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WHY ARE MY BATTERIES GOING FLAT ?
WORDS AND IMAGES : MARTY LEDWICH
SO YOU ’ VE BOUGHT A NEW CARAVAN AND IT ’ S FITTED WITH THE MOST EXPENSIVE LITHIUM BATTERY SYSTEM COMPLETE WITH SOLAR ON THE ROOF BUT , FOR SOME REASON , THEY KEEP GOING FLAT BEFORE YOU THINK THEY SHOULD . LET ’ S RUN THROUGH SOME OF THE REASONS WHY THIS MIGHT BE HAPPENING .
I wish I had a dollar for every post I ’ ve seen on caravan and camping Facebook groups where the member is having issues with their batteries going flat even though they have invested in the latest and greatest lithium batteries and solar systems . Many of them are so frustrated that they are ready to rip shreds off their supplier for selling them a dud system . I don ’ t blame owners for getting frustrated . Over the years I ’ ve had several different 12V electrical systems in caravans , campers and 4WDs and all of them have given me issues in one way or another .
After many hours of diagnosing my issues and getting advice from experts in the field , I ’ ve found most of the problems we experience with our 12V systems can be traced back to one or more of the following three factors :
• Environmental constraints ;
• Poor electrical installation ; and
• Unrealistic expectations .
In this article , we will look at these three issues in detail in the hope that we can shed some light ( no pun intended ) on the problems you might be having and how to remedy them .
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