Leisure battery (1 Viewer)

[Simon Meadwell]

So we have been having problems with the batteries in summer going flat after a period . We have two batts and one solar panel.
Had them checked friday and they were holding charge.
Off grid friday frugal with power odd light on pump for loo and tv for 1.5 hours.
Saturday loo again two showers the out all day. Came home 1630 30 mins of tv put heat on gas had a snooze batts failed no power down to 11v. Used torches then batts back upto 12v so lights and tv working now.
Any ideas?

 

[arthur49]

How old are they? Type eg lead acid, Gel, AGM, Lithium.

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Lead acid two years old.
Currently no lights on panel but tv working!

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Lead acid two years old.
Currently watching tv but no lights on panel.

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Doubld post apologies.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Swifter]

Have you checked all the fuses ?

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Had in at specialst motorhome guy would of thought he checked them. Plus it all works the goes off after a while.

 

[Lenny HB]

If you got some e to test them they would have do e a CCA test which is starter battery test which is totally irrelevant for a leisure battery.

You need to do a slow discharge test preferably on each battery seperately.

To do a discharge test:-

First charge the battery fully and leave it to settle for an hour then:-
Disconnect all charging methods.

For example if it's a 100a/h battery load it with a 5 amp load and run for 5 hours, this will represent a 25% discharge. (adjust load/time to suit the size of the battery)
Disconnect the load and leave to stand for at least 30 min then measure the voltage.
Repeat the test and you will have discharged the battery to 50%.
You can repeat again then it will be 75% discharged.

 

[DBK]

Are you able to monitor the voltage during the day? I'm guessing you don't have a battery monitor which will show what current is going into or out of the batteries so checking the voltage during the day when the solar panel might be doing something will give an indication of the state of charge.

Anything over 13 volts will be an indication the solar panel is working. You may have to turn things off to see this unless the sun is shining very strongly. If you are seeing 12.5 volts or less for long periods during the day the batteries are not being charged. This may be because of the lack of sun, too heavy a load or a failed solar system.

As it gets dark turn everything off and check the battery voltage after 15 minutes, longer if possible. If it's 12.5 or above this suggests the batteries are well charged. If, despite a high starting voltage it all goes pear shaped during the evening my thoughts are your batteries are dead. They may be almost new but if they have been heavily discharged a few times they may be damaged.

As a sort of summary the problem might be a failed solar system or dead batteries as the usage you describe shouldn't flatten the batteries so quickly.

 

[Vanman]

Possibly a silly question ... are you using gas or leccy to heat the water for the showers?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[B-well]

Is it not your heating fan thats making a drain, both on heating start up and whilst running.

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Hi sorry for delay phone went dead and couldn’t charge it.
Regards heating everything running on gas that can be.
This happened in the heatwave of august batteries went flat after little use on fifth day of holiday.