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Topic: Battery advice please

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Debbie T

17/10/2012 at 6:09pm
Location: By the seaside!
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I am going away in my caravan on Saturday. Usually husband is with me but is not able to make it. I am taking my 86 year old Mum so basically got to do it all myself for the first time. Gone to the van today and found that the battery is completely flat. Everything in the van was switched off. It has been in storage for 4 weeks and this is not usually a problem. Anyway have taken the battery home and its now on charge. I need the battery to use the mover. Has my battery had it? Its about 4 years old. I really don't quite understand about batteries but believe i read that they are no good once they are flat. Should I just invest in a new one now? Any advise will be most welcome but don't get too technical as i won't have a clue what you are talking about lol!

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Debbie.

JenniferB

17/10/2012 at 6:19pm
Location: Surrey
Outfit: Geist AK495 & VDub Twig

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Are you absolutely sure you didn't leave anything on - this happened to me once and I accidentally left the bathroom light on.
Battery was about 99.5% empty, but it was absolutely fine when I recharged it.

The problem was that the power cable had fallen out of the built-in charger in transit, so the whole time I was using power the battery wasn't recharging.
One night with the bathroom light left on and that was it - empty battery.

My advice, check the charger power lead. Make SURE nothing was left on before you rush out to buy a new (v expensive) leisure battery.

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Opensauce

17/10/2012 at 7:09pm
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4 yrs is a reasonable lifespan for a well used leisure battery so it might be better just to replace it if you don't want it to let you down. Charge battery up overnight. Fully charged it should read about 12.6v on voltmeter(do you have one?)& it should hold this charge. If it is well down after a day or so then it has had it.

G7ACU

17/10/2012 at 7:12pm
Location: West Mids
Outfit: Swift Ace Statesman & X-Trail 2.0

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JenniferB makes a valid point, we're only human.
I notice though from your profile you've got a Swift. Roughly what age is the van? I ask because there was an issue with the charger units failing on Swift vans and wonder if you've fallen victim of a duff charger.

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Paul

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olliethedude

17/10/2012 at 7:49pm
Location: HAMPSHIRE
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We invested in a solar charger just stick in the caravan window and even in overcast weather it slowly charges the battery cost about £15.00 off ebay, used it on the Abbey and now use on our 2008 Swift blue light blinks when charging great idea, our battery is about 12 years old and is a volvo lorry battery fits in both the Abbey and our swift battery cupboard and still works great

Debbie T

17/10/2012 at 8:15pm
Location: By the seaside!
Outfit: Bailey unicorn. Ford Edge

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Thanks for the replies. I don't have a voltmeter Tentz. I think i'd better pop out tommorow and pick one up.JenniferB, I had turned off all the power on the charger so i'm fairly sure it's not that But will go and check the power cable.G7ACU, My Swift was new this year. My old Abbey 2007 had a faulty charger so unless there are new problem chargers its not that. olliethedude, Quite like the idea of the solar charger so will look into that. Looks like i'm going to be spending some more cash bfore Saturday lol!

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Debbie.

michael

18/10/2012 at 10:09am
Location: Lancashire
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see looking after your battery.......

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/helpandadvice/technicalhelp/datasheets/

Looking after your Leisure Battery

Check the state of

charge using a direct

current voltmeter –

12.7 volts indicates a

fully charged battery,

12.3 volts it’s half

discharged and

anything less than

11.8 volts the battery

has fully discharged.

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the only silly question is the one you do not ask.

colmax

18/10/2012 at 11:13am
Location: North Wales
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The alarm on my caravan will run down the battery in about two weeks.The Caravan Club advice is to charge the battery once a week for a few hours to keep it topped up when not in use.

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colmax

tango55

18/10/2012 at 11:25am
Location: Lichfield
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Our caravan is kept in a secure compound storage all year round but what we do is each time we come back I remove the leisure battery and charge it at home with a proper smart charger and keep it on a float charge 24/7. That way the battery is always fully charged so each time we set out there's no worry ever of a discharged battery.

Debbie T

18/10/2012 at 4:32pm
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Well the battery is still charging. When its fully charged it usually goes into Maintaining mode. How long should it take to charge from flat its now been 24 hours!

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Debbie.

michael

18/10/2012 at 4:47pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Debbie T on 18/10/2012
Well the battery is still charging. When its fully charged it usually goes into Maintaining mode. How long should it take to charge from flat its now been 24 hours!

if its gone completely flat there is a chance it will not recover to full charge.

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the only silly question is the one you do not ask.

Debbie T

18/10/2012 at 5:18pm
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Sorry all, another question. I bought a voltmeter today. I have just disconnected the battery from the charger and the voltmeter is reading 13.9. Could this be right?

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Debbie.

G7ACU

18/10/2012 at 5:20pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Debbie T on 18/10/2012
... When its fully charged it usually goes into Maintaining mode. How long should it take to charge from flat ...

Agree with Michael, but on the otherhand, regarding how discharged the battery was it is feasible the full charge could take a few days, as I assume from your comment above that you've got a pukka smart charger.
What charger do you have and do you have a 'recon' (forced reconditioning) mode on it?

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Every day's a school day!

G7ACU

18/10/2012 at 5:23pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Debbie T on 18/10/2012
Sorry all, another question. I bought a voltmeter today. I have just disconnected the battery from the charger and the voltmeter is reading 13.9. Could this be right?

Could be yes, but you can have a residual charge that will drop voltage once the battery is used. Some folk will let a battery rest for a few hours, where as I usually whack a 12v bulb on the battery for 5-10 mins to take off this bit of 'surface charge' then measure again.

Post last edited on 18/10/2012 19:01:12

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Paul

Every day's a school day!

Debbie T

18/10/2012 at 5:39pm
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Don't know if it's a smart charger Paul It a halfords one and once its charged the battery a different light comes on and stays in maintaining mode until it needs to charge again. Is that smart? lol!

So what I think I may do is disconnect charger tonight and check voltage in the morning.

Just want to thank everyone for their help.

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Debbie.

michael

18/10/2012 at 5:50pm
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13.9 volts is great,if it drops to 12.7 volt or more in the morning i think you have won.only 12.4 give it another charge.

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the only silly question is the one you do not ask.

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