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Subject Topic: Leisure battery Post Reply Post New Topic
Personterry-kent
16/7/2014 at 3:33pm
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On a recent trip to Mansfield for a weekend, no hookup, we discovered the leisure battery was dead. This left us without a fridge and no lights, though we had emergency battery lights. On returning home I put the leisure battery on a trickle charge. The Optimate 3 which I use shows the power light working and a red light with a ? Any help would be appreciate please


PersonWendyhouse
16/7/2014 at 3:44pm
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Googled optimate3 and there is a pretty thorough YouTube on what all the lights mean and what to do.
Might help.


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PersonGrampian91
16/7/2014 at 3:44pm
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Battery too dead to recharge? Dead cell in the battery?

Al older charger may kickstart the battery but its probably past it and needs replacing.

Never let a leisure battery discharge. I stick mine on charge for a few days to a week every month.

CTEK smart charger which can left left plugged in for long periods witout damaging the battery.

Also check the battery fluid levels. Seems to be a lost art.


Persondad1uk
16/7/2014 at 6:42pm
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but once a leisure battery has gone completely flat it is usually scrap....

-------------
Jan and Simon and Jet and Amber


Persontrog100
16/7/2014 at 9:27pm
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its leaving them dead flat for a week or two that kills them.. i have lost a few boat batteries over the years this way..

when dead flat a hard sulphate layer build up on the plates.. sometimes you can bring them back to life by boost charging them sometimes you cant.. a normal charger dosnt touch one but a starter boost charger sneaks a bit in.. after an hour or so the normal charger works and they come back to life.. it depends how long they have been left dead flat..

batteries wear out in two ways.. one is the hard sulphate layer.. this lessens the effective plate area.. the other is the plate material erodes away and ends up on the floor of the battery..

modern car electronics (something always on) is a battery killer if the vehicle is left stood and not in regular use..

trog

Post last edited on 16/07/2014 21:33:36


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PersonGrampian91
16/7/2014 at 10:40pm
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I recently broke up a couple of sealed lead acid batteries.

They had been left dead for some time. The copper plates inside crumbled to dust, The lead plates were not far behind either. Cracked and inflexible.


PersonJTQU
17/7/2014 at 7:14am
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Quote: Originally posted by Grampian91 on 16/7/2014
I recently broke up a couple of sealed lead acid batteries.
They had been left dead for some time. The copper plates inside crumbled to dust, The lead plates were not far behind either. Cracked and inflexible.




What copper plates?

Both plates are lead in paste form, the positive turning chocolate brown in colour the negative slate grey.

Post last edited on 17/07/2014 07:52:33


Personterry-kent
17/7/2014 at 8:43am
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Thanks for all advice. The odd thing is that when hooked up at home the control panel shows both batteries are fully charged! Still scratching my head


Personjeff juke
17/7/2014 at 9:07am
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You need to check what volts the batteries are holding with a meter..if you check the output of the charger while connected to the batteries it should be reading 13.5volts.

-------------
Animals have feelings..

JEFF................


Persontrog100
17/7/2014 at 10:24am
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even a knackered battery will show 13.5 volts when connected to a charger.. it has absolutely nothing to do with whats in the battery..

a worn out battery (one that can store very little energy) will still read the same voltage as as good one when under no load or on charge..

batteries wear out.. its normal.. the only odd thing is folks seem very reluctant to admit they have a worn out battery..

you can get clever battery testers but the only other way is to put a known load on the battery and see how long it runs for before going flat..

simply reading a voltage tells you very little.. fully charged means no more will go into the battery.. a worn out battery reads fully charged even with next to nothing in it..

if when on charge it reads around 13.5 volts this means the battery is being charged and the charger is okay.. if the battery still dosnt work it mean the battery is not okay.. its knackered..

trog

Post last edited on 17/07/2014 10:30:23


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PersonJax365
17/7/2014 at 10:32am
 Location: south cheshire
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Does sound as though the battery has had it. :(

This left us without a fridge and no lights,

If you were trying to run the fridge on 12v, it would flatten your battery in hours. You need to use gas for the fridge off-grid.

Always take a few of of these with you, then at least you will have lights if all else fails.

-------------


Personterry-kent
17/7/2014 at 11:50am
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Thanks again, I was actually trying to get fridge working via gas but failed to get it going


Persontrog100
17/7/2014 at 1:15pm
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if the van is wired correctly the fridge will not work off the van battery only from the car battery (alternator) when the engine is running.. for the very reason stated above..

the fridge does need a tiny amount of 12 volt power to work its ignition.. not a lot but some..

trog


PersonNowak
17/7/2014 at 1:43pm
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Sorry to ask a really stupid question but I'm completely new to this. When you 'hook up' does that charge the leisure battery? My manual is in Japanese so it's of no use...

-------------
Vanessa


PersonJax365
17/7/2014 at 2:25pm
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Nowak, it all depends on whether you have an inbuilt charger or not. My van doesn't, so I'm no help at all on that score! I use a C-Teck battery charger when using EHU and make sure mine is fully charged before I go anywhere.

Terry - did you have an idea of why it didn't work on the gas. Do a search for gas fridge on here, there are loads of suggestions as to what to try. The first time I tried mine on gas I forgot that there was a separate gas tap to turn on so it wouldn't light.

It still takes quite a while to get it lit, all the while trying not to curse it like a good 'un. I have to hold in the gas knob for about a minute before the pilot light stays on!

-------------


Persontrog100
17/7/2014 at 2:34pm
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if the car has the separate grey plug or the 13 pin one it should charge the van battery while the car engine is running.. it should also power the fridge while the car engine is running..

but if the van battery has been let go dead flat and left that way for some time the van battery will not accept any charge from any thing.. its knackered.. he he

trog



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