How long should I be able to use the electrics on a truck without the battery going too flat to start the engine? I’m talking radio, lights and heater on and a sat-nav and a phone plugged into the 24v Hella socket. (Yeah I know, you don’t need the sat-nav when you’re stationary but it saves on having to reconfigure it when you start the engine again.) I’ve had two batteries go flat on me from what I thought was light use, in one case for 75 mins and in another for about 2 to 3 hours (waiting for a cargo consignment at Heathrow). Company had a go at me for running the battery down. Both were DAF CFs (one an 18-tonner, one an artic). Is this a dodgy battery? A common problem with CFs (as I’ve not had it with other makes/models)?
Given that you’re supposed to be able to use the night heater all night if you’re stopped somewhere cold … an engine that packs up after a couple of hours sounds faulty. Am I right?
Running 5 different things in one go,without having the engine ticking over, if that`s normal practice for you,I would think you have been lucky not to have problems with other motors.
Should have no problem running all of that lot overnight. Sometimes on night trunks when the guy I’ve been changing over with has had a breakdown I’ve been waiting 4/5/6hrs with a similar amount of stuff on and thats in a CF 4 years old with several hundred thousand km on.
If you don’t do many long runs then it may be the batteries aren’t getting replenished enough between drops, especially if you’re doing say RDC work where you may start the engine several times at the delivery point.
Conor:
Should have no problem running all of that lot overnight. Sometimes on night trunks when the guy I’ve been changing over with has had a breakdown I’ve been waiting 4/5/6hrs with a similar amount of stuff on and thats in a CF 4 years old with several hundred thousand km on.
If you don’t do many long runs then it may be the batteries aren’t getting replenished enough between drops, especially if you’re doing say RDC work where you may start the engine several times at the delivery point.
That’s what I was thinking - let’s say you’ve 11 hours to kill and you’re somewhere in Poland in the winter where it’s freezing cold.
It’s Heathrow air freight work - it just goes a couple of miles from the freight handlers to the cargo terminal, waits for sometimes hours and then straight back.
The fitter who came said it was an old battery and it was so dirty he had difficulty finding the connectors.
Other weekend I left both interior lights on all weekend started up ok the mon morning…
I know was me as bad lights on fill in time sheet etc locked up. Went home. Take keys home with me. Came in min saws lights were on. Started 1st time
Not clear of the vehicle’s age, but check the engine earth lead where it connects in front of the bellhousing. The crud that collects is just enough to cause a non start even with brand new batteries.
Eberspacher say their larger night heaters use up to around 80watts so about 4amps?
A satnav fast charger is about 10watts or half an amp. Radio has a 5amp fuse but that powers the phone too.
The max youre using is 10amps. The batteries are about 400amp.hour arent they?
When all new and good you should be okay for days, not just a few hours!
If as you say the batteries are covered in crud then:
They are probably old. They dont last forever. They are badly maintained. Sulphites building up on the terminals create extra resistance. If there is crud on the cables then the starter wont be able to draw enough current from the batteries and the charging current wontget in either. If youre only running a few miles between stops then the batteries and alternator will be battling to keep up anyway. A starter will draw a couple of hundred amps,even if only for a short time. The engine will need to run to charge them up again. Loads of stop/start will kill the batteries. And this time of year, as noted you`ll be using lights more, the engine will cool rapidly, so thicker oil will make it slightly harder to turn over etc. It all adds up.
cav551:
Not clear of the vehicle’s age, but check the engine earth lead where it connects in front of the bellhousing. The crud that collects is just enough to cause a non start even with brand new batteries.