new battery time again

I did not accuse David of advising me to buy an unsuitable battery; what I said was that my search found that email but it turns it that was the wrong email and I corrected myself as soon as I could. The gorilla glue thing is correct, that stuff is nowhere near as good as they say it is and I relied on it being as good as they say it is and it let me down badly and caused a major trauma.

Until I got the battery out this afternoon and was able to look at it, I did not know which battery it was and I had certainly forgotten what it was that I installed some months ago . I am rather old and my memory is somewhat dodgy. To accuse me of accusing David whose input I respect greatly, is just wrong.

I think that battery needs replacing and unless anyone can tell me of any way I can confirm the condition of it and find out what other fault might be causing my problem, that is what I shall do, so any comments anyone?
 
Harrytherid said:
I did not accuse David of advising me to buy an unsuitable battery; what I said was that my search found that email but it turns it that was the wrong email and I corrected myself as soon as I could. The gorilla glue thing is correct, that stuff is nowhere near as good as they say it is and I relied on it being as good as they say it is and it let me down badly and caused a major trauma.

Until I got the battery out this afternoon and was able to look at it, I did not know which battery it was and I had certainly forgotten what it was that I installed some months ago . I am rather old and my memory is somewhat dodgy. To accuse me of accusing David whose input I respect greatly, is just wrong.

I think that battery needs replacing and unless anyone can tell me of any way I can confirm the condition of it and find out what other fault might be causing my problem, that is what I shall do, so any comments anyone?
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Harrytherid said:
when I got to Leicester it did not last the night with almost nothing running
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You said the battery read 13.25v after being disconnected for a few hours, did you mean disconnected from the charger? if so and whatever you're using to measure the voltage is reasonably accurate then the battery was indeed fully charged. The most likely culprit for draining a good battery in a few hours would be the fridge, normally that would auto disconnect from the 12V source when the engine isn't running so for the fridge to drain the battery while you were static the fridge relay would have to have welded it's self shut AND you'd have to have left the fridge set to battery, highly unlikely?
From what you've posted it seems you gave it a really good charge and then it didn't last long running very little, on the face of it that's a knackered battery BUT it seems strange that a lead carbon should fail after such a short time. If it has then you've certainly got a claim under warranty.
So, was that 13.25V while the battery was still charging or while it was resting?
How did you measure 13.25V?
Did you definitely turn the fridge off 12V when you parked up?
How many hours do you think the battery lasted while parked up?
Do you have any other high load appliances such as an inverter?
AND the most important question......why on earth are you camping in Leicester? 🤣🤣 (I can say that cos I live there🤭)
 
merl said:
You said the battery read 13.25v after being disconnected for a few hours, did you mean disconnected from the charger? if so and whatever you're using to measure the voltage is reasonably accurate then the battery was indeed fully charged. The most likely culprit for draining a good battery in a few hours would be the fridge, normally that would auto disconnect from the 12V source when the engine isn't running so for the fridge to drain the battery while you were static the fridge relay would have to have welded it's self shut AND you'd have to have left the fridge set to battery, highly unlikely?
From what you've posted it seems you gave it a really good charge and then it didn't last long running very little, on the face of it that's a knackered battery BUT it seems strange that a lead carbon should fail after such a short time. If it has then you've certainly got a claim under warranty.
So, was that 13.25V while the battery was still charging or while it was resting?
How did you measure 13.25V?
Did you definitely turn the fridge off 12V when you parked up?
How many hours do you think the battery lasted while parked up?
Do you have any other high load appliances such as an inverter?
AND the most important question......why on earth are you camping in Leicester? 🤣🤣 (I can say that cos I live there🤭)
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Thanks Merl. This morning the battery is showing 13.02v via my Skytronic Multi meter. By disconnected I mean sat on the cab floor with no wires to or from it. My fridge is never on 12v, only gas though the issue is slightly clouded by the fact that there is power on to it for the electronics and the ignition system. Looks as though I shall have to reconnect the battery having disconnected everything else then see how many amps each thing draws down when reconnected. I shall get back to you when I have done my checking. That checking will be running each item through the meter with the EHU unconnected and with the item switched off, is that OK or will the meter object?

Why Leicester? I park outside my daughter's house, overlooking Braunstone park, so that we can visit her and her family. Don't ask why she lives there when she is a qualified diving instructor (that is her with the hood alongside me with freezing head under that shark) and misses the sea terribly and Leicester is just about as far as you can get from it in this country. That is a long and complicated story. She is now a council swimming teacher with two very nice little boys.
 
Harrytherid said:
Looks as though I shall have to reconnect the battery having disconnected everything else then see how many amps each thing draws down when reconnected.
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Yes, you can do that or simply connect the whole lot up and check, if that doesn't show excess current (and I don't think it will) then there's nothing else to check and the battery is knackered. (13v while resting is a fully charged battery BTW).
I'd re connect, turn on the TV, check the current and then see how long it takes to deplete the battery. If it's as bad as you're indicating then contact the supplier and request a return/ refund/ replacement.
Braunstone park area is where Kim and her family are from, we were there just a few days ago for the wake of her mum. It gets a bit of a bad rap but the people there are actually salt of the earth material and generally lovely. I'd have no issues living there personally BUT it is a long way to the sea😊
 
If the battery was allowed to short circuit itself due to the +ve terminal coming into prolonged contact with seat metalwork (this is what I am reading happening, anyway), then that would not have done the battery any good at all.
I don't know if it is fair to blame a battery as an early life failure when it was mistreated in that way.
 
merl said:
Yes, you can do that or simply connect the whole lot up and check, if that doesn't show excess current (and I don't think it will) then there's nothing else to check and the battery is knackered. (13v while resting is a fully charged battery BTW).
I'd re connect, turn on the TV, check the current and then see how long it takes to deplete the battery. If it's as bad as you're indicating then contact the supplier and request a return/ refund/ replacement.
Braunstone park area is where Kim and her family are from, we were there just a few days ago for the wake of her mum. It gets a bit of a bad rap but the people there are actually salt of the earth material and generally lovely. I'd have no issues living there personally BUT it is a long way to the sea😊
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Her neighbours are all very nice and helpful to us when it comes to parking which with 7 metres plus can be tricky when tired after a long journey, as you say, salt of the earth.
merl said:
don't know what happened there
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wildebus said:
If the battery was allowed to short circuit itself due to the +ve terminal coming into prolonged contact with seat metalwork (this is what I am reading happening, anyway), then that would not have done the battery any good at all.
I don't know if it is fair to blame a battery as an early life failure when it was mistreated in that way.
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Absolutely Dave which is why I think it is probably knackered with justification but I will keep checking to be sure.
 
wildebus said:
If the battery was allowed to short circuit itself due to the +ve terminal coming into prolonged contact with seat metalwork (this is what I am reading happening, anyway), then that would not have done the battery any good at all.
I don't know if it is fair to blame a battery as an early life failure when it was mistreated in that way.
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Missed that part David👍. Yes hardly fair to claim under those circumstances..
 
merl said:
Missed that part David👍. Yes hardly fair to claim under those circumstances..
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I agree which is why I never intended to make a claim and still don't.

Now the situation is that having switched all the controls on though none of the lights etc I detect 0 amps. No, I have forgotten quite what happened so it is no good I shall have to rest what passes for a brain and come back to it tomorrow.
 
Problem, when I try to measure the current with the multi meter the probes and attendant wires get very hot very quickly. There must be a way of doing it, I feel.
 
Harrytherid said:
Problem, when I try to measure the current with the multi meter the probes and attendant wires get very hot very quickly. There must be a way of doing it, I feel.
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The current limit with a multimeter is very limited. The wire in the probes are very thin.
TBH I've never used a multimeter to read current via the probes as the maximum is so low and you have to break into the circuit to do so.
Using a Multimeter with a current clamp function is a much nicer way.
 
wildebus said:
The current limit with a multimeter is very limited. The wire in the probes are very thin.
TBH I've never used a multimeter to read current via the probes as the maximum is so low and you have to break into the circuit to do so.
Using a Multimeter with a current clamp function is a much nicer way.
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Of course, Dave, I assumed that one broke into the circuit to test the current with DC (hence my overheated wires and probes) as without doing so the current can not generate a signal unless it has a fluctuation to create an induction. But will a clamp meter work with DC?
 
Harrytherid said:
Of course, Dave, I assumed that one broke into the circuit to test the current with DC (hence my overheated wires and probes) as without doing so the current can not generate a signal unless it has a fluctuation to create an induction. But will a clamp meter work with DC?
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most clamp meters are AC only, but you can certainly get AC+DC Clamp meters if you check carefully. usually a little more expensive but not massively so.
 
The Clamp meter I have was £30, bought from Amazon in 2017 and still working fine.

No longer available (at least the link from the original order takes you to a dead page) but doing a search on the Amazon site I saw this Clamp meter that looks very good value for money:
71Dzbul-vhL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

£34 but has a 20% discount voucher currently, so takes it down to just over £27 which I reckon is a bit of a bargain. That one also has a temperature probe which could be surprisingly useful I think and also features an "NCV" function which tells you if a mains circuit is live or not (handy quick way to check if a plug fuse is blown or if it is the device failed or the supply failed)

If I didn't have a DC Clamp Meter already, I would be ordering that one today!
 
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