# Leisure Battery is dry ! Problem or not ?



## 93986 (May 1, 2005)

Hi,

Still not used the 'new' van in earnest yet, but off to the snow in a few weeks so was doing some preliminary checks at the weekend.

Checked the leisure batterys and the plates were exposed on both ( 2x 110ah ).
Poured in some distilled water to top them up. Even a whole litre wasnt enough, just for one battery to get to the level marker point.

I have some concerns over the electric capacity in the vehicle as it is, should i be concerned that these batteries have appeared to have been left to dry out ?

Its a 4 year old Euramobil Integra. Only bought it in December and yet to take it out anywhere.

Should i invest in 2 new leisure batteries.

I do have a portable generator and that or the mains is charging the batteries ok according to the onboard display panel. However, i am not sure what amps value i am supposed to see on the panel.

Or can anyone suggest a test to see if they are holding a charge ?

How long should i charge them up from the mains for ?
and then just leave all the lights on to see how long before then run down ?

Help please.
Thanks guys.

Mark


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## 96312 (Sep 16, 2005)

*Dry Batts*

Hi
Me thinks that with that much distilled water to fill them that the batteries are knackered.
With the unknown history etc it's probably not worth fiddling about with them. Any battery that has been left dry for a period of time is going to be a gonner.
Replacement leisure batteries are fairly cheap if purchased through say a marine supplier.
Food for thought - what could have caused the cells to dry out - is there a charging/overcharging problem? - Probably best to get this checked out both the alternator & the hookup charger.

SH


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Dry battery's also carry a high risk of failure. Because the plates have been dry, they may have bowed and buckled. If the bow enough, they short out and could explode. So an engineer once told me...


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## 93986 (May 1, 2005)

*charging / overcharging problem ?*

dont know any history of the van to know how long they may have been dry.

probably sat on the dealer forecourt for a few months i would imagine.

also, how could i overcharge ?

do you mean that i should let them run down before charging up again unlike a mobile which i tend to have plugged in all time and just pull the plug when away from my desk ?

any recommendations on battery suppliers ?

thanks


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## 101075 (Sep 22, 2006)

*Dry Batteries*

Hi Mark,

Before you buy new take them along to a good battery supplier or garage and get them to to a drop test. This will give some indication as to wether they are knackerd or not.


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## 99181 (May 12, 2006)

hi loxley....i bought 2x130ah £220 deliverd in two days free fromhttp://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/cgi-bin/megastore/commerce.cgi?page=Delivery.htm

hope this helps


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## ingram (May 12, 2005)

When I bought my van I found that the leisure battery was as yours: topped it up, charged it and used it for 3 years before it died.

Bought a new one at Shepton Mallet last year: 110amp £35.

H


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## sergeant (Jun 7, 2006)

Hi Loxley, Have you got solar panels on the roof? If so they are your culprit for drying out the batteries. If you have check your batteries on a monthly basis,Steve


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi Loxley,

go to your nearest car accessory store and buy an areometer for about 2 quid. Use this to test all battery cells after having charged the battery for at least 12 consecutive hours. If all cells still show "Full" on the areometer, then there should be no problem with the batteries. Should one ore more cells be significantly lower, then replace _both_ batteries.

If continously hooked up to a good 3-stage mains charger or solar regulator, no topping up of distilled water should be needed for weeks, if not months. But regular checking never does any harm, and if you have the feeling that the battery "cooks down" too fast, then the trickle charge level voltage of the mains charger might be too high, or the solar regulator might be blown.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Boff

Your description is perfect.. maybe too perfect :lol: an areometer ( An instrument for measuring the specific gravity of fluids) is normally referred to as a *hydrometer* in the UK when it is designed to check battery electrolite.... If Loxley goes into Halfords acessory shop and asks for a areometer he will only get blank looks :lol:

Mike


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## 93986 (May 1, 2005)

thanks for the tips guys.
i will get off to halfords later and buy the device to check the levels etc.

i dont really want to spend another £160 or so, as so far I just seem to be paying out and havent even had a chance to use it yet !

Mark


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi again,

my dictionary showed both terms "areometer" and "hydrometer" as equivalent, so please forgive me if I used the wrong one... :wink: :wink:  

Talking about batteries: In fact it was last Friday that I realized that my van's leisure battery had died. While preparing the van for our weekend tour to Germany I noticed that only minutes after I had disconnected the hookup (on which it had hung for more than 12 hours) the lights dimmed a little bit. So I took out the are..., oops, hydrometer, and found that despite the previous charge all 6 cells were "empty". In addition the acid showed a slight brown tint that I had never seen before. Now this battery was almost precisely 4 years old, was never totally flattened during that time and also regularily checked and refilled. 

Admittedly I had done some short trips during the previous weeks and sometimes been too lazy to connect the hookup immediately afterwards. In addition, this very battery was already a replacement: The dealer had to replace it under warranty shortly after purchase, because he had killed the original battery by letting it deep-discharge on his courtyard. And of course I have no idea about the "previous life" of the replacement battery. It would not have been the first occasion that a "spare part" would have been cannibalised from another vehicle...

@ Loxley:
Don't part from any money, except for the hydrometer, before thoroughly testing the batteries. Normally running dry does not necessarily result in permanent damage. While deep-discharging almost certainly does. But if it is necessary, then replace both batteries at the same time! Because even if one of them seems still OK, it will certainly be in lesser condition than the new one, which means that over very short time it will "pull down" the new battery.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## 101523 (Oct 23, 2006)

If you can use a Digital Voltmeter, or know someone who can, set the meter to DC Volts, place the red lead to + and the black lead to - terminals of the battery, anything less than 12.2 volts is considered flat. Charge up the battery for 12 hours or more and take another reading, if a voltage of 12.8 as been reached, the battery is fully charged, if it is still at 12.2 or less, then i'm afraid they have had it. A rule of thumb is this, each cell is around 2.12 volt, therefore 6 cells = 12.8 volt, if after 12 hours of charging, you read 10.6 volts on the meter, this means you have a cell down, same thing applies, you need a new battery.


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## 93986 (May 1, 2005)

the digital readout in the motorhome shows the battery status and last night was reading at least 12.6 i think, although i cant say how long it was charging for, probably a few hours on sunday afternoon i would think.

I will get the test meter though and do as you say.

thanks

Mark


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Manofgresley said:


> If you can use a Digital Voltmeter, or know someone who can, set the meter to DC Volts, place the red lead to + and the black lead to - terminals of the battery, anything less than 12.2 volts is considered flat.


Unfortunately it is not as simple as that.

The voltage of the battery can only be taken to determine the charge status if the battery was neither discharged nor charged for at least 12 hours prior to the voltage measurement. And even then it is not much more than a guess.

The only reliable way to determine the charge status is to use a hydrometer.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Hi Loxley

We had the same problem with ,our Hymer, which we posted smewhere else on here.

To cut a long story short, the previous owners had changed fom gel batteries to lead acid, but had not operated the change over switch on the base of the charger/rectfier. The batteries were drying up evey two or three weeks, and were absolutely shot (using a hydrometer).

Since the fitting of three new "Elecsols" and the placing the switch in the correct position, there has not been a problem in the last eighteen months.

It's worth a look.

Jock.


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