volt accessories AND supply current from internal transformer/rectifier to charge battery. Max load including battery charging and lights/accessories is 20 Amps. I believe @Drover has come up with why there are problems because of unknown or bad modifications that you were not aware of.
Cheers for the instructions boots. I'll have a look at it tomorrow when I get home from work if I get home early enough, otherwise I'll do it on Saturday and report back.
Hi @garfield28 , progress at last....maybe. The real test is - will it HOLD a charge?? Suggest leave it on your "smart charger" for 48 hours, before turning it off. Voltage should be 12.8 or better after charger disconnected for a short time. Then rest for 4 or 5 hours (no load), then test battery voltage with a light load applied - say 21 watt bulb or similar. If voltage holds or slowly drops to 12.3 or 12.4 after 5 minutes, you are in business!! If voltage falls steadily to less than 11.8 volts, replace battery.
Good try, but probably has an internal short between two plates. Sometimes caused by too much of a build up of sulphation on plates causing them to swell and short out. Keen to hear why Setec not connected for charging.
Thanks for the advice though boots was heaps appreciated.
Thanks for you advice to Drover, also heaps appreciated mate.
