Bongo Fury

Hi - we don't use our Bongo much over winter but generally also run it each week anyway for 10mins or so. However despite this we keen getting a flat starter battery.

We do have a fairly heavy duty alarm system and also a tracker system as we live in London, and I know the alarm runs off the starter battery.

Is there a bigger battery we can buy to stop the battery from going flat so often? Or can anyone advise a solution? We have no garage and its parked on the street as again, we live in London, so we can't plug it in anywhere.

We had a brand new battery fitted at the end of Nov, drove the van for 200 miles in Dec and since then have taken it for short runs or run it for at least 10mins out the front of the house every weekend. This evening though we went to start it and again, totally drained. It's getting a bit annoying, not to say expensive.

We have tried using a trickle system using a solar trickle but it doesn't seem to help either.

Any help or advice much appreciated. (the leisure battery runs off the starter battery, it's a split system, but nothing is running off the leisure battery at the mo as everything is shut down).

Hi, if the battery was only purchased at the end of last year take it back and request a new one

It was from the AA, replacing our previously drained battery....

But it must still be under warranty, get in touch with the AA ASAP

I wouldn't think it's the battery. I doubt if running for 10 minutes would even replace the charge used to start the engine and, if it's one of those £10 solar panels, they don't really do much at all.
Why not rewire the alarm and tracker to run off the leisure battery, at least you'll be able to start it then.

I agree with John, 10 minutes running will probably not put enough charge into the battery, it takes a lot out of a battery to start a bongo engine.

way you use it im sure an isolator on the battery would help and be a further security device

or take the battery indooors

An isolator won't however help the charging situation however, you really need to take it for a decent drive of at least 20-30 minutes on dual carriageway to replace the loss of charge from starting.

If you can't connect a mains charger due to where you are parked, my suggestion would be to charge the leisure battery indoors every so often and simply run a temporary light duty jump lead between the positive terminal of each battery while the van is laid up. The voltages will equalise.

Just don't try and start it like that unless you use a heavy, conventional, jumper lead.

The reality is that your situation is not ideal. The van would probably benefit from more regular use, but having said that I know from personal experience that the best place for a Bongo to be in winter is well away from salted roads.

The solar panel would have to be looking straight at the sun all day at this time of the year to do anything worthwhile and that's assuming it's not the type with a cigar lighter connection (which won't work without a key in the ignition uless the Bongo has been modified).

Frank

my n reg has the fag socket alive at all times

and best im aware is unmodified

Vehicles always have the cigar lighter switched, if it isn't then it has either been modified or switched (more likely) to the L/B;

Hi
Maybe slightly digressing, but if you do have problems starting in the winter, a small tip to save your battery is to turn your headlights on for a few minutes before starting in extremely cold weather. When you first turn the ignition on in extreme cold, the electrolyte isn't warm enough to work properly, and turning the lights on will warm the electrolyte sufficiently to enable the battery to function better...and , let's face it, all the oil and ancillaries drag much more in the cold.
Personally, it's not worth trying this morning, as it's minus 19C...even colder last night...and the diesel won't flow anyway
Cheers
Helen

The AA came out again last night and said that the 10 minute run at weekends wasn't enough (despite this being the advice of his previous colleague the last time the battery went kaput). Anyway he said due to our heavy duty alarm & tracker both of these are pulling a lot out of the battery when its at rest (apparently similar to a modern Porsche with all of its fancy computers), which means it needs longer running at weekend and ideally more regular runs.

This latter is kind of pointless though as we live in central London and just don't need to use the van over winter as we have public transport and its also easy to use buses, trains anyway. Not much sense in taking a car for a drive if you don't actually have to go anywhere.

Anyway we're going to take it to a garage to see if there is something that can be done I guess, maybe in terms of a bigger battery or checking what else could be fitted to help. We can't take the battery inside as then the alarm, tracker won't work and we've paid a fair bit for those to stop someone from nicking the van. The linking of the leisure battery to the starter sounds like a possibility however so we'll ask the garage about that.

lindalove wrote:The AA came out again last night and said that the 10 minute run at weekends wasn't enough (despite this being the advice of his previous colleague the last time the battery went kaput). Anyway he said due to our heavy duty alarm & tracker both of these are pulling a lot out of the battery when its at rest (apparently similar to a modern Porsche with all of its fancy computers), which means it needs longer running at weekend and ideally more regular runs.

This latter is kind of pointless though as we live in central London and just don't need to use the van over winter as we have public transport and its also easy to use buses, trains anyway. Not much sense in taking a car for a drive if you don't actually have to go anywhere.

Anyway we're going to take it to a garage to see if there is something that can be done I guess, maybe in terms of a bigger battery or checking what else could be fitted to help. We can't take the battery inside as then the alarm, tracker won't work and we've paid a fair bit for those to stop someone from nicking the van. The linking of the leisure battery to the starter sounds like a possibility however so we'll ask the garage about that.

hi if its a tracker product you have fitted ie retrieve or monitor they only draw 1MA in standbyalso if your van battery has been completely flattened then the battery backup of the tracker (retrieve/monitor) will now also be flat as they are not a rechargable battery. i think you would be better off going for a better solar panel than the one you have
chris

lindalove wrote: This latter is kind of pointless though as we live in central London and just don't need to use the van over winter as we have public transport and its also easy to use buses, trains anyway. Not much sense in taking a car for a drive if you don't actually have to go anywhere.

..............How dare you call the Bongo 'a car'.............

Living in N London you have the perfect reason for using the Bongo in winter..............You can escape..................

As you completely misunderstand Bongoing and it's purpose.
It isn't transporting you from A to B but enjoying the experience on the way.
I think the moderators should ban you for life from this site as you obviously are a heretic.
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However............Before you get removed from the site as a disbeliever, remove the side door florescent light as, if my pickled memory is still working it can be a problem.