LEISURE BATTERY

carol

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Hi all, I’d love to hear your words of wisdom …
January 2020 I had a new leisure battery from Alpha batteries shipped out to the Algarve. Obviously since then came the year of Covid restrictions so obviously not much use made of the van. I have an 80 watt solar panel and a 100 ah leisure battery. When I was on the last meet my diesel heater wouldn’t come on until the van was running so I know from experience the leisure battery is failing.

After consulting Alpha I realised the battery was still under guarantee. When I asked about the conditions of the guarantee I was asked how I’d maintained the battery and told that I should be taking the battery out once a month to put the battery on mains charge. Given that my battery is under a very heavy drivers seat which I can remove, there is no way I could do that.

So, two questions - out of interest how many of you put your battery on mains charge once a month?
Do you think that if I do get the battery on mains there’s much chance it’ll be restored? How would I know it was and wouldn’t just die on me as soon as I wanted my heater on?

I’m going to Portugal in January and don’t want the risk of ending up with a dud battery again, especially as the cost of buying one in Portugal is expensive and the cost of getting one couriered wouldn’t be the £30 it was pre-Brexit.

Should I just cut my losses and get a new battery?
 
Just a thought to consider once you have sorted out your dud battery. on my previous MH before I modified the charging system I had a slave lead between the batteries under the seat, wired in with a junction on the end that I could then plug in my battery charger. Otherwise I was unable to access those batteries like you. I could then charge them without removal.
 
If you have 80 watt solar and the system is appropriate, it should top up your leisure battery enough when you have no load draining the battery. I am assuming a lead acid battery of some kind as you do not describe the chemistry.
 
carol said:
Hi all, I’d love to hear your words of wisdom …
January 2020 I had a new leisure battery from Alpha batteries shipped out to the Algarve. Obviously since then came the year of Covid restrictions so obviously not much use made of the van. I have an 80 watt solar panel and a 100 ah leisure battery. When I was on the last meet my diesel heater wouldn’t come on until the van was running so I know from experience the leisure battery is failing.

After consulting Alpha I realised the battery was still under guarantee. When I asked about the conditions of the guarantee I was asked how I’d maintained the battery and told that I should be taking the battery out once a month to put the battery on mains charge. Given that my battery is under a very heavy drivers seat which I can remove, there is no way I could do that.

So, two questions - out of interest how many of you put your battery on mains charge once a month?
Do you think that if I do get the battery on mains there’s much chance it’ll be restored? How would I know it was and wouldn’t just die on me as soon as I wanted my heater on?

I’m going to Portugal in January and don’t want the risk of ending up with a dud battery again, especially as the cost of buying one in Portugal is expensive and the cost of getting one couriered wouldn’t be the £30 it was pre-Brexit.

Should I just cut my losses and get a new battery?
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You don't have to take the battery to the charger - you take the charger to the battery.

The assumption that the battery is failing as the diesel heater would not come on is flawed. It may be failing, it may just not be charged enough. It may actually be charged fairly well, but the heater was not fitted with sufficiently beefy cable (having to start the engine to bring the voltage up to start a diesel heater is not a rare occurance by any means as they are very voltage intolerant and also often poorly installed which makes the situation worse).

How much driving do you do a day?
How much power do you use a day? an 80W panel is pretty minimal (Remember you will only be getting the 80W on sunny days in Summer around noon. Other times of the day it will be less and a lot less often).
How are you monitoring the battery level?

Putting the battery on a mains charge once a month is actually very little I would say. I sounds like you have no mains charger if you cannot simply plug in to an EHU supply. I would suspect you probably don't have a B2B and are relying on a basic relay setup to charge when you do drive - these don't charge the battery fully; and I suspect with just an 80W panel, your solar controller is a simple PWM one as well.
I honestly think you don't just want to think about if you need a new battery but if you need to get the general charging setup improved (of course my assumptions on what you have may well be totally wrong).
 
SimonM said:
Just a thought to consider once you have sorted out your dud battery. on my previous MH before I modified the charging system I had a slave lead between the batteries under the seat, wired in with a junction on the end that I could then plug in my battery charger. Otherwise I was unable to access those batteries like you. I could then charge them without removal.
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Thanks, definitely something to think about.
 
spigot said:
Carol, you don’t have to lug the battery about, just put the van on hook up.
Surely that is mains charging.
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I can’t do that as I haven’t a drive and it would mean trailing a lead across the pavement. Plus, it would still mean removing that seat which I can’t do. When I was younger I used to get home from work, remove the battery, charge overnight and put back next morning! That was many moons ago and t was a car …
 
AllanD said:
There is a possibility that your battery hasn't failed completely, although it won't be in the best of health having not received much charge. If it is a good quality battery it may respond well to a smart battery charger with reconditioning/de-sulphation settings on it. What battery did you get from Alpha?
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Hi Allan, thanks for the reply. It’s a Yuasa. I’m pretty restricted in choice because I had the bed modified to take a bigger than 80 ah so I’m limited to a particular size.
 
I suggest you get your van somewhere where you can plug in EHU and give the battery a full overnight charge. Then remove EHU and try your diesel heater. Assuming your heater fores up ok, turn it off and then leave just your TV on permanently and keep trying your heater temporary again every couple of hours.
This will give you a reasonable idea of potential battery capacity and how well your heater will perform.
Preferably on a cloudy day with no solar input to add confusion. Recharge your battery fully when you're done.
Merl
 
carol said:
Hi Allan, thanks for the reply. It’s a Yuasa. I’m pretty restricted in choice because I had the bed modified to take a bigger than 80 ah so I’m limited to a particular size.
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If it's a Yuasa 100ah battery from Alpha I'd guess it is the EFB Leisure Battery (L36-EFB) which is a very good one. Definitely worth a try getting your hands on a smart charger to see if that will revive it.
 
Hi carrol I doubt your sollar panel would put anything in your battery as there has been no sun ? 24 hours on hook up or battery charger may sort it , or may be your sollar has failed ,time to buy Tom a pint ?
 
Hi Carol,

Don't know where you are, but maybe there’s a member on here can give you a place to park and get EHU for a while.

I‘m near Towcester if thats any good and I’ve space.

Otherwise dependent on the pavement you could simply set up a pole in front of the house and run the cable overhead leaving the path free.
 
Boris7 said:
Hi Carol,

Don't know where you are, but maybe there’s a member on here can give you a place to park and get EHU for a while.

I‘m near Towcester if thats any good and I’ve space.

Otherwise dependent on the pavement you could simply set up a pole in front of the house and run the cable overhead leaving the path free.
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WE had a lady do that here to her back shed over a right of way path, fire brigade inspector was out and told her to remove unless about a cert hight as it may impede in case of services requiring access, and m inlaws boiler fitter did the same with new pipes, had to be moved.
 
Depending which drive it’s on my MH blocks the pavement, the left drive is preferable as it’s easy to get on and off and doesn’t restrict access to the garage, but does mean the pavement is blocked.

But since it’s at the top of a cul-de-sac no one’s walked that pavement since we moved here in 1997, and most likely since the street was built in 1952.

Its all down to circumstances.
 
witzend said:
would this do across the pavement i've seen them in use in similar situations

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Again it’s all dependent on the circumstances, in a nearby village I pass a MH that is parked outside a house and completely blocks pedestrian access to a side road, has done for years. But since there are no houses further up on his road and no public transport in that village no one walks the pavement, so I’m guessing as much as he’s out of order, no one is complaining.
 
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