What is the life of gel batteries? (4 Viewers)

[Revolvor]

The D250S is a dual charger, with MPPT solar and a 20A B2B, charging from the alternator/starter battery. The lower left input is from the alternator/starter battery, the lower right output is to the leisure battery.

I have a. CTEK D250S on my van, but without the Smartpass. It seems to do a good job of charging my 2x 110Ah LA batteries. You cannot change the battery profile, and it is NOT suitable for Lithium. There is a newer version (D250SE) that caters for various batteries, including Lithium.

 

[ChrisL]

I had three lead carbon gel batteries from Alpha Batteries that lasted less then three years, they started to go down hill after being on hookup for two winters according to the shunt they'd never been lower then 50%, I've now gone to lithium.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

I had three lead carbon gel batteries from Alpha Batteries that lasted less then three years, they started to go down hill after being on hookup for two winters according to the shunt they'd never been lower then 50%, I've now gone to lithium.

Did they replace them under warranty as they have a 5 year guarantee?

 

[ChrisL]

Did they replace them under warranty as they have a 5 year guarantee?

No, if you look at the guarantee sheet it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

No, if you look at the guarantee sheet it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

That doesn't look good. I haven't even got a shunt !
Did you try to get them replaced or not bother?

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[ChrisL]

That doesn't look good. I haven't even got a shunt !
Did you try to get them replaced or not bother?

I didn't bother as it would have cost £60 to ship the three batteries back and they would most likely have refused the claim anyway. I chalked it down to experience and Offgrid recycled them for me when they installed the Fogstar Drift.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

OK next update!
I got home after driving 4 hours & left the tv & all the lights on & everything was fine for 2 hours!
Next day I plugged into the mains & charged them all day & that night left everything on for 4 hours & still ok!
They were just flat I thought but today I tried my lads MK capacity tester on them (after a full charge) one after the other and the one gave 15% and the other 14% so both obviously knackered
I'm just trying a pulse charger to see if it makes any difference but I doubt it

just realised there was audio - luckily I didn't swear!

 

[Ducatian]

OK next update!
I got home after driving 4 hours & left the tv & all the lights on & everything was fine for 2 hours!
Next day I plugged into the mains & charged them all day & that night left everything on for 4 hours & still ok!
They were just flat I thought but today I tried my lads MK capacity tester on them (after a full charge) one after the other and the one gave 15% and the other 14% so both obviously knackered
I'm just trying a pulse charger to see if it makes any difference but I doubt it

View attachment 956388
just realised there was audio - luckily I didn't swear!

View attachment 956389

Those voltage readings of 10.6 and 9.6 volts are rather consistent with dead batteries.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Presumably you've followed standard advice about separating the pair of batteries - just in case only one is goosed and is dragging the other one down?

Having just had 2 gels fitted, I'm rather hoping they'll last a bit longer than 2 years

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

Those voltage readings of 10.6 and 9.6 volts are rather consistent with dead batteries.

Those are the readings as the tester has finished testing them

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[TheLifeofBrian]

Presumably you've followed standard advice about separating the pair of batteries - just in case only one is goosed and is dragging the other one down?

Having just had 2 gels fitted, I'm rather hoping they'll last a bit longer than 2 years

Yes they were both charged & tested separately.

 

[headlight]

I'm still trying to find the cause.....
Could it just be I've taken too much power out of them? I don't really see how, even if I had the satellite & TV on, plus stereo & various chargers for several hours I don't think that would have been more than 15 amps, so even for 5 hours that's only 75 amps (or has my maths failed after 40+ years since school ) & there are 2 x 110 ah batteries!! Couple that with overcast weather so not much solar power....
I think I'll speak to the battery supplier tomorrow (alpha batteries) & see what they suggest. We're booked into Malvern in 2 weeks so need to get it sorted asap!
Also I'll try testing them individually & see what the results are

If they have died & get replaced I might sell them & bite the bullet & get a lithium - partly to save weight!

Thank you all for your help - excellent Funster advice as usual

If you use your inverter the problem isn't the total amps drawn but the speed at which they are drawn especially with other electrical items being used at the same time.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

The CTEK D250S charges the leisure battery from the alternator at 20A, and the CTEK Smartpass boosts this by another 80A to make 100A total. I don't know what size your two Gel batteries are, but I suspect that might be too much for them. For the best long-term battery life, the charging amps should be limited to C/5, where C is the battery capacity. So for two 100Ah gels, that would be 200/5 = 40A. A bit extra might be OK, but I think 20 + 80 = 100A might be too much.

I have just spoken to CTEK & they say:
The CTEK chargers only put in what is required so unless the batteries were discharged all the time then yes but then the voltage and current does drop off and when fully charged the charger switches off.
So that shouldn't have damaged the batteries - the EBL is also set to GEL so I still have no idea what could have caused them to fail???

 

[Coolcats]

Hi all,
Anyone any idea what could kill my gel batteries in only 18 months?
April last year I changed both batteries as the old AGMs had died - we got 110ah gel batteries from Alpha & they have been absolutely great all year but got to the Lincoln show Thursday (no ehu) & by Friday night they had both dropped to 11v
When the sun comes out they read up to 14v but turn a tap on & they drop like a brick to 12v
I've tried disconnecting one of them to see if it's just one dragging the other down but last night (Saturday) it dropped so low it turned the control panel off & the sun had been shining all day & the only thing plugged in was our 2 phones.

This is virtually the same thing that happened to the last pair of AGM batteries!
The only thing I can think is I tried the inverter (that is wired in) with a coffee machine but it wasn't big enough so turned it off.
It's a 600w pure sine inverter with a remote switch:
View attachment 953502

Other than that the Lincoln show is great

Any ideas anyone please?
Cheers Chris

Mine are now 7 years old and still fine 2x95Ah

 

[autorouter]

The CTEK chargers only put in what is required

So, did CTEK give you a number for the amps that will go into a pair of gel batteries discharged to say 50%? I think it will be 20A + 80A = 100A. What amps do they say?

Have you measured the charging amps yourself with a clamp meter? I would imagine the lad who services wheelchairs has one. If not, you know what to buy him for Christmas.

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