Clutha

Suffice to say imho the best advice is in your leisure battery instructions. Having purchased a special charger for my motorbikes (gel batteries) many years ago due to working offshore, & had no issues, I’ll look into its suitability for van. Lead acid appears to be getting superseded. Prior to my ‘incident ’ I happened to be returning to the van at a Halfords & two of their staff were checking an engine battery for someone, they checked mine too, engine battery good, leisure battery less so, thus my attempt to boost it. Lesson learned 🙄

Due to leisure battery not achieving max charge while on campsite hook up or after long runs. I tried the charger via control unit 13amp outlet while hooked up to domestic supply. Almost instant smoke issued from Sargent unit. I took van to garage referred to & their opinion was Sargent unit may have had internal component issue. All wiring was checked out & no issues found, new Sargent ordered, fitted & all seems well. I had replaced leisure battery too. I’ll relay its charging instructions asap. I’m alerting members to electricians advice as the garage specialise in campervan repairs & maintenance. I was not aware of the major differences re starting & leisure batteries.

I was at the garage getting a new Sargent EC155 power unit fitted. The original had overheated & melted a multi connector + cable while trying to charge the leisure battery via van 13amp socket & mains hookup with a bog standard 12v (maybe Halfords) charger. (More to follow, tea’s out!)

As I’m leaving garage where he’d fitted replacement control unit for 240/12v system. DON’T EVER PUT A BATTERY CHARGER ON A LEISURE BATTERY! It’s a long sad saga so I’m sparing you the details. For Glasgow area owners the business is Prolek in Springburn & I’d recommend them 100%. Luckily for me my neighbours son had worked for them on van conversions & said they were very good.

My EC155 is kaput, had it & wiring checked out by highly recommended local installer. They recon there’s an internal fault. It started emitting smoke when I tried boost leisure battery using standard charger fed from 13amp supply with ec155 switched off & its connection to battery off.

Not for a long time Alasdair, Arrochar unmanned is nearest. Londis was cheap too 😢

Having a job finding a place to change trans. oil (Glasgow North) Recommended auto trans. specialist who said no! WTF. Local garage said yes, then not keen & recommended the specialist 🙄 What could be the issue apart from time needed to pump oil in?

£363.24 for our 2002 2.4 AH10, paying monthly.

Yer a brave man Gunga Dinn! Many congratulations, can’t imagine the number of lost sleep hours thinking ‘what do I do next?’

25% on the gauge is going to be my fill up criteria in future 😂 The last time I experienced the squeaky b*m feeling was when the sun shining over my shoulder onto my m/ bike digital gauge hid the fact that it was flashing a low fuel warning. Passing through some shade & noticing it caused major alert. I was halfway between supplies, Inveraray to Arrochar. Press on or turn back? Onward, commanded the steed! Roads normally ridden at enthusiastic speeds became even more scenic. Arrochar reached & all was well. Inverary no longer has fuel station, nearest would be Loch Gilphead.

Great song, but I digress already! Had the new to me experience yesterday of bringing up the low fuel light. I blame the incident on me not having had a decent drive in the old bus due to other issues. Off I went with my £20 voucher for butcher meat from a known good butcher in the wilds of West Stirlingshire. After a few miles I realised tank was rather low but I knew where the only station for miles was so pressed on. Imagine my delight to find it closed for major refurb. I'm 13 miles from my nearest station so a very light footed journey commenced. 10 miles later low fuel light comes on, totally new experience for me in van. So, I make it to station & she takes 61 ltrs, another 1st, but having now found out tank capacity is 70 ltrs I am brimming with knowledge. Not that I’m going to make it a habit but I reckon a 2.4 petrol should give you 40-50 miles after low fuel lamp comes on.

Greetings, I’m a semi local to the area mentioned & I went to Drymen at the east side of Loch Lomond today failing to check my tank before setting out 🙄 Be warned, fuel stations are few and far between, nearest would be Dumbarton or Balloch if you come up the A82, if coming from the east Stirling would do although the village of Buchlyvie has a small garage. Aberfoyle has a community station. I got the low fuel light on and after a sweat got filled up near home, 61ltrs 😳 weat

My 2002 A10 petrol 2.4 is not ULEZ compliant in Glasgow.

Good luck🤞Should be an ‘open & shut’ case.