Leisure battery diagnosis please (1 Viewer)

[Jewellbags]

Not in hook last light . When we arrived yesterday and also when I checked later in the afternoon both the batteries were showing as full and the solar appearing to work fine . This morning the leisure battery is almost depleted but left nothing in other that the 12 v lighting system . It’s a normal cell type battery about 2 years old .

Thoughts ? Also if the fridge is running on gas how much power does that take during the night ?

 

[ianto999]

Not in hook last light . When we arrived yesterday and also when I checked later in the afternoon both the batteries were showing as full and the solar appearing to work fine . This morning the leisure battery is almost depleted but left nothing in other that the 12 v lighting system . It’s a normal cell type battery about 2 years old .

Thoughts ? Also if the fridge is running on gas how much power does that take during the night ?

The fridge on gas only uses tiny amount (the light), are you sure it is running on gas? They pull 120w and will flatten a leisure battery overnight if allowed to (usually there is a fuse you need to put in to allow this) What sort of battery and capacity do you have. If you start the engine, does battery vilatage increase? If you post some pictures of the panel etc it helps people understand more,

 

[DavidG58]

The good news is it will almost certainly only be one of the batteries that has failed. Do you have a multi meter, disconnect one battery then check individual voltages.

Then you can use the one good battery for the rest of the trip, leaving the good battery only connected

I think it’s almost impossible that you have used all the power overnight, we had exactly this scenario ourselves and went a few months on a single battery

 

[Jewellbags]

As an update , assuming leisure battery was flat I started the engine (to get the bed raised ) for 1 minute and now both batteries are showing as about 70% - I realise the engine starting takes a chunk but confused that the other battery should show a healthy charge now .

I don’t my back side from my elbow when it comes to electrics but as we are close to home and here for a few days I’ll run some experiments and keep an eye on it - I might just be out of practice being off EHU .

Would leaving the satellite controller , tv and soundbar on over night drain it a lot ? We did have lights in for 3 hours last night as well . I’ll get the battery tested if it reoccurs

 

[ChrisL]

Without knowing the capacity and type of your leisure battery and what type and wattage of lights you left on it's impossible to say. If you give us a bit more info maybe we can help.

Edit: personally I turn everything off at night that might consume electricity when it's not in use when I'm not on hookup.

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[Langtoftlad]

It might be just the control panel misreporting - really need to check voltage at battery after resting it for an hour, nothing in, nothing out.

 

[Pausim]

Lead acid batteries can become sulphated. This reduces the battery capacity, the bits of the battery that are not sulphated behave normally and will quickly recharge to full voltage but it will go flat again very quickly. Think of it like a water tank full of rocks, not much room left for the water (or electricity in the case of a battery).

 

[Jewellbags]

Great comments guys - I’ll get it checked out after our wee break

 

[PlacidoD]

The good news is it will almost certainly only be one of the batteries that has failed. Do you have a multi meter, disconnect one battery then check individual voltages.

Then you can use the one good battery for the rest of the trip, leaving the good battery only connected

I think it’s almost impossible that you have used all the power overnight, we had exactly this scenario ourselves and went a few months on a single battery

As I read the OPs original post he has just one leisure battery.
My thoughts: A two year old battery could well be goosed. But there is mention in a later post about perhaps having left the satellite and TV on. On my understanding they would create quite a drain.

 

[DavidG58]

As I read the OPs original post he has just one leisure battery.

Just read it again myself and now agree with you that both batteries maybe referred to Hab and Cab

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[Jewellbags]

As I read the OPs original post he has just one leisure battery.
My thoughts: A two year old battery could well be goosed. But there is mention in a later post about perhaps having left the satellite and TV on. On my understanding they would create quite a drain.

We have one engine battery and one habitation battery and yes I left the tv and soundbar on standby and the satellite control box on last night .

 

[scotzsue]

hope it was leaving your tv etc on overnight which was the problem our leisure battery failed when we were away earlier on in the year.

 

[ianto999]

We have one engine battery and one habitation battery and yes I left the tv and soundbar on standby and the satellite control box on last night .

If you get home to ehu, charge ‘fully’ then repeat leaving things on overnight again…
If the same thing happens again does make it more likely to have a battery capacity issue..?

 

[Simon G]

The good news is it will almost certainly only be one of the batteries that has failed. Do you have a multi meter, disconnect one battery then check individual voltages.

Then you can use the one good battery for the rest of the trip, leaving the good battery only connected

I think it’s almost impossible that you have used all the power overnight, we had exactly this scenario ourselves and went a few months on a single battery

Thanks for this suggestion. New van won't even run the fridge overnight (electric only compressor fridge) on 2 x 110Ah LA batteries. I've run them each through two 'recon' cycles on a GTEK mains charger and panel still shows down to 11.5V after an hour, but have not metered them individually, just assumed they're both buggered.

 

[1967bowesj]

Thanks for this suggestion. New van won't even run the fridge overnight (electric only compressor fridge) on 2 x 110Ah LA batteries. I've run them each through two 'recon' cycles on a GTEK mains charger and panel still shows down to 11.5V after an hour, but have not metered them individually, just assumed they're both buggered.

I’d say they are dying, my two 95ah will run the compressor fridge easily, tv is on standby 24/7 lights on a nights charging phones iPads etc.

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[DavidG58]

Thanks for this suggestion. New van won't even run the fridge overnight (electric only compressor fridge) on 2 x 110Ah LA batteries. I've run them each through two 'recon' cycles on a GTEK mains charger and panel still shows down to 11.5V after an hour, but have not metered them individually, just assumed they're both buggered.

Only based on my own experience , we have two leisure batteries and both times we thought they had failed it was only one of them that effectively dragged the combined voltage down way below 11V very quickly

Good luck getting fixed, you might be as well changing both , but just thought you could disconnect one to get you through the weekend

 

[sfrain145]

Thanks for this suggestion. New van won't even run the fridge overnight (electric only compressor fridge) on 2 x 110Ah LA batteries. I've run them each through two 'recon' cycles on a GTEK mains charger and panel still shows down to 11.5V after an hour, but have not metered them individually, just assumed they're both buggered.

They are toast anything below 12.2 v then it’s no good if it’s a lead cell.

Your range for a happy lead cell battery is 12.2v to 12.7v Any less then it will buckle the plates

 

[Sneds]

Two batteries wired in parallel act as one big battery so if one is u/s they both are.
As i have often preached, replace them.
It’s your only option.

 

[pappajohn]

Starting the engine for one minute will not bring dead batteries back to life.
Its like plugging a kettle in for one minute and expecting the water to be anything but luke warm. .