battery needs jumped constantly HELP

Can't go anywhere without a working drivetrain
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sudec11
Weekend Camper
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:00 am
B190 Year: 1992
WBCCI: 0
Location: Virginia

battery needs jumped constantly HELP

Post by sudec11 »

Hello, My battery needs to be jump started after the van sits for a couple of days. When charged it works fine but this keeps happening after sitting. We have checked to see if we left something on but cannot find anything. Please help.
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skater
Site Admin
Posts: 2569
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:00 am
B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
Location: Annapolis, MD

Post by skater »

The battery is probably bad - how old is it?
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
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Ralph
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:00 am

Re: battery needs jumped constantly HELP

Post by Ralph »

sudec11 wrote:Hello, My battery needs to be jump started after the van sits for a couple of days. When charged it works fine but this keeps happening after sitting. We have checked to see if we left something on but cannot find anything. Please help.
I realize this is a dated question, however, check your lighted visor mirrors on both driver and passenger sides. I had a case on my B190 and a previous Ford E-250 where even though the mirror is shut, the light does not turn off because the push button switch is so chinsy. You can't see the light when the visor if up, but it is on. Cheap solution, put an elastic or hair scrunge around the visor & mirror. Hope this helps....Ralph
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Buckeye
Weekend Camper
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 12:00 am
B190 Year: 1996
WBCCI: 6009
Location: Columbus, OH

Re: battery needs jumped constantly HELP

Post by Buckeye »

I had the same problem with my battery. It went dead suddenly early last week while camped at Coldwater, MI fairgrounds. I got a jump from my traveling companions as we were going to the Michigan State Rally in Ionia (from central Ohio). Knew the Interstate battery was only 16 months old. Knew there was minimal corrosion on terminal. Some WBCCI members suggested it might be the alternator. There was an Autozone near the fairgrounds where I stopped before my trip home. After 3 attempts, the fellow could not get a reading on the alternator. I headed straight over to the Interstate battery store this morning. The fellow tried the bubble test on all the cells-all good. Then he took a reading of the the battery discharge - 10v vs. 12v reading (not good). He sprayed some goop on the cable to remove any corrosion. I think that's when he found the clamp connection was a little loose and upon further investigation it turned out the metal clamp on the positive terminal was cracked. (Pardon me for not knowing the correct terminology - I'm an 'old' girl after all!) He cut off the old clamp, stripped the wires down, attached them and the CB wire to a new clamp, and reattached everything to the post - for free! Working good as gold!

Which brings me to something I learned this week that I've never heard or read before and I wanted to share this with my fellow Bvan drivers/owners... I was able to jumpstart my car battery with my own house battery. No other vehicles needed. We had an Airstream dealer from Ionia/Battlecreek area as a guest speaker during the rally and after I explained my problem with a dead battery, he suggested trying that. Black to black; red to red. It worked every time (a good thing, since I stopped several times on the 5+hr trip home.) Remember to turn off the car accessories (AC, radio, CB, lights, etc. first.) Of course my house battery was fully charged after coming off being plugged in all week. Not sure if someone out boondocking for the same amount of time would have the same results if battery was more discharged. So keep a set of jumper cables handy in the Bvan, like I've always done. BTW, I did try to charge one battery with the other's power, overnight - didn't work. Probably because of the loose connection. I have a '96 Bvan.
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