Leisure battery problem

[Nutrocker Pat]

Good morning everyone. Our 100A/hr L35 Lead acid leisure battery has been a tad unreliable lately. We have a 100W Solar panel on the roof which, until recently was able to keep the battery up to about 13.6V.

We are away at the moment at Twinwood Festival with no EHU. The lack of sun so far has meant that the battery charge level has been hovering between 12.5 to 13 volts. However, last night, according to the habitation control panel (which turned red!) the battery voltage dropped to 10.4v and nothing worked, not unexpectedly! I got out my voltmeter and physically checked the battery voltage. Yep, 10.4v. This morning at about 9 a.m I touched the control screen and to my surprise it lit up. I immediately checked the Hab battery voltage, 13.0v!!!

What could have happened? Sounds like a connection problem somewhere. Plates inside the battery? Anywhere in the wiring system. The battery seems most likely as it was certainly only reading 10.4v on my voltmeter last night, prongs held tightly directly on top of the battery posts. Any ideas, theories, suggestions, would be most welcome.

Thanks in anticipation
Nutrocker Pat

 

[Gaston aires]

How old is the battery ? Lead acids don’t usually last more than 5/6 years and what you describe smacks of cell deterioration.
Phil

 

[Lenny HB]

The 13v is the output from your solar regulator you can only measure the battery voltage accurately with everything turned off and no solar input.
Sounds like your battery has had it, if everything is working the battery voltage should rise to 14.4v before dropping back to 13.8v.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Battery is about 2 1/2 years as they had electrical problems when they bought the MH, then bought the new battery which didn’t fix it. Then had a new control panel and had solar panel fitted at Shepton Mallett show, I think in September 2019.

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

Thanks very much for your replies. The battery is only 2 years old so I might have to find the paperwork and see what warranty came with it! The next few days here could be interesting but it seems that as long as we get a bit of sun during the day we might be ok.

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[ManTheVan]

It does sound as if there might be a dead cell in the battery, which might account for the reading of of 10.4v instead of 12.6v if all 6 cells were working. It might be worth checking that all cells have enough electrolyte in them before condemning the battery, as one cell might be v low, halting the ion exchange in that cell. If all electrolyte levels are fine, then it could be time for another replacement.

Highly recommend looking at LiFePO4 if you can stretch to it, but you’d need to have a mains charger and B2B which had lithium profiles, ideally.

Good luck!

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

Thanks MantheVan, I’ll see if I can see the electrolyte levels. Sounds a reasonable theory. I’ll be very happy if that is the reason and a top-up cures it!

I’ll also check out your recommendation.
Cheers
Pat

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

Hi again,

At home now, in a bit of a panic because we’re going to the show at Shelton Mallet in just over a week’s time, so I ordered a new battery just in case. It was a good price and it’s being delivered today. I can’t help having a nagging feeling though, that the two year old battery is not the problem. It’s just a hunch, based on the fact that the previous battery was not very old when I replaced it. A very good friend of mine who worked as foreman of a garage where this van was previously serviced expressed surprise when I told him that I had replaced the battery not long after I bought the vehicle. He said that they had replaced it the previous year! It was through this friend that I got to know of and bought the motorhome, an Autosleeper EK based on the Peugeot Boxer chassis.

When we were in Twinwood (until Tuesday) the battery was always between about 12.5V and 13V and I checked the “Hab Battery Drain” via the electronic control panel and it never showed any drain at all whilst we were there. Since coming home and parking the vehicle on the drive the battery is reading 13.7V and this morning the “Hab Battery Drain” is showing a drain of 1 to 2 blocks out of a 7 block scale! So…..when it’s fully charged with nothing switched on (Control Panel for habitation supply switched off) something appears to be using the leisure battery power. I am not sure how the vehicle alarm is wired (you might have guessed that I’m no expert when it comes to electrics!) but we have had some problems with that and recently had a new solenoid fitted to the habitation door. (The old one had seized up due to water ingress).

When the new battery arrives I will fit it and see whether it makes any difference. If it doesn’t I might have a brand new Yuasa L35/115 for sale if anyone is interested!

 

[Lenny HB]

What charging unit is in your van?

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

I’ll just get the manual!

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[Nutrocker Pat]

Solar controller

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

Hi Lenny

 

[Nutrocker Pat]

The red writing was written by the previous owner. I disregarded the spurious advice given and have replaced with a 20 A fuse when I replaced the complete fuse holder.