Battery Life

[Supertractorman]

My Bessacar is now 21 months old, and two months ago I had to replace the Leisure Battery as it had a dead cell ( No warranty on batteries from Swift ). This week the van battery has died a death, checked out by AA with loads of charge coming from the Alternator. Drop test after putting on charge showed it to be dead. ( No warranty on batteries from Fiat ).
What sort of life should I expect from batteries ?. When the van is not in use I leave it plugged in to mains with internal charger on, am I giving it too much Charge ?
Have I another problem I should investigate ?. I do have it alarmed, and also a Tracker fitted, plus I had the link put in between the batteries as an extra ( Not sure what you call it ).
Any advice appreciated.

David

 

[muz]

batteries

hi ,i would think the charger in your mh will only charge the liesure battery while the ignition is off,so the alarm and tracker will flatten the vehicle battery in a couple of weeks,so long as you keep them charged they should last years,maybe the charger doesnt zero when the battery is fully charged.hope this helps Martin

 

[Stueysheep]

on my Bessie you can switch the charger between the leisure and the engine battery. You can even see and monitor the voltage across each of them on the power panel above the habitaion door.

Not sure I would leave the charger on though all the time with the charger fan running..... I would rather just pop down once a week and "top it up"..

Why you asked, my battery went down on one cell recently whilst charging and the damn thing went into melt down, spitting and smoking and almost meleted the casing...! Quickest battery removal I've ever done!

 

[scotjimland]

Battery life depends on how they are treated or mistreated, if a battery is discharged to only 50% each cycle, it will last about twice as long as if it is cycled to 20%. Running the battery down totally flat will have a very negative effect on the lifespan of the battery, it may even 'kill' it ..

For some good info on batteries and their care Link Removed:

 

[Supertractorman]

Hi,

Thanks all for your comments and thanks Scotjimland for that article. I have checked and the extra fitted was a Battery Master which also allows the van battery to be topped up, but I think it may be my fault for leaving the van charger on all the time while on hook up. { Do not recall any advice on this on van handover day )Reading that article it would appear the three stage chargers are the best option to have fitted although they are expensive but can be left on with no worries, mind you batteries are not cheap either.

David

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[pappajohn]

I have my kontiki connected to mains via a 24hr plug-in timer, in the garage, set for 1hr a day. this gives the battery a boost and runs the dehumidifier (which collects about 4 ltrs+ of water a week!)
i have a full 'breathable' m/h cover so it needs the dehumidifier.
if you put the rocker switch on the panel to midway it charges both cab and van batteries simultaniously.

 

[Stueysheep]

I don't have a rocker switch. Just an electronic panel with press buttons. It's an either or type thing...