Autosleeper Nuevo ES Battery charger

Hi,

I read somewhere recently that it can damage your battery if you leave it on charge after it has reached fully charged.

When on hook up do most people leave the on board charger switched on, is the on board charger "intelligent," does it detect when the battery is fully charged and reduce the charge rate accordingly or do you have to switch the charger of to minimise the possibility of damaging your battery.?

Before someone asks I don't know what battery charger is fitted to my vehicle the handbook for my model Neuvo ES 2004 Peugeot based refers to an electronic control panel with push button controls but my vehicle is fitted with a control panel with rocker switches??

Hi Chris,
My van is fitted with a Truma ultraheat, the electric space heater that fits behind the gas heater. During the winter I have this switched on all the time with the thermostat set at 1 to ensure that the inside of the van does not drop below freezing and possibly damage the water system with ice, with the charger off. Once a week or thereabouts I switch the charger on overnight and off again in the morning, using the switch located under the plastic cover in the wardrobe floor. Once the weather warms up and risk of freezing is over, I switch off the ultraheat, switch on the charger but I then fit a 7 day plug in time switch in the garage socket, set to come on for an hour 3 times a week. an alternative is of course a 24 hour timeswitch (they are much more common) set to come on for1/2 an hour daily.

Brian

Hi Brian

Thanks for this but i was thinking more about what to do when campink and hooked up using all the lights etc. Is better to let the battery discharge before switching on tyhe charger or should I leave the charger on permanently that i styhe question??

by the way I am not Chris but John.

Hi John,
On site leave the charger on, if it was intended that you should be switching the charger on and off they would have put a switch on the control panel, only switch it off if you are not going to use the lesuire battery several days. I dont think that the chargers fitted by most motorhome converters are of the inteligent type but it will take quite a bit of overcharge to damage the battery.

Brian

Flynn wrote:Hi,

I read somewhere recently that it can damage your battery if you leave it on charge after it has reached fully charged.

When on hook up do most people leave the on board charger switched on, is the on board charger "intelligent," does it detect when the battery is fully charged and reduce the charge rate accordingly or do you have to switch the charger of to minimise the possibility of damaging your battery.?

Before someone asks I don't know what battery charger is fitted to my vehicle the handbook for my model Neuvo ES 2004 Peugeot based refers to an electronic control panel with push button controls but my vehicle is fitted with a control panel with rocker switches??

Hi Flynn

My Nuevo is just a year older and it sounds that the control panel should be the same. Ref charging -normally the 3 position rocker switch on the left side of the panel will give you the option to select vehicle (top position) and off (centre position ) and leisure (labelled habitation) battery (bottom position)

Always have left mine on habitation setting all and every daytime and evening when on EHU and switched to 'off' at night as a matter of routine before ' turning in' last thing at night. These built in chargers will not overcharge if left on for longer and more extended times though as they are not rated high enough regards the voltage output controller to do damage.

* In fact leisure battery makers I have asked about this very question have stated that a typical built in charger like this does not actually charge a leisure battery to maximum charge and it does a batteries life good to occassionally give it a full booster charge with a 'managed' external smart charger. They cost a bit though.
(*I also quote Eclelsol and also the Motorhome professional writer John Wickersham in his battery articles)