LEISURE BATTERY

Billieblue

Billieblue

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Hi all, I’d love to hear your words of wisdom …
January 2020 I had a new leisure battery from Alpha batteries shipped out to the Algarve. Obviously since then came the year of Covid restrictions so obviously not much use made of the van. I have an 80 watt solar panel and a 100 ah leisure battery. When I was on the last meet my diesel heater wouldn’t come on until the van was running so I know from experience the leisure battery is failing.

After consulting Alpha I realised the battery was still under guarantee. When I asked about the conditions of the guarantee I was asked how I’d maintained the battery and told that I should be taking the battery out once a month to put the battery on mains charge. Given that my battery is under a very heavy drivers seat which I can remove, there is no way I could do that.

So, two questions - out of interest how many of you put your battery on mains charge once a month?
Do you think that if I do get the battery on mains there’s much chance it’ll be restored? How would I know it was and wouldn’t just die on me as soon as I wanted my heater on?

I’m going to Portugal in January and don’t want the risk of ending up with a dud battery again, especially as the cost of buying one in Portugal is expensive and the cost of getting one couriered wouldn’t be the £30 it was pre-Brexit.

Should I just cut my losses and get a new battery?
 
Mr and Mrs Tupcox said:
Surely if you had van plugged in to elh that would be classed as on mains charging.
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Probably, but I can’t even do that as I don’t have a drive. Does everyone do that then? I just wondered how reasonable it was as a condition of the guarantee - and how can it be proved? I’m not quibbling with Alpha Batteries btw.
 
jeffmossy said:
I would leave the battery in place, disconnect the positive lead, then charge it up with a good mains charger where it is for at least 24hrs
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Cheers Jeff, but I haven’t got access to the mains from my van as it would involve trailing a lead across the pavement. And the chair would still need to come out. It’s the only design ‘fault’ of my little van!
 
Billieblue said:
Cheers Jeff, but I haven’t got access to the mains from my van as it would involve trailing a lead across the pavement. And the chair would still need to come out. It’s the only design ‘fault’ of my little van!
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I have used a mains lead running across the pavement, but bought a 2 metre length of 'rubber ramp' protective cover which meets H&S criteria by removing the trip hazard since the cable sits in a channel and the pedestrians can walk over the sloped access/egress [most see the protective cover and do a wee skip over it, quite amusing to watch ...]

For charging, do you not have the under bonnet earth and live connectors, enabling the charge to be applied via that route? If not, when the vehicle battery was replaced at this time last year, I had the battery charger 2 piece connectors supplied with the charger attached to the battery terminals permanently, in place of the crocodile clips. If I need to charge the battery in situ, I can just plug in the cables to the push fit connectors. There is an advantage to being hamfisted; one makes sure that the systems used are as idiot proof and as convenient as is possible ... :D

Steve
 
jeffmossy said:
If you can wait until the wills o nats meet, then I can have a look at it for you
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Thanks Jeff, I’ll try and get it sorted one way or another but if not I might just buy a new battery and ask for help. As I said in a reply elsewhere I used to whip my car battery in and out to charge so I can fit a battery. Unfortunately, the blooming driver’s seat means I can’t access the battery and these days I don’t think I could lift the battery in and out as they’re much heavier and harder to access.
 
Billieblue said:
Hi all, I’d love to hear your words of wisdom …
January 2020 I had a new leisure battery from Alpha batteries shipped out to the Algarve. Obviously since then came the year of Covid restrictions so obviously not much use made of the van. I have an 80 watt solar panel and a 100 ah leisure battery. When I was on the last meet my diesel heater wouldn’t come on until the van was running so I know from experience the leisure battery is failing.

After consulting Alpha I realised the battery was still under guarantee. When I asked about the conditions of the guarantee I was asked how I’d maintained the battery and told that I should be taking the battery out once a month to put the battery on mains charge. Given that my battery is under a very heavy drivers seat which I can remove, there is no way I could do that.

So, two questions - out of interest how many of you put your battery on mains charge once a month?
Do you think that if I do get the battery on mains there’s much chance it’ll be restored? How would I know it was and wouldn’t just die on me as soon as I wanted my heater on?

I’m going to Portugal in January and don’t want the risk of ending up with a dud battery again, especially as the cost of buying one in Portugal is expensive and the cost of getting one couriered wouldn’t be the £30 it was pre-Brexit.

Should I just cut my losses and get a new battery?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately lead acid batteries are irepairably damaged if left in a discharged state. I have roof mounted solar panels (200w) about 2 square metres of panels that charge both my leisure battery and vehicle starter battery through a Victron MPPT regulator during daylight hours, sufficient charging energy even in UK winter, providing no more than vehicle alarm and imobiliser operative while vehicle is parked up / stored. Alternative, have two cables run from your leisure battery to an accessible spot in the van were a mains smart charger can be connected say every four weeks for say 24 hrs. A final thought, Lead acid batteries don't travel well, they will not survive being thrown about by delivery companies, there's nothing to see, it's internal vibration damage to the soft lead plates that bend, and paste that drops out of the plates, if buying another battery,.. top tips, buy new stock from a reputable company that moves stock quickly and does next day delivery, best months to buy October, November December, these are the months when batteries are the shortest time sitting on the shelf or in dusty warehouses. Good luck.
 
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My engine and leisure batteries are all under the cab seats. Since checking on acquisition early in 2016 that the mains charger (and other mains items) on my 2008/9 van did actually function, I have never used EHU (or a standalone mains charger). The batteries (lead acid/gel until @wildebus upgraded me to LiFePo4 this summer) did benefit from solar and at that point had all lasted 13/14 years. If mains charging is an issue, solar could be the solution.
 
Caz said:
I think possibly you are having problems because the battery is never getting fully charged up because you only have a small solar panel and don't use EHU much. If I'm going away without EHU, I always connect it up at home for 24 hours before I leave - gets the fridge cold and ensures both the batteries are charged nicely.
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Thanks Caz, think you have a point - I’m obviously going to have to find some way of charging it on the mains. Having said that, I’ve had the same set up for nearly nine years …
 
jeffmossy said:
I would leave the battery in place, disconnect the positive lead, then charge it up with a good mains charger where it is for at least 24hrs
Click to expand...
All depends on the charger output, a 20ah smart charger would easy top of within one hr, where as a small half amp charger may take 40 odd hrs.
A smart charger can be left on 24/7, but a good solar setup with a mppt regulator will do the same, you require a 100w panel for 100ah battery to get a good kick into it.
 
Having looked at some chargers for Leisure Batteries to charge at home I have just ordered a CTEC MXS 10 off Amazon black Fri deal at £110. Our Leisure Battery is accessed outside so no trim removal required.
 
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trevskoda said:
All depends on the charger output, a 20ah smart charger would easy top of within one hr, where as a small half amp charger may take 40 odd hrs.
A smart charger can be left on 24/7, but a good solar setup with a mppt regulator will do the same, you require a 100w panel for 100ah battery to get a good kick into it.
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We have 180w Solar, Victron MPPT 75/15 Controller, 120Ah Lithium, Ablemail B2B Charger, Ablemail AMT12 Refresher set on permanent power transfer from Leisure Battery to Vehicle Battery, and 2 Ablemail ABB07 Bluetooth devices that enable us to monitor the state of Leisure and Vehicle Batteries without having to scrag the upholstery to reach the Battery Box or ferret about under the bonnet [did the latter on 3rd January in the pitch dark during a gale. juggling phone light and meter whilst freezing my bits off; no wish to repeat the exercise!]

We're keeping the Leisure Battery at around 13.6/13.8v and the Vehicle Battery at 13.3/13,4v despite the low solar generation in a Scottish November, and without last year's weekly 25 miles trip to keep the Vehicle Battery charged

Steve
 
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