Finding a 'leak' in an electrical system on a campervan

[Jody]

My van runs 2 x 80ah lesuire batteries hooked up to a solar panel.

During the day its fine, overnight it gets down to 11.5v

My thinking is to get an amp clamp and use that to test the various circuits one by one u tip I find the one 'drawing' power.

Is that the best method?

Can anyone recommend a sensibly priced amp clamp?

TIA

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You could try disconnecting tings until you find the one that is causing the drain, what voltage do you get if you disconnect everything from the batteries including the solar panel?

[iansoady]

I would do something slightly different. First remove all the fuses. Then disconnect the battery earth lead and use a multimeter on 10 amp setting between the lead and the battery terminal to see if there is a reading. If none visible, replace fuses one by one till you get a reading. That's your dodgy circuit. If you don't see anything on the 10A setting (which I would expect given the amount of charge you seem to be losing) then try on a high milliamp setting but be careful as it's easy to blow the multimeter.

If you get a reading with all fuses out then the fault is between the battery and the fusebox. You do have one don't you?

Obviously disconnect your solar panels first.

[Horse]

Are the solar panels glowing at night?

[Rockburner]

Are the solar panels glowing at night?

You joke - but apparently they do draw power from the battery at night unless there's a diode (1-way component) in the circuitry between the panels and the battery.*

Jody - who fitted the panels, and do you know if they've got a diode in the circuit?





* Might depend on the panel, but this is what I was told by the pros who fitted the panel on my van.

[JackyJoll]

Could the batteries be knackered and draining themselves?

11.5 V is pretty low.

[Rockburner]

You joke - but apparently they do draw power from the battery at night unless there's a diode (1-way component) in the circuitry between the panels and the battery.*

Jody - who fitted the panels, and do you know if they've got a diode in the circuit?

* Might depend on the panel, but this is what I was told by the pros who fitted the panel on my van.

Even a basic solar charge controller should prevent this.

Operative word: "should".