Leisure battery?
Just been down to check daughter's caravan in readiness for new season. Been there since November with no charging what so ever during this period. Out of interest measured battery it is showing 12.39 volts. What does this tell me about the state of it? Any advice welcomed,
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Many thanks you two. That's reassuring, however, although it translates to about 70% charged I wonder what this tells me about its actual condition. Now please appreciate I know little about such things but I recently heard about the use the of a ¿drop test.? which is used to establish the true condition of a battery. What is this and how is it performed? Again, any help towards my understanding would be appreciated.
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As mere mortals we only have voltage as an indication of battery health. It is possible to use a bit of kit that places a high drain on the battery and then measures its CCA (current delivery) profile, this is the only way to determine the true state of battery health. It is possible with new modern digital electronic battery testers to do a simulation of this. These type of kit are service tools and not available to casual users.
If you are concerned then charge the battery, measure the battery voltage, run as much 12v kit as you can in the van for 10 min. Turn everything off and leave it for 20 min. Measure the voltage again. If it stays above 12.5 then generally you have good one assuming you start fully charged at about 12.8v.
Other than this then you will need to run it to a service centre and get them to do CCA and capacity test but you really don't have anything to worry about, batteries tend to be good or bad.
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fully charge the battery and then take it to a local auto spares shop, they should have a drop tester, (it looks like 2 prong with a thick spring in between and a dial meter). they probably won't charge you as only takes 20 secs.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-Bt91-3-Battery-Drop-Tester
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My concern was that I realIy expected the battery to be shot. Guess on this occasion I was being pessimistic. This was compounded by the Storage Owner who dampened my original surprise with a sharp intake of breath and that caveat about just using the initial reading.
I'll do as DD suggests in the first instance, see as it goes and hope for the best for daughter or possibly dad's pocket.
Thanks again to all.
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It sounds fine. Recharge with a smart charger and try and top up more often. Don’t drop test it.
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Without knowing the battery's identity and also with that access to the makers "State of Charge vs non load Voltage" tables, it is guesswork on quoting how charged it is.
However it is evidently not in a "good" condition to be left that low. For the best chance of success recharge ASAP with a charger having a "desulfation" phase, such as most CTEKs.
With the trend nowadays to be using traces of cadmium in the lead alloying on most batteries we are likely to be buying, they have a bit higher voltage throughout the range of SoC than typically the case some years back. Therefore I suggest at 12.39 the battery will be unlikely to be much above 50% charged. As said earlier this is not healthy and will be inevitably ageing the battery quite significantly.
How useful the battery will be for your daughter depends also on what use she asks of it, if she is only an EHU user with modest mover requirements then probably its loss of ability to hold a big charge will go unnoticed. Where it will have ramifications is if her use is extended off EHU camping where retention of capacity is all important.
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My van has what I believe to be a smart system as such. It has factory fitted solar panels as well and automatically switches as needed between leisure and vehicle batteries for charging. I have a good charger at home but down at daughter's that is not available to me.
Deionised or distilled for 'top up'. Pretty sure HG meant charging top up mind but it wasn't clear. There is a very slight discrepancy in levels across the cells but non below the plates.
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If the plates are covered Micky that’s a start but I concur that the battery, having been left that long will not be very healthy. If it were me, I would use distilled water to top up but be careful not to over fill! Try to go to the level of the cell showing the most. Then a smart charger! Hopefully, it will be able to recover it but I’m afraid with a Lead Acid, it can never return it to exactly what it was. There is bound to be some damage - that’s just the way it is. hopefully, not very much. Best of luck mate.
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It is most likely to take a charge and come up to the full voltage, the real test though is "what capacity" it now has.
As said earlier that if always on and EHU with the only ask being the mover, could still be adequate. If off EHU then the loss of capacity becomes an issue.
Hope it all recovers well, the use of a smart charger increases your chances.
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The least technically demanding is if it still performs as it did before or is obviously inadequate, since its mishap.
To measure it properly is very much more complex and needs the makers performance charts, frequently hard to come by. It really gets all too complicated, so I would wait to see if it does what is asked of it adequately, as I assume it once did.
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Relax, I passed out well before charging had really got started although It was me in trickle mode
. I do hope the battery is in a better condition than me this morning. Think I'll leave it on the MH until tomorrow (48hrs). Will update after the weekend as to what appears to be the result. Who knows?0 -
I've run out of 'juice' so will have to nip down the super market to 'top up' on the essentials.
I'll disconnect it and swap back to mine on Saturday evening and then take a reading on Sunday morning before putting it back in the caravan.
Cheers🍷
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Sounds good Micky.
How useful the battery will be for your daughter depends also on what use she asks of it, if she is only an EHU user with modest mover requirements then probably its loss of ability to hold a big charge will go unnoticed. Where it will have ramifications is if her use is extended off EHU camping where retention of capacity is all important. From Ocsid is bang on
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