Leisure Batter really not happy. Truck of the cold? (1 Viewer)

[davidathomas42]

It’s only a year old Banner 135ah battery that has lived on EHU permanently since buying apart from the odd night I wild camp. and I just drove for 90mins before turning stuff on

It’s already not happy and showing 11.5V under the load of the heating at 12 off load.

Seems a bit odd as normally off EHU I can whack the van hard use wise and it never falls below 12v all night.

Now is it just working poorly because it’s cold as shisnit outside or has it taken a dive? Also how accurate is that factory gauge? I am here for the night and it’s likly -2 all night. Can’t risk the van battery as need to start the thing tomorrow but that does seem to perform better when I swap to it and never drops below 12V

 

[JJ]

Maybe just cold...

I certainly hope so.


JJ

 

[MC 55 FUN]

It’s only a year old Banner 135ah battery that has lived on EHU permanently since buying apart from the odd night I wild camp. and I just drove for 90mins before turning stuff on

It’s already not happy and showing 11.5V under the load of the heating at 12 off load.

Seems a bit odd as normally off EHU I can whack the van hard use wise and it never falls below 12v all night.

Now is it just working poorly because it’s cold as shisnit outside or has it taken a dive? Also how accurate is that factory gauge? I am here for the night and it’s likly -2 all night. Can’t risk the van battery as need to start the thing tomorrow but that does seem to perform better when I swap to it and never drops below 12V

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[Lenny HB]

Sounds pretty normal for Banner rubbish.

 

[Crazylegs]

Banner give a three year warranty.

 

[jonandshell]

I would switch everything off before measuring the battery voltage.
Even a small load will pull down the voltage reading and give an inaccurate appraisal of state of charge.

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[jonandshell]

Have you checked the electrolyte level lately?

 

[irnbru]

Ive been told often enough. Switch stuff off and let it rest to get an accurate reading. Never really understood all this but I gratefully accept the answers.

 

[Lenny HB]

Banner give a three year warranty.

Totally worthless speaking from personal experience.

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[jonandshell]

The other thing to consider is how you have had the van on hook up.
Assuming you have a modern charger which floats after charging, if you have been using the van whilst on hook up more of or less constantly, the charger sees the current draw of useage as a charging battery and supplies more voltage.
This higher applied voltage will boil off your electrolyte and cause the low battery capacity.
We once had our van on hook up constantly whilst stored. The batteries were fine.
However, after living in the van before we got our static, our once healthy traction batteries we destroyed in no time by having a higher voltage applied constantly.

 

[Mike800966]

Reason that batteries need to be rested before taking accurate readings is because the charge is stored in a chemical form between the plates and the electrolyte. when they are working the terminal voltage will be different to when they have settled.
I would check the electrolyte level in the battery if possible and then consider talking to the supplier if it is still within warranty. Then you will find out how good the supplier is! He may argue that its been misused perhaps by overcharging, he may just accept the return and replace it
Mike

 

[Duck Truck]

Anyone in the North I heartily recommend SYBS in Sheffield
Excellent advice, service and support

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[davidathomas42]

Had a look at the levels today and they look perfect. Right in the middle of minimum and maximum for all cells.

It did last the cold night fine smashing the heating.

This morning is was still sitting 11.5v to 12v under load then 12-12.5 of load so maybe it’s just the gauge is not great or the cold hitting it a little harder. Either way I was warm and no low voltage alarms which is why I replaced the original 75ah battery it came with as that set the alarm off after about an hour of use.

 

[jezport]

You mention leaving it on EHU, maybe you've cooked it. What voltage is it being float charged at?

 

[davidathomas42]

You mention leaving it on EHU, maybe you've cooked it. What voltage is it being float charged at?

Would cooking it mean to dry as an obvious point of reference? The liquid looks perfect

I’ll have to check what the float looks like but it’s a 2015 system so I would hope the charger is up to the job of just maintaining the charge properly on float.

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[davidathomas42]

Double post

 

[Stealaway]

It’s already not happy and showing 11.5V under the load of the heating at 12 off load.

Seems a bit odd as normally off EHU I can whack the van hard use wise and it never falls below 12v all night.

It's all sounding like a knackered battery to me, good luck with getting a free replacement. Try Varta or Numax next time

 

[davidathomas42]

It's all sounding like a knackered battery to me, good luck with getting a free replacement. Try Varta or Numax next time

So have I done the wrong thing letting it live in EHU? should I remove it and just plug in every couple of weeks to top it up again?

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[Stealaway]

So have I done the wrong thing letting it live in EHU? should I remove it and just plug in every couple of weeks to top it up again?

No It shouldn't. Take it back and see what the dealer says.

 

[Bart]

This morning is was still sitting 11.5v to 12v under load then 12-12.5 of load so maybe it’s just the gauge is not great or the cold hitting it a little harder. Either way I was warm and no low voltage alarms which is why I replaced the original 75ah battery it came with as that set the alarm off after about an hour of use.

As a note generally the minimum you want to discharge the Battery to is 12.2V when OFF Load for 30 mins

 

[davidathomas42]

As a note generally the minimum you want to discharge the Battery to is 12.2V when OFF Load for 30 mins

I doubt I have ever taken it that low intentionally. Its a decent size at 135ah and has never done more than a night without driving off again. I expected it to last 3 days off grid at that size with my usage. Certainly longer than a bit of lights and tv and heating for a night

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[davidathomas42]

No It shouldn't. Take it back and see what the dealer says.

I bought it online a year ago and for the life of me can't remember the site I got it from or find the online receipt.

Think ill just have to swallow the cost of a new one if its goosed.
Next major trip is not until May so ill have a play with it for a bit and see if I can't revive it until I decide a suitable replacement. It did work fine all night its just the readings were lower than usual. As a family were always on EHU on sites. I only use it off grid myself for work and only a night at a time so it will hopefully keep working for the time been.

What to replace it with is the big ?
Those threads can be very very long. I don't mind spending the $$$ if its bullet proof and would even go lithium or Gel but I understand that I need to check the charger system can cope with that type and also I want to add solar before F1 in July so this could be a bigger job than just picking a decent make.

Shame about the current Banner though. From this site some love it and some HATE it! Guess I will end up on the hate pile after lasting only a year.

 

[Stealaway]

Non are bullet proof,it's more the way you look after them. If you never let the voltage drop less than 50%, good makes should last 3-4 years.

 

[quickweh]

Had a pair of Banner 100 AH AGMs a few years ago which developed a fault, they would only supply about 10 AH from fully charged to 12.0V. Took them back to Banner who initially said they were ok but on checking my figures confirmed that they had developed a "memory" when used as a leisure battery but we're perfectly ok in supplying cranking Amps for engine starting. Banner replaced one battery and had the other at half price. Checked with the van converter and it turned out the leisure battery charger was set to Gel charging which never reached a high enough voltage to correctly charge AGM batteries. Complicated things batteries and chargers.

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[davidathomas42]

Interesting about the gel setting. Ill check the charger to see what options it has.

After a search of my old threads on here I see I bought it from Alpha Batteries so I have just fired them an email along with the picture I took of the low voltage.

Lets see what they come back with tomorrow. I managed to trace the day I bought it to the 12 of December last year so I am sure I can track proof of purchase from that and try and get a result. Can only try as it has a 3 year warranty advertised.

 

[Mike800966]

Hope that works out ok. I think any decent battery supplier will understand that batteries are not simple things as used in motorhomes on or off hookup etc and some will fail within the warranty period. Be aware that the rate of discharge load on the battery will control the number of amperehours available ie 100Ah will not give 100amps for 1 hr, more like 10amps for 5 or 6 hours but even that wont be continuously. See how complicated it can get? It all depends on the amperehour rate as stated by the manufacturer, or not!

 

[PhilandMena]

Hi, Loads of experts on here don't you think LOL. I also have banner lead acid batteries and they perform exactly how I would want to. The only down side I have experienced with them is that they need topping up every 6 months or so. Hardly a major chore. I suspect your battery is fine. It's being used in extremely low temperatures and this alone is going to have an impact on performance. I've just pulled this of a website '

• Temperature – The colder the temperature, the poorer the performance of the battery. The amp hours rating which is stated is based on a temperature of 25C, with each degree lower causing a 1% drop in performance. For example, an 110Ah battery operating in 15C The temperature will actually perform as a 100Ah.

Also, your heater may be putting quite a draw on your battery to. After I fitted a Battery monitor to my motorhome I was amazed to find my Webasto diesel heater was only drawing 3 amps when fired up and heating water but when switch over to habitation heating it shot up to 9m Amps and this was down to the fan. I not saying yours is the same but I imagine it's taking some power and measuring a battery's capacity while it is under load is very difficult. I suspect if you let it rest, it will recover and you will be able to get a more accurate measurement. With respect to some members slatting Banner batteries, that is true but the reason why is not because of the batteries themselves, which by the way were AGM batteries. It was in fact due to one particular make of charger fitted to a shed load of German motorhomes which also fitted Banner AGM batteries when building the motorhomes from new and the batteries failed and they failed because of the charger not charging them correctly and hence the Chinese whispers started and Banner AGM's got a bad name.
Of course, at the end of the day, you could have a bad battery but I would be surprised ?

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[PhilandMena]

So have I done the wrong thing letting it live in EHU? should I remove it and just plug in every couple of weeks to top it up again?

No! You have a new motorhome (2015) and as sure as eggs are eggs you will have an intelligent charger fitted which means you can leave it connected on hook up indefinitely without causing damage to your batteries. This is what modern battery chargers do. Check out your manuals and i'm certain you will see in writing you are safe to leave on hook up indefinitely. If you do not have a manual you should be able to download for free from the internet. Warning : There are a lot of experienced and well informed people on this site who will give you excellent information. However, there are also some people who with good intent will give you wrong and/or misleading information. So if not sure, try google, shed loads of good stuff on there. U-Tube is helpful too.

 

[davidathomas42]

No! You have a new motorhome (2015) and as sure as eggs are eggs you will have an intelligent charger fitted which means you can leave it connected on hook up indefinitely without causing damage to your batteries.

Thanks Phil. I was hoping you would chime in.

The temperature issue sounds very plausible. It was down to -4 that night where I was and it had not been above 0 deg for a few days so the battery would be well chilled. My only niggle was the van battery would also be cold but then I suppose it had been sat in a warm engine bay for a 90min drive which would have added a decent bit of heat back into it.

My next line of attack is to remove the battery and place it on a level table to check and top up if required the fluid in the cells back to perfect levels and maybe let it warm back up to a proper temperature before I test it again.

quick query do you still just add distilled water to these sorts of batteries or is there a purpose fluid I can buy?

Thanks. Dave

 

[PhilandMena]

Thanks Phil. I was hoping you would chime in.

The temperature issue sounds very plausible. It was down to -4 that night where I was and it had not been above 0 deg for a few days so the battery would be well chilled. My only niggle was the van battery would also be cold but then I suppose it had been sat in a warm engine bay for a 90min drive which would have added a decent bit of heat back into it.

My next line of attack is to remove the battery and place it on a level table to check and top up if required the fluid in the cells back to perfect levels and maybe let it warm back up to a proper temperature before I test it again.

quick query do you still just add distilled water to these sorts of batteries or is there a purpose fluid I can buy?

Thanks. Dave

Distilled it is Dave. If you're going to be spending a lot of time in your motorhome and/or more time without hook up. Start thinking about adding solar panels on the roof and perhaps a bigger battery bank. Plan it right and do it once, you'll be surprised the number of people who add a solar panel on the roof and then realise they need another one. (you can never have too much solar power) also, make sure your on board charger can manage your total battery bank. Mine is limited to 220 AH (2x110) and this works well with my solar panel set up too.