May I draw on the collective wisdom of this august forum once more? Our Eriba has been stored on the drive since the beginning of January, after collecting it from AL. Everything worked when we got it. home, including the motor mover.

We've had it plugged into the mains periodically for a few days at a time. Went out last week to move it - no power, no lights, despite having had it on charge for 4 days. Checked the fuses, and found one of the 15 amp fuses had blown. No idea why - we hadn't left any lights on, nor the fridge, nor taps.

Re-connected the mains power and left it for 4 days, and tried it again today - no power on battery, and the fuse looks to have a small bubble in it, but I can't tell if it's broken.

Next step is to contact AL to see if they have any ideas, but I wondered if this might be familiar to anyone on here?

Thanks in anticipation...

Ron

A flat battery can 'die' just because it's flat. Add in sub zero temperatures and what was a healthy battery in the autumn can be totally wasted by March, unless it's constantly nurtured through the winter. Always best to remove it from the van and connect it to a high spec. charger, like a CTEK.

Which charging system do you have on your Triton, Ron?

The BIP unit with integral charger (part no 30-65100) is the most likely you'll have and has a column of six fuses on the right.

The bottom 15A fuse is the charger-to-battery fuse - is this the one which has blown?

A goosed battery could cause that fuse to blow, and as Andy has mentioned, flat batteries don't fair well in very cold weather (the specific gravity of the electrolyte in a flat battery can be close to that of water, and therefore could freeze when the temperature is 0 deg C or below).

Replace the fuse again, connect to the mains, and check the voltage across the battery - you should see about 13.6V if the charger's working as advertised.

caravan fuses.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Hi John, yes, it's the unit you describe thanks.

I'll sort a new fuse and get a voltmeter on the battery.

Ron

Blinking heck, Aaron, I thought these 'vans were simple!

Ours is a 2005 Triton, so I guess this might be the problem. I have yet to carry out John's instructions (I've just managed to borrow a voltmeter but I think I'd better buy one if your experience is anything to go by).

It's still under warranty from AL, but I anticipate a bit of a discussion with them about this!

Many thanks for the info.

Ron

The battery that AL sold you wasn't called a a Weekender was it ? That's about as long as ours lasted .

Well, tried re-charging the battery with slow charge, and it's as dead as the dodo. After some to-ing and fro-ing with AL, they've agreed to supply a new battery.

Not required for the OP but I once had a badly discharged leisure battery. The (smart) CTEK wouldn't touch it, said the battery was faulty.
I whacked the battery on to an old fashioned charger (not smart) for a bit and it managed to get sufficient charge in to the battery to allow the CTEK to be connected and work its wonders. Got another year or so out of it until I sold the caravan on.