Leisure Battery... given up the ghost !

[mark e]

Well the 85ah battery has finally died.
Shortened it out, while putting clips on with a female 12v, to put my 150w inverter in a couple of times. Solved that by insulation tape aoround the corners of the seat base. Anyway, another time left the habitation swith on and not even the light would work.
Been out today and checked the voltage 12.78v. Put the habitation switch on and a single light, kept my meter on and dropping voltage of .02 of a volt every 5 seconds. within a minute or so down to 12.38v.

So holding it's charge but soon as anything is on :Sad:. Dont even know how old the battery is anyway, could be the oringinal

So a new one in order, £70 for a 110 ah will have to fit the bill.

 

[Road Runner]

Batteries sure have gone up in price:Angry:

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Batteries sure have gone up in price:Angry:

Your not kidding! We cant buy 110amp at £70 now and we used to sell them at £69

There are still some cheapies lurking about, but on checking they are normal car batteries and dont last.

Be warned.

 

[mark e]

Settled for another 85ah after. £53.10 from a caravan accesory shop with 2 year guarentee. Fitting was relitivly easy, just took seat off and changed over. Checked old battery, all cells at right levels, powered a 12v light with battery clips and within 5 minutes went from 12.58v to 9.07v. Within 10 minutes went back to 12.07v. :Sad:

 

[haganap]

Batteries sure have gone up in price:Angry:

Your not wrong there John.

when at the Newark show there was at least 4 stalls selling leisure bateries all for about £40-50 85a. Muggins here refused to buy one believing that at Peterborough I would source one cheaper. However Only 1 stall I could find selling, at a cost of a whopping £70

Talking of which the other things I wanted to get was a ground sheet and some cab mats for the most used MH the Ducato. Could not find either.:Blush:
Good job the good company the beer and the sun made up for all else

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[freakylady]

hi there
we've got two 90ah leisure batteries - can anyone give me an idea how long they last for when you're not hooked up to electric and using the usual motorhoming equipment - ie lights, water pump, etc

thanks

 

[Digger Driver]

I keep saying the same thimg!
PARTCO, PARTCO, PARTCO,
They supply to the trade and have a retail counter!

Personally i never pay much for batteries!
Almost every fitter i meet in my trade has a few spare monster batteries!
They normally cost me a bacon roll and a cup of tea!
I don't pay for red deisel either!
Just a shame my vans petrol!oh:

 

[Beachbum]

All my batteries are 110 AH heavy duty. They do cost upwards of £70 each. I would never skimp when it comes to batteries.

 

[johnsandywhite]

:Cool: I bought 2 x 105ah batteries from Walmart 2 1/2 years ago at a cost of $48 each. Killed them 2 1/2 years ago too. Resurrected them by equalising them on a regular basis. My 6 x 100ah AGM batteries cost me £20 each 18 months ago. I have them coupled up with the others and equalise them at the same time. Boil kettles for cuppas all day long. Use a Toasting machine and watch TV and Satellite. Very rarely dropped too low in voltage. I even use the Inverter to connect up to the on-board power supply on the Kontiki to keep the batteries topped up which will also run the Fridge.

 

[mark e]

New battery fitted. But with the same light on, the voltage is dropping at the same rate :Angry:
Staring to wonder was it the battery ? Old one on charge tonight in the kitchen.

How does one check battery amperage on a multi meter ? the one i have is a cheapy from maplins. Both holding 12.60v - 12.87v for days.

I might put the old battery with the new one, but put under drivers seat as the new one is under passengers seat. The batterys are identical, same clour, just different make stickers, but same information ie. heavy duty, ultra low maintenance etc.

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[Beachbum]

Hi Mark, I could be wrong but I don't think it would be a good idea to connect your old battery to your new one. If the old one is faulty or having a problem, it will take your new one down too. Perhaps someone can advice you better than me.

 

[pappajohn]

hi mark,
as beach bum says 'dont do it'. you should really only join same age, type and amp-hr batteries. you only get out whats in the worst one, it'll drag the good one down to the same capacity.

i had a similar problem (couple of days lights, pump and tv without hookup and battery was flat) so i bit the bullet and bought 2 x 110ah batteries to replace the one knackered one. i charged up the old one for a couple of days at 10amps and its held a charge for 4 weeks now without load.
12.6v unloaded...11.5v with a 21w bulb which it seems to hold ok so ,like you, i m wondering if its the battery at fault or something else. charger maybe !!!

chances are your multimeter cant cope with the amps used. mine multi only reads to 2amp you really need a heavy ammeter. i use an induction clamp type ammeter that just clamps around the live wire and reads from 1ma to 100 amps. not cheap though at £45 trade. do you know a friendly sparky.

hope this helps a little.

john

 

[bobandjanie]

Hi Mark.

I might put the old battery with the new one, but put under drivers seat as the new one is under passengers seat. The batterys are identical, same clour, just different make stickers, but same information ie. heavy duty, ultra low maintenance etc

Is that a fiat ducato you have .If so you can put some plywood under the seat to make it flat, turn your battery the other way and you can get 2 x 85ah next to each other. Hope this helps. Good Luck. Bob.:Cool:

 

[mark e]

Yes, fiat ducato 2000. Checked OLD battery this morning, 12.87, no load. I know that it will hold for days, until i put a load on it.

Surly if it was knackered it wont hold a charge at all :Angry:
Ehu this weekend so wont have a ideal time to try the new battery on it's own. Then again i could take out ehu lead for a couple of hours and try.

Any battery knowledgeable people out there ?

Might read up more on the subject and become a battery expert myself

 

[pudseykeith]

Battery safety

Hi guys.
I worry when there is talk of fitting batterys under seats or elswhere they are not desined to be located. Altho a battery may be sealed, ie, no need to top up with acid, when they are being charged they produce a heave gas which is higly exposive. If you dont provide a means of ventilating this gas out of the compartment where the battery is stored and out the vehicle, if a spark occures when removing or replaceing the battery leads, the battery can explode showering you and the interier of the MH with sulphuric acid. Batterys are save if you handel and install them correctly. If you remove a battery always turn off all devices drawing current or if there is a mains switch turn it off.
Sorry for the doom and gloom. Pudseykeith :thumb:

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[mark e]

Another thing i been reading is water (acid) over time will escape the battery hence topping up the cells.
I removed the battery screws on the old battery last night and the acid was "level" with the indicators.

Should i top them up with deonised water over the level of the plastic clips things ?

 

[johnsandywhite]

Any battery knowledgeable people out there ?

Might read up more on the subject and become a battery expert myself

NOT a knowledgeable person per se. Did you read my previous post with regards Equalization (Desulphation)?


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Kyocera | Products | Kyocera Solar Energy | Understanding Solar | Batteries

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[Steptoe]

Hi guys.
I worry when there is talk of fitting batterys under seats or elswhere they are not desined to be located. Altho a battery may be sealed, ie, no need to top up with acid, when they are being charged they produce a heave gas which is higly exposive. If you dont provide a means of ventilating this gas out of the compartment where the battery is stored and out the vehicle, if a spark occures when removing or replaceing the battery leads, the battery can explode showering you and the interier of the MH with sulphuric acid. Batterys are save if you handel and install them correctly. If you remove a battery always turn off all devices drawing current or if there is a mains switch turn it off.
Sorry for the doom and gloom. Pudseykeith :thumb:

Very interested in this as I have just had to replace the two batteries under each of my seats. The original one under the drivers seat was correctly installed c/w inline fuse and vent tube but the one added on under the passenger seat presumably was a vehicle battery as it had no vent tube (nor was the connecting cable fused:Sad

I have now added inline fuses at either end of the connecting cable but was relucant to drill another hole in the cab floor so simply poked the tube out of the seat box in the hope and expectation that any gases produced will collect in the cab step and fall out when I open the door.

I can understand the importance of venting if the batteries are in a plastic battery box from which the gases can't escape but the seat boxes are so slotted and vented that I don't think that gases could build up sufficiently to be a danger, but am standing by to be corrected on thisoh:

 

[Hugh Jardon]

hopefully this will be helpful for folks

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quite an informative site with good info on batterys and charge conditions etc:thumb:

 

[pudseykeith]

Another thing i been reading is water (acid) over time will escape the battery hence topping up the cells.
I removed the battery screws on the old battery last night and the acid was "level" with the indicators.

Should i top them up with deonised water over the level of the plastic clips things ?

As long as the plates in the battery are covered they should be OK. If you over fill acid will escape with the gas as the battery vents and cause acid corrosion to any metal it comes in contact with. If this happens, wash the affected metal with hot water and the paint over with a protective paint. :thumb:

P K

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[pudseykeith]

PS. Hi Steptoe. I have seen batterys expode under a bonnet of a vehicle were the gases can fall strait out of the bonnet area when a spark from a welding operation passed over the battery. Run the vent pipe through the floor and paint over the bare metal. Make shour it do's not vent near the exaust pipe.
P K