Leisure Battery

[KD1]

I am now touring in Spain-where the weather is not very good-plenty of Rain.

Yesterday I had to have a new Leisue Battery fitted. It is AGM 140 AH. Obviosly it was not fully charged-as it was out of the Box. The battery is being charged through hook up on a Site. The reading this morning was 53ah-5 hours later it is still only 64ah. Do I have to stay on hook up until it is up to 112ah-80% of the usable capacity of the battery?

Can any of you experts advise me of what course I need to follow-as at this rate it will take days to fully charge.Normally I only use the Leisure Battery, and am waiting till next week to have the second battery fitted-as he only had 1 in stock. I did have 2 140ah fitted before. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Iain Strachan]

Keith, first I am no expert, but its a bit difficult to grasp whats up from your post. Are you replacing both of the batteries? Is the other one of the old pair still connected? Are you still using all your 12volt electrics while trying to charge the new battery?

Cheers Iain

[KD1]

Regarding the above-I have removed the 2 old batteries. Only 1 has been fitted as yet-no 12v items are being used. But I am just finding it slow to charge-even though it is only being charged via the hook-up.

My main concern was the length of time to charge . But possibly this is only to be expected,considering the charging is done via the on-board charger.

[crinklystarfish]

Bit confused also. Do you normally have a hook-up or are you only hooked-up because of your battery situation. If you are not normally on hook up how do you charge the batteries?

 

If you normally stay hooked up go nuts, the battery will keep steadily charging while you get on with life.

 

If you aren't normally hooked up, what's your usual charging regime? Do you just drive, do you have solar power, a generator?

[KD1]

Sorry to confuse. I always charge my Batteries via my Solar Panels-but i needed to charge this new Battery quickly-so went on hook-up. Reading now at 92ah- 100% full-??

Do not understand why it says full, as I put in the correct new reading to be set at 112ah -which is 80% of the capacity of the 140ah battery. More confusion on my part!!!

[KeithR]

does charging set to gel or lead/acid make a difference.?

[Brambles]

Firstly the battery should have been charged straight out of the box or at least 80%.

It could however have been old stock and been in store for over 18 months, self dicharged and then been damaged through sulphation. As you are fitting two batteries you want them to be of similar age and one which may even be over 2 years old supplied and paired to new freshly stocked one recenlty made is not acceptable whenpaymg good money for brand new batteries. I suggest you have the supplier fit two fresh new stock batteries.

Stockists should check their batteries and make sure they never discharge below 12.6 volts and trickle charge them full again. But all too often battery sellers to not watch their stock, especially in smaller shops and outlets and a surprisingly large number of people get supplied with aged and damaged stock. Always buy fresh batteries from a stockist with high turnover or recently supplied batteries.

Lead acid batteries should always be supplied fully charged, and you should only have taken a a few hours to get it recharged to maximum capacity. The only exception to this is a flooded wet battery which is filled with acid just prior to being delivered by the distributor. Then distributors do not always let the acid settle and then top up the charge, but again will usually be around the 90% charge level. AGM, Gel or sealed flooded are filled by the manufacturer and the fully top up charged.

 

There is another possibilty you have an intelligent charger which calculates the charge available from what it has fed into the battery and then monitors what is removed. It is possible removing both batteries reset the electronics and it is yet to sort itself out as it does not now know the capacity of the battery fitted....just a possibilty. You need to know if there is a calibration setting on the control panel for entering the Amperehours fitted. Change this to 140 and then it may read correcty as may have defaulted to a much lower value

[Frankkia]

I see you have a Frankia which will have the Schaudt charger and display.

 

And there I think is your problem. Note that tit will show the No of Ahs with a ? mark next to it. - Ignore it. The best way to check the battery state is look at the voltage at rest (neither being charged or on load). Check it a few hours after it has not been used either for charging or lights, tv etc.

 

If the voltage is over 12.7 you have a fully charged battery.

 

The Schaudt is capable of charging your 140 Ah battery overnight but the readout will be confused by the solar panels also charging the battery. It will also be confused if it was set up for 2 X 140 Ah batteries and there is now only 1. In the "MENUE" section you need to tell the unit the total battery storage capacity - ie 2 X 140 = 280 or in the temporary case 1 X 140 = 140.

[Iain Strachan]

Keith, Good advice, as you are not expecting the other battery for 6 days, I would return to the retailer, tell him of the problem, and suggest that, he fits 2 new ones when they arrive. Resetting the panel once fitted.

Did you have AMG batteries before?

Good luck

.

[KD1]

Thank you for your replies.At present i am using the 1 new battery, and even though I have re-set the Schaudt panel to 140ah, and also tried 112ah which is 80% of the useable capacity of the 140ah battery, it still reds 100% full at 92ah. The reading today was 13.3a ,as no t much sun. Before thge new battery , I did have wet batteries, and have checked the charger is on this setting,and not Gel. Hoping to have the other 2 new batteries mid week-so hope to get it sorted then. Thanks.

[Derek Uzzell]

I can't say I'd be particularly concerned about accurate control-panel readouts with just one leisure-battery connected. As the system previously comprised 2 x 140Ah batteries and the control-panel (presumably) produced acceptable readings, I'd wait until the 2nd battery was in place and then reprogram the control-panel accordingly. If there's concern as to whether the replacement battery is reaching full charge, then (as Frankkia advises) checking the voltage of the battery would confirm this. Doing so might involve disconnecting the battery for (as Frankkia also mentions) the presence of the solar panels, and use of the battery to provide power for habitation services, are likely to 'skew' control-panel charge readings.

 

Regarding charging AGM batteries, if a battery-charger has a 'wet' or gel selection capability, there seem to be differences of opinion as to which setting should be chosen for an AGM battery. The consensus appears to be that the 'wet' setting should be chosen, but Banner recommends an AGM/Gel charging regimen for their range of AGM batteries.

 

http://www.bannerbatterien.com/banner/produkte/batterien/running_bull/running_bull_agm/Running-Bull-AGM3.php

 

I asked Banner about this and was told that using a 'wet' regimen to charge one of their AGM batteries would be OK. This is unsurprising, as a 'wet' charging regimen is less rigorous than a gel regimen, thus would not harm an AGM battery but might not allow it to attain full charge. Certainly charging a 'wet' battery using a gel regimen could cause problems, though. It's something that KD1 may want to ask the Spanish battery supplier about.

[KD1]

Thank you all for your input-all replies greatly appreciated. Good news- 2 new Batteries fitted yesterday-correct reading now on panel of 224ah-80% of useable ah . Charging on wet setting as recommended. So a happy ending. Cheers.

[Iain Strachan]

Success, glad that you got it sorted, enjoy the rest of your wander.

Cheers