Leisure Battery - Fiat (1 Viewer)

Scunner007

Free Member
Jan 18, 2008
5
0
Livingston, West Lothian
Funster No
1,246
MH
C Class
Exp
1 Year
I have a 1992 Fiat Swift Capri and all of a sudden the leisure battery is giving out no power. Was working fine last week. Being kinda new to all this, can anybody give any advice on what could be wrong and if a new battery is required, what is the approx cost.
 

American Dream

Free Member
Aug 20, 2007
0
156
Lincoln
Funster No
125
MH
?
Exp
?
You didn't say how old the battery is Scunner.

If it was ok last week and it now dead, is anything discharging it in the van?

Otherwise it could be sulphate build-up shorting out the plates.

Might be worth looking to replace as you don't want it to let you down this season
 

madbluemad

Banned
Jan 26, 2008
3,327
239
spain
Funster No
1,335
MH
just looking
Exp
since 1980
Have you been running your mh or have you had it on ehu. If you havent then you have probabley left something switched on inside the mh. It doesnt take long to drain a battery and I should know, Ive done it.

Check you battery with a multimeter to see what charge it has in it. You only need to google liesure battery to find the battery prices.

Cheers

Jim
:Smile:

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Tony Lee

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
274
2
Funster No
4,196
Before forking out for a new battery, do a few checks to find out why

Batteries do sometimes fall over dead, but more commonly just waste away.

Check that you didn't leave something switched on.
Check the battery voltage. Over 12.6V is excellent, Over 12.2 V is good. Below that is bad, the lower the badder.
Plug into shore power. Check the battery voltage. Increasing means charger working, no change means faulty charger, blown fuse, isolating switch open etc. Even a bad battery should show some change)

If voltage is rising then leave the charger until the charge cycle is finished. (if it is a fixed voltage converter it will not properly charge a dead battery so remove the battery and use an external quality charger)

When the cycle is finished, switch off the charger. Voltage should slowly drop to around 12.6V over perhaps an hour. A faster drop means either the battery is faulty or there is a significant external load on the battery.
Disconnect the battery and check the voltage hourly for at least 12 hours. Always above 12.6 means the battery is probably OK. Dropping quickly to around 11v possibly means a shorted cell.
Connect a headlight bulb across the battery and check the voltage hourly. It should stay above say 11.0V for a few hours depending on the battery capacity. If so then problem is something was left switched on or charger left off or faulty or fuse blown.
Voltage drops a couple of volts or more in a minute or two - open circuit cell
Drops to 11.0 v inside a couple of hours - battery capacity seriously reduced

=======================

Don't take my voltages too literally. Just an indication of what to expect.

If the battery has been left dead flat for a couple of weeks and the temperatures have been below freezing then your battery could be completely US anyway and you will need to get a new one - BUT still check that there is not another fault that did cause the problem in the first place
 

oldun

Free Member
Mar 23, 2008
747
162
St Neots
Funster No
1,917
MH
VW Campervan
Exp
Since 2001
You can take the starter battery into a garage and get it discharge tested.

Are leisure batteries suitable for the same test?
 

Ruddy

Free Member
Feb 24, 2009
99
0
Haverhill,Suffolk
Funster No
5,728
MH
Coach Built
Exp
> 1yr
You can take the starter battery into a garage and get it discharge tested.

Are leisure batteries suitable for the same test?

Sorry no, As a battery test tests for cold cranking amps, As a leisure battery is designed for low amp discharge not cranking amps, It will show up as faulty in the test, Even if it's fully charged and brand new.

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Tony Lee

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
274
2
Funster No
4,196
Would be good to get some feedback from the original poster as to whether the situation was resolved and how.
 
J

JoePilote

Deleted User
Leisure Battery Testing

Sorry no, As a battery test tests for cold cranking amps, As a leisure battery is designed for low amp discharge not cranking amps, It will show up as faulty in the test, Even if it's fully charged and brand new.

So is there a test for leisure batteries?

Just been out for Easter and suspect all three of my leisure batteries are in trouble. In covered storage for the winter and all three were flat. Charged up on mains power got system up to 13 V from 10V and went off wild camping only to find batteries back to 10V in the morning. Between running the vehicle and solar panels through the day we got back up to 12.2 V but back down to 9.9 V next morning.

Made very limited use of battery power second night.

Any suggestions on how o decide whether one or all three batteries are dead?

JoePilote
 

Ruddy

Free Member
Feb 24, 2009
99
0
Haverhill,Suffolk
Funster No
5,728
MH
Coach Built
Exp
> 1yr
You could using a multimeter test each cell, Remove the caps and start from one end, Put the + side of the meter on the + terminal and put the - side of the meter into the open cap, It should read about 2v and the next 4v and so on. If the voltage does'nt change between 2 cells the the battery is fubared. Or you can do it between to cells and they should all be about 2v if 1 or more cells read nothing then it's a new battery required. Doing this will not give you a capacity check, Its just to check for dead cells or nearly dead. The voltage between all cells should be the same ie 2v....ish
If one cell reads lower than the others, then consider a new battery fairly soon.

Taking the battery to a garage for a test will give you a capacity result BUT it will show up as a faulty battery as I said above.

Hope this is clear and not to confusing :Eeek:

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J

JoePilote

Deleted User
Thanks Ruddy, That makes sense - if I don't find any dud cells and the problem persists I'll take one battery out at a time to see if there's a weak one - hope I don't have to replace all three - ouch!

JoePilote
 

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