Lowest leisure battery volts on load?

TravellingGuys

Guest
Hi guys,

On a light load running say a TV and a LED light (or anything really), how low do you allow the batteries to go before shutting them off?
 
If you go by what the manufacturers of MPPT solar controllers and the like
state then 11.7v - 11.8v seems to be the figures they go for, before automatic
load disconnection with reconnection at 12.6v. My German made HQ controller
actually had a 10.7v cut off, but was a misprint (oh yeh) apparently should have been 11.1v.
Still too low, to some.

Leisure batteries can withstand a greater number of deep discharges having generally 6
thick plates, rather than the thinner 12 plates found in starter batts.
I personally try not to make a habit of going below 12v, even with just an LED light on.
 
Cheers both :)

I set mine the go off at 12v but my main battery has been playing up so was wondering how far to push it. Think it must be on the way out anyway. I put the tv on last night with nothing else one to see how long the battery lasted, tv draws 1.7 amp and I didn’t even get 6 hours before the controller shut it off.
 
Last edited:
Six hrs of tv and i would be in the mental house,you need to get out more.:lol-053::wave:
 
Ha yeah the tv is rarely on other than hour or so at bed, it was just the easiest thing to use as a test, if I used the led lights I could of been here till next week, the fridge is on/off but TV is a steady constant draw of 1.7 so I chose that.
 
TV sucks

My Avtex tv sucks the life out of my batteries. 260aH does not go far with the telly on.
Pack of cards and we can go a week.
 
Lol, I shouldn’t of mentioned the TV in my original post.:rolleyes:
 
battery volts.jpg
 
Thanks R4dent,

So it seems people just stick to the off load numbers. I mean when on load there is a drop in volts so that’s not the actual true level of the battery (maybe it is and I’m mistaken) but say I plug in something and the volts drop to 12.4 then I unplug it the volts could go back up to say 12.8, so the 12.4 was never a true reading.... I was just questioning if on load readings are not true readings do people allow the volts to drop a little more than is recommended off load.

Edit: Just to point out I wasn’t referring to putting on high power items for a short time when of course there will be a drop, I was more wondering about light load items, lights tv etc over a longer period.
 
Last edited:
TravellingGuys said:
Thanks R4dent,

So it seems people just stick to the off load numbers. I mean when on load there is a drop in volts so that’s not the actual true level of the battery (maybe it is and I’m mistaken) but say I plug in something and the volts drop to 12.4 then I unplug it the volts could go back up to say 12.8, so the 12.4 was never a true reading.... I was just questioning if on load readings are not true readings do people allow the volts to drop a little more than is recommended off load.

Edit: Just to point out I wasn’t referring to putting on high power items for a short time when of course there will be a drop, I was more wondering about light load items, lights tv etc over a longer period.
Click to expand...

It is the level of true volts if only for a couple of minutes, but no indication really
of the Amperage remaining. Putting a reasonable load on as you say is more indicative of
the actual voltage reality.
 
TravellingGuys said:
Thanks R4dent,

So it seems people just stick to the off load numbers. I mean when on load there is a drop in volts so that’s not the actual true level of the battery (maybe it is and I’m mistaken) but say I plug in something and the volts drop to 12.4 then I unplug it the volts could go back up to say 12.8, so the 12.4 was never a true reading.... I was just questioning if on load readings are not true readings do people allow the volts to drop a little more than is recommended off load.

Edit: Just to point out I wasn’t referring to putting on high power items for a short time when of course there will be a drop, I was more wondering about light load items, lights tv etc over a longer period.
Click to expand...

Agreed if there is a significant load on the battery the voltage will appear to be much lower.

For example if you look at the voltage of a starter battery when starting a diesel, with the engine from cold the voltage might read only 10 volts.
 
So for example if it was recommended to not let the battery to drop below 12v OFF load, if there was a light load say from a tv or lights what do people feel would be a save volt number to go down to without doing the batteries in, remembering that as soon as the TV or whatever goes off the volts will go back up. Or would damage still be done by allowing it to go below 12v while on load?

I will try run it down to 12.2 tonight with tv on then see what it rebounds to after switching it off.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top