Batteries again! (1 Viewer)

[Jackomet]

OK,
Before I go and spend £50 on an Optimate 4 I need to ask will it be worth it?
2 x 110 AH leisure batteries 3 years old, nearly always on EHU when camping. Now sitting in garage and will charge and be at 13v ish just after charge. Within 24 hours have dropped to 12.46 (50%?) and will stay at that for days on end. So it looks like all cells are OK, batteries DO charge so I'm thinking sulfonated, hence Optimate.
All your wise comments appriciated.

 

[hilldweller]

I thought 12.0V was 50%.

Anyway, isn't optimate a bike battery charger, it might not have the grunt to rescue a proper battery.

 

[Reallyretired]

Ignore the 13v that will just be a surface charge. I always had problems with my batteries when on hookup for a long time as the built in charger is a rather mediocre float charger, and as it is incapable of fully charging the batteries they do tend to sulphate.
I would suggest a decent charger with a desulphation program will be cheaper than replacing both your batteries. Even if it doesn't save the current ones it will be good to keep their replacements in good order.:thumb:

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[Reallyretired]

Just checked. The Optimate 4 is only suitable for batteries up to 50Ah so not what you need. There is an Optimate 6 which would do the trick for a somewhat higer price.

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/OptiMate-6-ampmatic-12V/dp/B003L192E0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1345397317&sr=8-4[/ame]

 

[Pigwam]

sulphation only happens when batteries are left in a discharged state, its a chemical reaction.

if you've not left your batteries in a discharged state then very unlikely this bit of kit is going to do anything for them, although it does say it can condition them.

i would suggest that they need a good cycling and see how it goes. you can do this with a couple of headlight bulbs and a digital multimeter. connect the bulbs and the multimeter when the battery voltage gets to 11v charge them back up. do this a couple of times.

or get them tested, find someone with decent test equipment that gives the capacity of the battery when the test has been concluded. a test will take around 48 hours to do it correctly, as they need to make sure the batteries are fully charged before they test them, then once finished the test they need to be fully charged again.

although there is some very good test equipment around that will test in around 20 sec but is normally used on AGM or Gel batteries up to about 50 or 60 Ah and doesn't give a print out, mainly used on small batteries used in alarm systems