Leisure battery

[AlyJay]

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]

Some photos of charger on and charger off.

 

[wildebus]

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?

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.

 

[AlyJay]

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.

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 ?

 

[wildebus]

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 ?

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]

Some photos of charger on and charger off.

View attachment 77970View attachment 77971View attachment 77972View attachment 77973View attachment 77974

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.

 

[AlyJay]

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

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.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

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.

Not in any noticeable way, only 1.5 ma draw, less than the control panel possibly, I turn my CP off anyway

 

[nabsim]

While annoying, age doesn't really come into it. I managed to kill a set of 3 x Bosch PowerFrame batteries inside 12 months when I first got my van. Luckily I did learn from it though

 

[merl]

As Kev said, the voltage' readings on a control panel can be way off so you really need to check with a meter. Assuming the panel is about right then you're changing to well over 14v, that should get you at least close to full. How long does stuff run for from a full charge? Voltages aside, if you're battery isn't powering stuff for as long as usual and it appears to be charging faster too then that's the sign of a duff battery. I personally wouldn't even bother with the 'smart charger battery reviving ' nonsense Alistair, sorry to say but you simply can't revive a dead battery .

 

[merl]

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

That's one beautifully maintained starter battery you have there Kev... You must be using an incredible battery maintainer

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Indeed, I am Sir, one of your very own.

I wish I'd learned about electrickery etc when I was a nipper, I may have enjoyed it, my head is too full of mush I don't need now.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

As Kev said, the voltage' readings on a control panel can be way off so you really need to check with a meter. Assuming the panel is about right then you're changing to well over 14v, that should get you at least close to full. How long does stuff run for from a full charge? Voltages aside, if you're battery isn't powering stuff for as long as usual and it appears to be charging faster too then that's the sign of a duff battery. I personally wouldn't even bother with the 'smart charger battery reviving ' nonsense Alistair, sorry to say but you simply can't revive a dead battery .

I beg to differ, at least one that appeared to be dead Mate, between us we surmised it was goosed then it came alive again.

 

[AlyJay]

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.

As Kev said, the voltage' readings on a control panel can be way off so you really need to check with a meter. Assuming the panel is about right then you're changing to well over 14v, that should get you at least close to full. How long does stuff run for from a full charge? Voltages aside, if you're battery isn't powering stuff for as long as usual and it appears to be charging faster too then that's the sign of a duff battery. I personally wouldn't even bother with the 'smart charger battery reviving ' nonsense Alistair, sorry to say but you simply can't revive a dead battery .

Probably true but I'll give it a go anyway seeing as I've now borrowed one.
I'll post up on here and let you know but it may well be a wasted effort or I might be very lucky.

 

[merl]

I beg to differ, at least one that appeared to be dead Mate, between us we surmised it was goosed then it came alive again.

Well if it appeared to be dead but then came back to life that's a charging or wiring issue NOT this stupid 'battery reviving' nonsense. If your leisure battery is low on capacity then nothing will 'revive' it to a decent level because there'll simply be too much sulphate build up and grid degradation, if reviving' really worked well then there'd be scientific proof and a genuine respected and well regarded process. We don't have that .....just snake oil.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

No idea, but we did the tests at the time, it was all 0v on everything, it even killed the ECU or it was coincidental, who knows, but it went to have the ECU fixed, I took the battery to Alpha under warranty as it was ony a year old, thinking it was goosed, they tested it in the boot and it passed, fitted it back in the van, and it fired up, the garage say they didn't charge it, so it's a bit of a mystery, the only charge it got was before it went to the garage if you recall and it had volts, UI forget the figure, so the 85w of solar was all it got.

All a bit odd.

This was the starter battery, not the leisure battery.

 

[merl]

No idea, but we did the tests at the time, it was all 0v on everything, it even killed the ECU or it was coincidental, who knows, but it went to have the ECU fixed, I took the battery to Alpha under warranty as it was ony a year old, thinking it was goosed, they tested it in the boot and it passed, fitted it back in the van, and it fired up, the garage say they didn't charge it, so it's a bit of a mystery, the only charge it got was before it went to the garage if you recall and it had volts, UI forget the figure, so the 85w of solar was all it got.

All a bit odd.

This was the starter battery, not the leisure battery.

Yep, like I say....a charging or wiring issue

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Indeed, but I tried two meters directly to the battery, whilst on the phone with you, both zero,

 

[merl]

Indeed, but I tried two meters directly to the battery, whilst on the phone with you, both zero,

Indeed so either it was wiring to 2 multi meters/ measurement error or simply completely flat but it wasn't a battery that had aged and had poor capacity that got fixed by a BS/smoke and mirrors/snake oil battery reviver Kev.... that's my point mate

 

[wildebus]

When I bought my motorhome it came with a pair of 120Ah AGM Batteries which turned out to be knackered and lost power to hab electrics the first night I went away in it. I was planning on updating them but not quite so immediately.
But anyway ... had nothing to lose so on one of the batteries (now out the van), I set my Victron IP22 charger to around 15V and left it connected to the battery for around a week and in terms of amphours, it put in a couple of hundred Ah into this 120AH battery at 15V and the battery got nice and warm.
Idea was to recondition it and just see if it had any effect? Well, that battery became pretty usable after this process. It would hold its charge and provide much more power than it did when I first got it, so there is something to be said for trying this.

I never put this battery back in the van, and instead into a battery box to work as a bench battery and it is not one I would choose to actually rely on, but doing that high voltage recharge did change it from a large paperweight to a usable 12V energy source.