Our 1st caravan - Elldis wobble-box - had a battery charge indicator that handily gave a reading in volts. I was always pretty diligent - as we store at home - in plugging the van in & charging every week, too, so never let it get below advised levels & never looked to buy a voltmeter thingy.

Having changed to a 2023 540 last year, monitoring the battery charge (still without a voltmeter) seems to me more like guess-work, since the aforementioned 'B.C.C.I' - Eriba-style - has no 'numbered' reading, just some ascending LED lights. These are rather airy-fairly explained in the Manual as 'depending on which LED of the LED indicator is lit, the living area battery is more or less charged (green) or empty (red)'.

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A tiny leaflet that I found among all the accompanying gumph from the dealer might clarify this a bit by showing the top (green) light as 13v, the 2 middle (yellow) lights 12v & below 11v, & bottom (red) as 'RES' (residual..?).

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The rub here & my probable query is, since 1st use, we've only ever had ALL 3 of the topmost lights come on. NEVER the top 2 on their own, nor just the SINGLE top green. Always the same 3 lights: I still plug in regularly at home & the same even when on site +EHU (we don't off-grid). Luckily, though, we've not yet had any 'failings' on site or even using the mover.

With my own electrical experience amounting to the odd changing of a plug, to me the Manual would suggest that we could be 'more charged than less, but more than likely less charged than more..?' ... whereas the leaflet could possibly be more accurate if you 'average' out the 3 lights to mean just the middle 1 at 12v..?

Ought we to be concerned at all about the battery? Are any other of you kind-Eriba-ristas experiencing a similar conundrum?

I am also hoping now, that Santa will remember me this Xmas & I'll get a proper thingy-o-meter to be on the safe side (says he, leaving this screen on display in my wife's office accidentally on purpose...).

Thanks for your time!

amazon sells volt gauges can get your dealer to wire in to keep warranty, wire to battery to get exact voltage or can plug into power socket
sorry cant add full link amazon.co.uk/DollaTek-12V-24V-Digital-Voltmeter-Motorcycle/dp/B0CDWKXRF9/ref=sr_1_49?af=eyJxdWFydHpWZWhpY2xlIjoiMTM4LTEwMzc1In0%3D&sr=8-49

id want a number back up can glance at, that light system does not give much / a lot of indication to whether over using battery,

My reading of the display is that:-

(Red) RES - residual voltage i.e. the battery is dead. There will only be a minimal voltage available and the battery will not take a charge. It has to be replaced.
(Yellow) 11v - The battery is flat and needs a charge. This will come on with the red RES LED
(Yellow) 12v - The battery is fully charged. Again the RES and 11v LEDs will be alight as well.
(Green) 13v - The battery is being charged. All three lower LEDs will be alight.

Once the charger is switched off, then only the three lower LEDs will light.
The resting voltage of a Lead Acid battery is around 12.4 volts. So the 13v LED will not be alight in this situation.

Bear in mind that this display is only a guide and not accurate. As Aaron has pointed out, if you would prefer a more accurate display then these are available

Hope this helps.

Alan

Lidl have got some of these at the moment. Very cheap and Ive found them very effective. As a bonus, they have Croc clips so no warranty issues.

I copied #Aaron Calder's recommended installation of a decent quality voltmeter - and it is perfect. I mounted it high up on the bed-side of the wardrobe and it's very easy to check - and, being LCD, it doesn't glow at night. Slight pain running the wiring, but well worth it in the end.

In case you’re wondering what the 3-stage charger does, here’s a trace showing the battery voltage this week when I plugged the van back in.
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This shows the voltage levels when charging, not under load.