Yet another flat habitation battery. (1 Viewer)

Touchwood

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I'm in need of advice yet again. My habitation battery is quite new (110AH Banner bought from Alpha batteries just over a year ago) so I was disappointed to say the least to find it flat when I needed to use the habitation lights on Friday night.

First question; am I mistaken in thinking that it should hold its charge for quite a long time without use? We last used the MH in November of last year (I know, disgraceful, we've been busy!) and since then it's been stood in my yard apart from a couple of brief runs out to keep things moving - no use of the habitation battery on those occasions. I'm confident there's no drain on it (though I confess the main power switch had been left "on") and it hasn't been that cold here - we live very close to the sea and rarely get frosts.

Second question; if it's not faulty and it's normal for it to lose charge in these circumstances, how likely is it that it's been damaged by this? I've recharged it via a hookup from the house (24 hours on charge) When taken off charge the MH voltmeter showed 13.7 v. I put all the internal lights on and this dropped to 13.1 v - after 3 hours with all lights on it had dropped to 12.3 v., recovering to 12.7 v. when I turned the lights off.

The battery has a four year warranty so if it is faulty it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks in anticipation.
 

tonka

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Some vans have a continual drain, like newer Autotrails..
The Sargent unit will take sometime like 0.2 amps on standby, over time that mounts up and will flatten a battery unless you have a solar panel and it is set up to charge..

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Clickem

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We have a reversing camera wired into our Hab battery which would be flat in a fortnight - leave on EHU
 

DBK

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Some vans have a continual drain, like newer Autotrails..
The Sargent unit will take sometime like 0.2 amps on standby, over time that mounts up and will flatten a battery unless you have a solar panel and it is set up to charge..
0.2 amps over a 30 day month is 144 Ah which means a single battery will be flat in less than a month and even two leisure batteries will be struggling.

Since November (three months) a drain of just 50 mA will flatten a typical battery.
 

GJH

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I should think it is just the length of time it has been stood Mike. As others have said there is going to be a drain anyway. Over winter (when shade means reduced sunlight getting to the solar panel) I check both batteries regularly and use EHU when necessary. I used to do the same when we had the Autoquest.
 
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Touchwood

Touchwood

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Thanks to all. I'll make sure to put it on hookup more often in future; I just hope it hasn't damaged it.

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Techno

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A fully charged battery is 12 .7 volts.
13 .7 is the charger voltage and if you just switched the charger off it will take quite a while for the voltage to settle.
It sounds fine to me

Dropping to 12.3 over a period with the lights on and then recovering to 12.7 when switching them off would indicate a healthy battery.
 
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Touchwood

Touchwood

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A fully charged battery is 12 .7 volts.
13 .7 is the charger voltage and if you just switched the charger off it will take quite a while for the voltage to settle.
It sounds fine to me

Dropping to 12.3 over a period with the lights on and then recovering to 12.7 when switching them off would indicate a healthy battery.

Phew! Thanks Andy.
 

Techno

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A typical state of charge chart
V open circuit means nothing going in or out.
battery-state-of-charge.jpg

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Oct 5, 2012
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We have a reversing camera wired into our Hab battery which would be flat in a fortnight - leave on EHU
Why on earth is your camera live and for that matter wired into your hab battery :Eeek:??????
 

funflair

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Solar panels would keep it all charged if you keep it outside.

Martin
 

pappajohn

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All batteries have a self discharge rate.
If left for a long period, even taken off the vehicle, it will still eventually go flat.
Even a few milliamps load over a few months will speed up the discharge.

Even as low as 10 milliamps per hour soon adds up.

4 months = 26.88 amps plus the self discharge may be as much again.

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ABZSteve

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I use a trickle charger on my Autotrail because it will drain in 3 weeks if I don't keep it hooked up to the charger.
 

Kevan

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A fully charged battery is 12 .7 volts.
13 .7 is the charger voltage and if you just switched the charger off it will take quite a while for the voltage to settle.
It sounds fine to me

Dropping to 12.3 over a period with the lights on and then recovering to 12.7 when switching them off would indicate a healthy battery.
I agree(y)
 
Oct 5, 2012
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We have a reversing camera wired into our Hab battery which would be flat in a fortnight - leave on EHU
Can anybody tell me why 1. You would wire the reversing camera into the hab battery 2. You would have it always on ?????

I see I have said that before :xdoh:

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Clickem

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Can anybody tell me why 1. You would wire the reversing camera into the hab battery 2. You would have it always on ?????

I see I have said that before :xdoh:

We bought this van secondhand and the reversing camera was already fitted so unfortunately I do not have the name, rank and number of the person that could answer your question

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Oct 5, 2012
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We bought this van secondhand and the reversing camera was already fitted so unfortunately I do not have the name, rank and number of the person that could answer your question
I would alter that setup in that case, it's Looney tunes !!! I am surprised the camera is still working.
 

PeteH

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So I looked at this post?:cautious: and then I looked at the dates,:) I replied to it back in March? or have I Been to sleep!?:sleep::whistle::whistle:

But what the Hell. A good battery will settle after charging at about 12.6 to 12.7 fully charged.
 
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DL42846

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I have a Banner battery in my Defender. The first one started giving me problems after 18 months of service. In cold weather it would only just turn the engine over. it was replaced under guarantee and this one has been fine. We also have Banner batteries in two of are other cars and they have been fine also. These were ordinary car batteries. I'm not sure if your's are leisure batteries or just regular ones.

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Kool Kroozer

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The poster states the van has not been used since November of last year -2015 - Not last November - a couple of months ago, if this is the case its not surprising.
 

irnbru

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The poster states the van has not been used since November of last year -2015 - Not last November - a couple of months ago, if this is the case its not surprising.
But he posted in March so that was 4 months later.

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