leirure battery

[jandee]

Just bought first motorhome and the leisure battery is losing charge after only using overnight for lights, water pump and heater, it is a new battery and we fully charged it before we set off, does anyone have any ideas what the problem might be please?

 

[DanielFord]

The battery will lose charge whilst in use, the question is, how much charge did it lose?

 

[jandee]

The charge went down to about 60% then we couldn't turn anything on

 

[Bill_OR]

Jandee,
I think we need to start looking at numbers!
What is the capacity of your leisure battery?
How many lights did you have on, what is their wattage and how long were they on?
What sort of heater were you running - make/model? Presumably you were using gas to fuel the heating and the electricity was for blowing the air?
Were you running a TV? If so, for how long?
Was anything else electrical being used? If so, what?

Batteries only have a finite capacity....
Bill

 

[DanielFord]

That is a lot. We have overnighted many times using the appliances you describe, also a 12 volt television for a good few hours in the evening, and we don't use anything like that.

So next question, what is the power rating of the battery? (it will be a number followed by ah, amp hours)
And bill beat me to it

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[jandee]

It was working ok at lunchtime, then we only used the water pump, when we came back to the van nothing would work. The night before we had 3 lights on for 2hrs the water pump and the controls for the water heater which we did leave on all night as this is gas fired it should not be a problem.

 

[pappajohn]

It was working ok at lunchtime, then we only used the water pump, when we came back to the van nothing would work. The night before we had 3 lights on for 2hrs the water pump and the controls for the water heater which we did leave on all night as this is gas fired it should not be a problem.

Agreed to a point.
the heater control circuit will only use a small amount of power.....but the blower fan will use a lot.

Overnight it could be as much as 50amps.

Opps...just noticed you said WATER heater....i read it as heater.

How did you confirm the battery was fully charged and how was it charged.

 

[jandee]

Hi papa John, the battery was charged overnight with a battery charger and it showed fully charged when I installed it in the van

 

[Techno]

If it is NEW why was it charged overnight? New batteries are supplied fully charged.

 

[pappajohn]

If it is NEW why was it charged overnight? New batteries are supplied fully charged.

Not always Andy.
some could be stood on the shelf for a very long time and the retailer isnt going to bother with the 'recharge by' date for a stored battery.

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[jandee]

It was new in January but the van wasn't used for weeks as we where both ill and with the cold weather the battery lost some of its charge

 

[Techno]

I'm picturing that it has been left in winter months in freezing cold to discharge itself which may have reduced its capacity.

 

[jandee]

I agree, but once you recharge it it should be ok, or has it damaged it permanent

 

[Techno]

It depends how severely discharged it was but as you can't get one night out of it I can only conclude that it has suffered damage.

 

[DanielFord]

We still need to know that amp hour rating, if too low then this usage would indeed discharge the battery.

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[jandee]

I will take it to where I bought it ask them to give it a test, they are very good and have been very helpful in the past. Thanks for your help techno

 

[pappajohn]

All lead/acid batteries have a self discharge rate and could be flat in a matter of weeks.
If it has been left in a discharged state for several weeks it will be badly sulphated and will not hold a charge......and very doubtful it will recover at all.
all wet batteries must be stored fully charged to prevent damage to the plates.

 

[Sundowners]

Is it possible to have been running the 'fridge on 12volts?
I know that on MOST newer vans it can't be done-----I could do it with our fridge.
Nigel