2 yr old 110 amp leisure battery - what to do with it (1 Viewer)

themountaintiger

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Sep 27, 2009
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I replaced my 2 year old 110 amp leisure battery with 2 new ones. What do I do with the old one. Should I be taking it to the skip? Not sure what else I would be using it for.... :Sad:

I keep thinking though, "it will have a use sometime"..please tell me its of no use and give me permission oh 'learned friends' to send it to battery heaven! :cry:

OR??
 

Wildman

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May 30, 2008
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if its still a good battery might be of use to someone, handy to power exterior lights in the awning maybe standby on trickle charge to swap for engine battery should you need to, lots of uses. doorstop also being one of them. Pity you are so far away from me sure I'd find a use for it.
 
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Snowbird

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Going off track a little....as I often do,and following on from a previous post,am reserching battery desuphaters.
Have been intreuged by why batteries are not lasting,especialy in motorhomes.I have one of the Optimate battery charger/desuphaters and though its very good at rejuvenating old batteries am looking at somthing a bit better.This seems to be this weeks subject for me,as when I get my teeth into somthing I cannot let go till have found out all there is to know about it.Years ago there used to be battery repairers all over the place and I had many batteries repaired that today would be thrown out.There is so much info available on the internet,its mind bogleing.Has anyone built there own desuphater.

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atakd

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I put my old one in my garage wired to a 10W solar panel and a switched 20W light. Got no 'leccy in there so makes it easy to flick the light on if I need to rummage around in the dark. Works fine for the short duration / low wattage drain.
 
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Forestboy

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Take it to the local scrapyard they're good money at the moment. The recycling centre only sell to them so have the cash yourself:thumb:
 
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motor roamin

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May 23, 2010
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Hi Snowbird, my leisure batteries are not holding there charge for as long as they should now, my battery charger although good and does 6,12 & 24volt it's 20 years old and is old technoligy, I am looking at a new battery charger from snap-on that does every thing including gel deep cycle batteries, I have asked my dealer to check if it desauphates he is checking for me, although at the price it is I expect it to make the tea as well.

Should it not do what we both seem to require and you find something that does I would appreciate a heads up and of course if I find something I will do the same.

All the best Rick

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Snowbird

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Have only been able to locate 2 on the whole internet in about 6 hours serfing. One is the Optimate4, which I dont think is man enough for what I want,and the other is in the States.The only thing I can find in the UK are self build kits on evilbay:Doh:
 
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pappajohn

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Hi Snowbird, my leisure batteries are not holding there charge for as long as they should now, my battery charger although good and does 6,12 & 24volt it's 20 years old and is old technoligy, I am looking at a new battery charger from snap-on that does every thing including gel deep cycle batteries, I have asked my dealer to check if it desauphates he is checking for me, although at the price it is I expect it to make the tea as well.

Should it not do what we both seem to require and you find something that does I would appreciate a heads up and of course if I find something I will do the same.

All the best Rick

a good 3 or 4 stage charger should be capable of charging at more than 14.4v so will 'de-sulphate' the cells.

may take 2 or 3 cycles but it should revive it.

a lot cheaper than a snap-on jobby.

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Snowbird

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a good 3 or 4 stage charger should be capable of charging at more than 14.4v so will 'de-sulphate' the cells.

may take 2 or 3 cycles but it should revive it.

a lot cheaper than a snap-on jobby.
Thats what I first thought John...but alas things are not that simple.
They need to be zaped at high voltage for fractions of a second to dislodge the sulphate.

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pappajohn

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Thats what I first thought John...but alas things are not that simple.
They need to be zaped at high voltage for fractions of a second to dislodge the sulphate.

as far as i know, Dave, the sulphur crystals are disolved back into the electrolyte with the higher voltage...dislodging it would just make it sit at the bottom and slowly the battery would fill with sulpher crystals having the same effect and rendering it useless.

a good 4 stage will push in up to 16v for a short period.
 
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motor roamin

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May 23, 2010
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Thinking back to my college days (long time ago) I must admit vehicle electrickery was never my strong point (engine body and paint man me) didn't we use bicarbonate of soda to break down crystals, of course this is not the answer, but would it help?

Feel free to tell me I am a prat cuz it could be a bit of dementia creeping in.
 
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Snowbird

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You can do it with bicarb,but messy and what do you do with the electolysis?? becouse you have to empty the battery first.

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harryoxford2

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Sep 14, 2010
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ctek 7000

Hi as a newbie ive been looking into the battery situation. 80% of seemingly dead batteries or throw a year when they need reconditioning.

So hoping not to teach grandma to suck eggs here goes.

IF your battery is fully charged at all times it will last years and years..hence our car batteries last for many years if we drive the car every day.

The moment a battery is discharged past a crytical level..lets say 80% of its capacity the crystals form. What causes that...a standing unused battery in a car drains through alarms..and also because they just drain..period.

After the critical level the sulfation process starts and so every time you wild camp on batteries or leave your battery for more than a week or so then sulfation begins.

Nothing you can do that is on your vehicle can reverse this process and even when showing fully charged....its not.

Desulfation and keeping it topped up is the answer.

I have just got the ctek 7000 charger. this is an 8 stage battery charger,desulphator, conditioner flood maintainer etc..cost is expensive..it can bring back to life a totally dead battery that wont hold its charge.

The sulfation process effectively waterproofs the plates from contact with the electrolite and the desulfation process zaps the sulfation from the plates and the reconditioning disolves the sulfation back into the electrolite from whence it first came. The double wammy is that the sulfation needs to be back in the electrolite for if it is not then the electrolite is weaker than it sould be and of the wrong chemical composition.

So do you invest in something that desulfates...depends how many times you want to replace your battery versus the expensive all singing charger...one things for sure..any good battery needs 24/7 maintenance to extend its life.

The experts say you can double the life of a battery by never letting it get discharged.

So before you throw it....consider reconditioning it...I am as we speak in the process of reconditioning a battery that has been unused for 4 years and is dead in the water...just to see if this battery charger will do what it says on the can.
My main reason for buying it though is to maintain the new batteries I have. The charger not only has bull dog clips but also lazy attachments that scew to the battery with a waterproof connection ready for when you want to plug in the battery charger which will do its work with the battery in situe.
You are guarenteed it wont damage any of your vehicles electronics.

Ill let you know just how good this device is.
 
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Wildman

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keep us posted on the result Harry. Await outcome with interest as I have a dozen batteries sitting around that need doing
 
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slobadoberbob

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I have sterling

Sterling sell a desulphasion jobby Link Removed


I have a Sterling invertor / battery charger on the RV and that is a 4 stage charger and every so often it goes in to overdrive to clear the sulphur .. looking at the NASA unit it is putting a hell of a lot of charge in to the system when it kicks in.. the rest of the time it cycles through it's programe.

I use a ABSAAR 12volt 40 amp charger with 180amps booster for spare batteries, came from Maplins.. works well but no cut out so you can over charge if not careful.

Bob:Eeek:
 
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Oct 29, 2008
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I have the standard Electroblock which charges @18A to the leisure batteries, I am considering adding one of the sterling desuphators but wondered if any one had actually used one.
 
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