Cooked Leisure battery ?

[Channa]

Two years ago, I replaced my leisure battery convinced that the old one had become worn out.

Since March this year I have had a permanent mains supply and due to work not really been wilding as such.

Saturday last, I moved into one of our mobiles for a few days, giving me the opportuntity to give the van a good clean and a bit of TLC

By Sunday Lunchtime the batterywas flat and as far as I can tell no &é v appliances running except the water heater which has an electric thermostat .Truma

I switched everything off including the water heater and got the following values with a multi meter.

Voltage of leisure battery connected to mains 13.68 v
immediate reading having disconnected mains 13.48 v
light circuit open water pump circuit open 13.36 v

All circuits off ...no mains from vehicle engine 14.27 v
as above but with three way fridge selected to 12 v ........a reading of 13.82 v

The earth strap on the battery seems sound ....

Is there a fault with the charger not cutting out and allowing the battery to cook ?

The van is a CI riviera 100 euro based on A fiat Ducato chassis ......2002

Thanks in advance

Channa

 

[Byronic]

The voltage readings all seem OK. Are you sure you didn't leave something switched on, we've all done it....... well I have. You could test measure the amps being put into the battery by the charger when the battery is at full charge, and hope to see a drop to zero, providing you've nothing turned on.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Voltage of leisure battery connected to mains 13.68 v

This is normal float voltage and should not cause a battery any problems.

Is the battery a normal flooded cell one, and if so, do you keep an eye on the electrolyte levels?

 

[Channa]

Thanks for the replies guys ...

In terms of switching things off, I made sure the roof aerial thing wasnt draining etc, so I am pretty sure there is nothing switched on .

I have re earthed the gas pipe to be sure etc.

Tony the battery is the sealed for life type...I think so that isnt the issue the only thing on the battery is a vent to let off excess gasses ?

What I think and hopefully wrong i sthat the mains charge has cooked it ....this means two things either

a) my system doesnt have an overcharge facility ...diode ?
b° it does but is faulty .

Naturally i could have a dud battery but gut instinct tells me more to it than that.

Channa

What do i do next to trace the culprit ?

 

[Bigpeetee]

Use a cheap digital multimeter, set to 10A current. You'll hve to move the red positive lead to the 10A hole.

If there is a fuse close to the battery, remove it and plug the multimeter across each terminal, red lead towards the positive terminal, the black towards the load. If you turn a light on, you should get a negative current indication.

If everything is turned off, there should be a 0.0 indication.

After the light has been on for a while, switch it off and strt the engine, you should now see a + charge showing power going into the battery.

Useful to see if anything is drawing current from the battery.

If you can't access the fuse, disconnect the battery terminal and connect the battery leds between the batt terminal and connector.

Be careful not to short the terminal to the chassis.

Obviously, if you are showing a current flow with the engine/charger off, then you need to search out the culprit, fridge light etc???

 

[Rsykes103]

Excellent answer bigpeetee

Couldn't of put it any better myself, spot on. It's good to know how helpful everyone is on this site