Leisure battery

AlyJay

AlyJay

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My leisure battery which is about 3 yrs old at most doesnt seem to be charging above 11.7V.
The charger does charge 13V upwards (cant remember exactly) and when eng is running the alternator is charging aswell.
So my question is - is the battery knackered? It's not lasted very long if it is?
 
AlyJay said:
My leisure battery which is about 3 yrs old at most doesnt seem to be charging above 11.7V.
The charger does charge 13V upwards (cant remember exactly) and when eng is running the alternator is charging aswell.
So my question is - is the battery knackered? It's not lasted very long if it is?
Click to expand...
A knackered battery will often charge to the regular charge level voltage but then drop very rapidly when in use.
If say a cell is out, so you are loosing an immediate 2V, it will still read 14.x V when the charger is running and you read the voltage on the battery but as soon as the charge is removed it could drop immediately

As a start, I would check the voltage at the battery when charger is active and see if both alternator and (I am presuming) Mains Charger are both raising the voltage of the battery.
 
wildebus said:
A knackered battery will often charge to the regular charge level voltage but then drop very rapidly when in use.
If say a cell is out, so you are loosing an immediate 2V, it will still read 14.x V when the charger is running and you read the voltage on the battery but as soon as the charge is removed it could drop immediately

As a start, I would check the voltage at the battery when charger is active and see if both alternator and (I am presuming) Mains Charger are both raising the voltage of the battery.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks Wildbus.
So I dont have a multimetre at the moment as per usual the leads have knackered, however like you say on the actual moho panel in photos you get the 14.3 volts all day long but as soon as the charger is switched off the battery shows its voltage which goes to 11.3V, I also took moho for a run which made no difference with charging from alternator.
I'm going to be upgrading to gel battery and solar anyway as discussed previously but wasn't expecting to have to do it so quick.
Would it be worth trying to charge battery on one of these smart chargers with battery repair mode ?
 
AlyJay said:
Ok thanks Wildbus.
So I dont have a multimetre at the moment as per usual the leads have knackered, however like you say on the actual moho panel in photos you get the 14.3 volts all day long but as soon as the charger is switched off the battery shows its voltage which goes to 11.3V, I also took moho for a run which made no difference with charging from alternator.
I'm going to be upgrading to gel battery and solar anyway as discussed previously but wasn't expecting to have to do it so quick.
Would it be worth trying to charge battery on one of these smart chargers with battery repair mode ?
Click to expand...
If the voltage drops instantly like that, suggests a duff battery and likely a failed cell.
Had one of those recently and it dropped to 10.8V I think it was as soon as charger removed. In that case battery was actually new.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
I have the same control panel, it's always out a volt or so, use a meter, or fit a decent battery monitor the BM6 is cheap enough and easy to fit.


https://amzn.eu/d/0e8vtXwr 1/2 price on AliExpress.

Good app on Bluetooth with 30 days of data download, I have two, the app can handle four.
View attachment 77975
Click to expand...
Will this not drag the batteries down aswell though?
I going to try charging this battery up with a smart / repair charger I'm borrowing tommorow and if that fails to fix problem which I expect it wont I'll have to look into buying a new preferably gel battery which will be suitable for future solar upgrades and all the gubbins that go with it.
This failed battery is only 2.5yrs old which is annoying.
 
AlyJay said:
Will this not drag the batteries down aswell though?
I going to try charging this battery up with a smart / repair charger I'm borrowing tommorow and if that fails to fix problem which I expect it wont I'll have to look into buying a new preferably gel battery which will be suitable for future solar upgrades and all the gubbins that go with it.
This failed battery is only 2.5yrs old which is annoying.
Click to expand...
Not in any noticeable way, only 1.5 ma draw, less than the control panel possibly, I turn my CP off anyway
 
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