mids Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Hi still learing about motorhoming .garage has had van and let the lesiure battery discharge fullly will this harm the battery? Charged it up reading 13.5 volts has dropped to 12.5 in 48 hours with nothing turned on is this normal? Been onthe drive since november dont remember the gauge moving in that time .van brand new in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 A fully charged lead acid battery should read around 12.6v. with gel cell and AGM ones reading a little higher. It takes a good while (technical term!) for the charger voltage of 13.8-14.5v to drop of the plates. At 12.5v after 48 hours I'd say that there isn't much wrong with your leisure battery (although you haven't stated the type) especially as there may still be a small load upon it from the control panel etc. But, yes, fully discharging a battery will reduce its life, as will any kind of discharge; a battery has only so many charge-discharge cycles in it and every discharge however small reduces its capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mids Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks for your reply the master switch is in rhe off position but the main lounge light switch was on would this cause a slight drain of battery now turned off.would you expect battery to remain charged if nothing turned on. As mentioned has never dropped below 12.5 v went on hoilday for a month in november came back hadnt drooped .dont know how garage let it drain to nothing in two weeks..worried they have now reuined a 5 month old battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Ask the dealer to replace it then. A new van should have a new battery that has not been damaged by complete discharge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Hi, when you charge a battery thee is a thing called free surface voltage, to get 12.6 volts into a battery you have to put in between 13.8 and 14.4. After you stop charging the battery will stabilise around 12.6/12.8 though different types of battery will differ. Many things can cause voltage drop, this time of the year cold is one of them. If you make sure everything is turned off disconnect the negative terminal and put a volt meter set to amps, usually it says ten amps max and see of you get a reading put the red lead to the battery and the black lead to the wire. If you have Beeb charging the battery I would turn the charger off and wait a couple of hours as when you connect or disconnect the battery there is always the chance of a spark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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