ike Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Hi FolksI will no doubt use incorrect terminology so please bear with me. I recently read an article, I think in MMM, about a product/gizmo which would revitalise/rejuvenate the leisure battery. The idea is that it prolongs the life of the battery thereby saving on the cost of purchasing a new one (or at least delaying it). From memory it was a CAK product but when I phoned them they couln't help as I had no proper product description. We're having problems with one of our leisure batteries and I now cannot find the article. Does anyone recall the article or know of the product? Regards ike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 You can get little tablets that are supposed to rejuvenate the batteries but as far as I know they are not much use. They might help prolong the active life of a good battery but even that is dubious and once it is failing not much will rejuvenate it for long. You probably don't want to hear this but in my humble opinion once a battery is failing the best bet to avoid ongoing aggravation is to bite the bullet and replace it (them). You probably won't like this either but leisure batteries in parallel should all be of identical makes, ages and outputs for best performance - in theory. If budget is an issue and one battery is good why not get a similar size car battery from a breaker to tide you over because in spite of all the 'best practice' theory many folks get away with an odd combination of dissimilar batteries for years without any problems! Is this what you mean? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Granville-Bat-Aid-Tablets-Prolongs-and-Restores-Battery_W0QQitemZ160541931025QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=231177829228&rvr_id=231177829228&cguid=d9da1b2912f0a0aa12471c77ffe2e19d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thanks for that Tracker. It wasn't little tablets (need some of those myself though!). It was an electronic gizmo ( I think). You're probably right.We bought a second battery 3 years ago when we bought the van to supplement the then existing battery which I assume had been in the van since new (a 54 model). Perhaps at that point we should have bought two new ones. Question is do we now bite the bullet and buy two new ones?ike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 The gizmo you are talking about is an electronics device which works to rejuvenate a battery by applying high voltage spikes, or a square wave pulses, drawing the power from the actuall battery itself. It is supposed to help break down hard sulphation. Some batteries can be helped by this but there is nothing you can do once a battery has started to shed lead from the plates and any rejuvenation tends to be short term. Batteries which have merely sulphated but hardly used have much better chance of recovery and using high voltage often makes them usuable again. Batteries in Parallel can be of varioius capacities and ideally should be within 20% of each other.Anoher way of looking at it is one size difference. So an 80Ah could be in parrallel with a 100Ah, or a 60 with a 80. You can use completely different sizes but the probem is if one battey should fail and say it is the smaller then the larger can feed power into and make it fry ...literally. So say 10AH in parrallel with a 100Ah is a no no from the long term safety point of view should the 10AH go short circuit in one of the cells. The batteries do need to be of a similar type to maximise life and performance, and ideally be no more than a year age difference. Agian comes down to one aging and preventing the better one charging properly or making the other do most of the work. So you cannot mix say gel with flooded and also similar chemistries must be used so full charge voltages and discharge charecteristcs are similar and easiest way to achieve this is to use two of the same make and type. Back to the Electronic battery desulphator, Battery saver or similar. There are many chargers now that use similar technology of applying square wave voltages to help desulphate a battrey and you might be better investing in one of them. Ctek are an example. To be honest, if you are having problems with one of your batteries then it is probably time to replace it an probably the other one as well. As Tracker as mentioned you could try and get hold of a cheap battery to parallel up with the existing 'good' one but ecomomically might not be worth it. better to buy two new battereis and then read up about how to maintain your batteries fully charged, such as using a trickle charger on all the time when laid up, or charging say once a fortnight for a few hours, indeed even charging fully and disconnecting. However having said all the above, have you checked the acid levels, and tried to give it a decent charge overnight, maybe all that is wrong is it needs topping up, and many people murder their batteries by not topping up and allowing the acid to drop below the top of the plates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 ike - 2011-05-10 1:53 PMThanks for that Tracker. It wasn't little tablets (need some of those myself though!). It was an electronic gizmo ( I think). You're probably right.We bought a second battery 3 years ago when we bought the van to supplement the then existing battery which I assume had been in the van since new (a 54 model). Perhaps at that point we should have bought two new ones. Question is do we now bite the bullet and buy two new ones?ikeErmm...Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Oh yes, and give Tracker you old ones, he likes to use as door stops, or earrings or something like that. What you could do is, if you always have plenty of power from one battery, is carry on with it until it fails. But I suspect as you have two you need the capcacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Brambles - 2011-05-10 2:27 PM Oh yes, and give Tracker you old ones, he likes to use as door stops, or earrings or something like that. What you could do is, if you always have plenty of power from one battery, is carry on with it until it fails. But I suspect as you have two you need the capcacity. Thanks Jon - please post any spare batteries to me recorded delivery, and if you have any spare sink plugs I collect them like Dave collects wooden spoons and Peter collects shirts from Red Cross shops! It does occur to me that if one battery is poor and t'other is good is the connection between them clean, sound and with a good fuse with tight connections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Hi Ike From memory, the article was in PM (technical) by Dave Newell, who had a piece of equipment he was testing, to see if it would rejuvanate a sulphated battery. It must be 3 or 4 years ago & I can't recall seeing the results of the tests, so perhaps that says it all (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Could CAK be CTEK perhaps? In essence you cannot effectively recover cream crackered batteries. Just buy new quality batteries and look after them properly. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilmac Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 A tip to rejuvenate a failing battery has been posted here - http://www.clubmotorhome.co.uk/forum/14-batteries-and-electrical/49-de-sulphate-leisure-batteries.html I've tried this on 2 batteries, one worked and one didn't so I suppose it depends on just how far gone your battery is. But its a very cheap 'fix' so has to be worth a try before buying a new one :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 Thank you all for taking the time to respond. Two new batteries methinks.ike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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