Category BATTERIES

AGM and lithium in real use: usable capacity, discharge rate, charge acceptance and what a battery looks like when it’s dying early. Including my own, which didn’t last a year.

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL, solar-climate

Has Your Camper Been Sitting for Months? 12 Checks Before You Hit the Road Again

Most campers sit parked for a large part of the year and only get used again when the holidays roll around. The problem is that during those idle months, the battery can lose charge, damp can creep in, the water…

gustavo Moré Sica
September 4, 2026

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL, solar-climate

Campervan Electrical Troubleshooting: The Faults I Actually See

I’m an electrician by trade. I converted my own van in 2018, and a work accident later turned that van into my full-time home. Everything below comes from faults I’ve measured myself — not theory copied from a manual. If…

gustavo Moré Sica
September 4, 2026
1 Comment

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL, solar-climate

How Long Does It Take to Charge a Camper Battery With a Solar Panel?

Charging time depends on panel wattage, battery type, and actual hours of usable sunlight. A 100Ah AGM battery at 50% discharge needs roughly 9–14 hours of useful sun with a 100W panel, 5–7 hours with 200W, and 3–5 hours with…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL

Solar Charge Controller Not Showing Charge: How to Diagnose It

When a camper solar setup doesn’t seem to be charging, most people assume the panel is broken or the controller has died. But before you touch anything, it’s worth separating two different problems. One thing is that the controller isn’t…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL

How to Tell If Your Camper Battery Is Damaged or Worn Out

I noticed something was wrong with my AGM battery when it seemed to charge normally during the day but lost voltage fast once the sun went down. The voltage dropped much faster than before during nighttime use or under load…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL, Sin categoría

How to Wire an Auxiliary Battery in a Camper Van (Without It Draining)

If your auxiliary battery drains even though it’s properly connected, it’s almost always an installation mistake or a hidden load — not the battery itself. Learning how to wire an auxiliary battery in a camper van without it draining is…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL

Why Isn’t My Camper’s Leisure Battery Charging From the Alternator?

If you’ve got a camper van or motorhome and you’ve noticed the leisure battery isn’t charging — or charging poorly — while you drive, you’re not alone: it’s one of the most common faults, and also one of the most…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL

How Many Amp-Hours Do You Need in a Camper Van Battery?

How many Ah you need in your camper battery, calculated from your actual loads (lights, fridge, chargers, inverter) — not a generic number pulled off a forum. Here’s the formula I use myself, with real examples, so you don’t undersize your…

BATTERIES, ELECTRICAL

Camper Battery Draining Overnight? How to Find the Parasitic Draw

Multimeter measuring parasitic battery drain in a camper van

You go to bed with a charged battery. You wake up and it’s low, and nothing was switched on. Two completely different problems produce that, and they look identical from the outside. One is something quietly drawing current all night.…

BATTERIES

Why My AGM Battery Died in Under a Year — With the Measurements

Leisure battery connected with a ground cable and a positive distribution busbar

My AGM battery is 150 amp-hours, it cost €250, and it is under a year old. It still works — and it will never hold a full charge again. Not dead — it still starts the day looking healthy. It…