Wallynnette Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 My battery is approx. 18 months old, it now wont hold a charge. Its a Varta 105, and powers just the led lights, flush, water pump whenever we're away. My question is, when on ehu the battery is constantly charging even when out for the day and nothing being used, does this constant charging wreck the battery? (I'm assuming it should trip off when 100%). At home during winter I plug mains in so a small tube heater keeps a gentle warmth. The vehicle battery I charge using a ctek, so surely the leisure battery is charging even though nothing 12v is used. I have now bought a new one and will keep in garage until I need it. Only 6 months serviced so charger ought to be ok, not had problem before or is it just a case of a bad battery (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Some Varta batteries come with a two year warranty - does yours - gotta be worth asking - and even if it does not 18 months is hardly what one would expect and be entitled to if the battery was of merchantable quality? Personally I would never buy a new battery until I needed it, for two reasons, wasted warranty time in storage and deterioration in storage. At least plonk the Ctek on it once a month and keep it fully charged. Charging the engine battery will not charge the leisure battery unless the wiring has been modified to allow this. The engine alternator will charge both batteries but only when the engine is running. When on ehu the built in charger should sense the state of charge of your battery and adjust it's charge rate accordingly. If your Ctek has a battery regeneration phase try leaving the old battery hooked up to it for a week or so and see if it helps. Does your Varta have the facility to top up the electrolyte? If so, and it is OK try checking the acidity of each cell with a hydrometer - available from Halfords and all good accessory shops. A digital multimeter also helps keep track of voltages on and off charge and current flow even when theoretically switched off and is another good buy and handy tool. A good selection on Amazon, and a cheap one will be good enough as long as it has 0 - 20 volts dc and up to 10 amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallynnette Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Hi Tracker, came with M/home, warranty for just 1 year according to the warranty conditions, yes my ctek does regeneration, I've gone through this and with my multi meter drops to 11.4 v in a 24hr period. Mainentance free so no electrolyte levels to check I'm afraid. Yes I keep the engine charged (solar to give it a bit) and with the ctek every 3 weeks or so. When driving leisure and engine show 100%, checked current drain and nothing, after a day not plugged into mains the voltage warning symbol comes up to let me know the leisure batt is low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 At 11.4 v the battery is deemed to be completely discharged possibly beyond redemption and may well be too badly discharged to recover fully. It will always show fully charged when driving or on charge including solar and will retain that for a while when stopped as even a duff battery usually accepts charge even though it can't retain it. What wattage is the solar panel and does it have a regulator? Did it come with the van? If everything is as supplied by the dealer from new and the entire van came with a three year warranty perhaps the entire charging system wants checking as it is rare for a Varta battery to fail so soon without good cause? Have you asked Bailey or the supplying dealer for advice or support as notwithstanding a paltry one year warranty on the battery you ought to have some redress, especially as Varta sell their batteries with a 2 year warranty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 just changed our varta battery this week, it was supposed to be a leisure battery but was not, on phoning marquis they confimed that our duetto has two vehicle batteries and no leisure battery. our problem was the battery would not hold the charge main symptom the blown air heating fan would stop after a few hours instead of a few nights, had to run the engine 15mins to get more charge into it. went to an ATS outlet the diagnostics came up red and they matched the spec and put a new battery in but a different brand . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallynnette Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 That's interesting, so are you saying there were no visible markings/stickers to say it was either leisure or vehicle ?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Wallynnette not really the main battery had a ford logo but the varta none, the mechanic said in a lesure battery the terminals are the other way round, at first thought a prev service someone had switched the battery but marquis said duettos come with two vehicle batteries as standard and no leisure battery. they had to to use diagnostics to get the ampage and spec to replace it. first time had to replace a battery in the m/h just under 5 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 duetto owner - 2013-10-17 9:15 AM ...the mechanic said in a leisure battery the terminals are the other way round... Sorry but he is wrong. You can get most popular size of battery with either terminal configuration, even leisure batteries! Just glance down this page of Exide car batteries and see how the options change... Link to tayna. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Keithl thaks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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