Man tge 2025 batteries constantly going flat

[Jaywesty]

Hi guys have a 25 model TGE and noticed the battery’s always loosing power?
Specced the second battery from factory but there constantly draining when I’m working on it.
Interior lights are off,
I Noticed a pump running round the front occasionally when the engine isn’t even running.
Have a tracker fitted but the fitter who I trust is saying it won’t be the tracker causing the drain ?
Seems stupid that these vans that are turned into camper vans flatten the battery’s if the doors are open ?
It’s at 12.2 atm again after getting bk from the highlands only 2 days ago I only been in and out of the van a few times since getting bk .
its doing my head in

 

[rod_vw]

You may have everything that you can see switched off but every time you unlock it, open a door or generally disturb the van it will bot up numerous modules expecting you to take off into the blue yonder.
Whilst you are converting it you need a trickle charger on the engine battery. Once it's converted you need to fit something like a Battery Master, Ablemail AMT12-12-2 or perhaps one of the Victron bits of kit that will trickle the engine battery from the leisure side.

I have an AMT 12-12-2 on ours and it works perfectly.

 

[Jaywesty]

Thanks rod I will look into this I have the Clayton fitted and not sure if there’s an option to trickle the starter batteries from the Clayton itself.nothings strait forward thanks for the response buddy

 

[Lebowski]

I'd chosse the Ablemail over the Victron as the latter can only charge the ssame charge profile equalling the main household battery and the Victron needs to be switched on. Ablemail is the way to go. Don't forget to add as much solar to your roof to never run out of power.

 

[Jaywesty]

So today I noticed the egr has pipes going to it and a pump seems to be running that are connected to said pipes until you open the door then it stops then starts up again shortly afterwards.I opened the van the other morning to get things out closed the door and 3hrs later walked past it and the pump was running??
Strange thing??

 

[mike12314]

My starter battery is playing up. Says needs driving to charge after 3 or 4 days parked up with Dora all locked up.
Bought a solar battery charger for 12v cigarette lighter. Sits on dash. Trickle charging each day.

 

[rod_vw]

My starter battery is playing up. Says needs driving to charge after 3 or 4 days parked up with Dora all locked up.
Bought a solar battery charger for 12v cigarette lighter. Sits on dash. Trickle charging each day.

Is the 12v socket that you have plugged the solar into connected with the ignition off? If not the solar is doing nothing.

 

[Lebowski]

The cigarette lighter is the only electrical outlet in the dash with active current when the vehicle is switched off, it should work.

 

[rod_vw]

The cigarette lighter is the only electrical outlet in the dash with active currant when the vehicle is switched off, it should work.

I'll agree with older vans but maybe that could be yet another difference with a '24 model which is what I understand @mike12314 has.

 

[Lebowski]

This is from my experience with my produced in 11-2024 model.

 

[rod_vw]

This is from my experience with my 11-2024 model.

Good news, I knew they were on our '23 model.

Then @mike12314 needs to look elsewhere for current drain and check on what output he is getting from the solar. I have found in the past that they don't work well placed on the dash, perhaps the heat restricting treatment of the glass reduces the effectiveness of a solar panel.

 

[Lebowski]

The ultimate solution is to buy an Ablemail trickle charger. Better than Votronic / Victron / Ective / any other vendor.

 

[kipperman]

Late to the party here but our 6mo TGE starter battery definitely drains over 3-4 days whilst being used as a camper- ie doors/locks being used all the while. Put in a Victron dc-dc charger to keep it topped up from the LB. Not using anything energy wise from the SB so I guess just all the modules lighting up every time locked etc.

 

[Lebowski]

Without using the vehicle the SB drains in three weeks, compared to the four days with a Transit it's not too bad, but like you say modern vehicles have many systems that are constantly switching between dormant and temporary on which drains the battery.

Victron invertors have a function to trickle charge the SB from the LB but only on shore power.
The DCDC charger has no function to call it quits when the LB voltage goes below where it should be.

Ablemail trickle charger will charge the SB from the LB directly irrelevant of the source of charge (generator, shore power, alternator or solar).

Ablemail also has the lowest drain consumption of them all.

 

[Lebowski]

I can't edit my post #14 anymore, but another drawback of the Victron Invertor trickle charger is that is can only load with a copy of the profile as used for the LB and as most SB's are AGM they need another charging profile. I'd not use that due to this.

 

[kipperman]

The Victron inverter charger is very much a trickle- up to I think 2A. My LB is an extravagant 628Ah so I’m not hugely bothered about it been drained.

 

[Lebowski]

That's a sizeable LB... Did you calculate your energy consumption and found this was the way to go? It needs to be charged when emptying, have you calculated how long that takes from empty per source?

 

[kipperman]

We get about 5 days autonomy to 20% so kettle use, induction hob but not A/C . 50 A from alternator, up to 35A from 400W solar and 80 A from EHU Victron inverter charger. About 5 hours on EHU I guess to recharge depending on solar input. As for calculation - converter a good customer of Fogstar so got a good deal on the 628Ah on the basis of go big or not at all! Weight/ size penalty doesn’t seem to be an issue.

 

[mike12314]

Good news, I knew they were on our '23 model.

Then @mike12314 needs to look elsewhere for current drain and check on what output he is getting from the solar. I have found in the past that they don't work well placed on the dash, perhaps the heat restricting treatment of the glass reduces the effectiveness of

Is the 12v socket that you have plugged the solar into connected with the ignition off? If not the solar is doing nothing.

12v socket is constantly powered. It’s only a 20w panel. Seems to be putting out something on dash. Will take a few days to find out. When we are on site, I can run a spare lead from trickle leisure charger at the back of the van. Just not always possible to leave it connected.

 

[Raul a/3]

Victron invertors have a function to trickle charge the SB from the LB but only on shore power.

That is not true, it works on delta voltage regardless if the inverter is on or off, or pluged on shore or not. As long as solar raises the L B voltage, the auxiliary pin on multiplus will allow up to 2A of flow.