# Leisure battery



## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

About 3 years ago we had our leisure replaced under warrenty.Brownhills Newark, no problems
MH is on EHU permanently when at home.
Anyone know the average life expectancy for a leisure battery that is never allowed to go flat.
Thanks

Dave p


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## TR5 (Jun 6, 2007)

A lead acid battery should not be allowed to go flat, or it will not last long at all. A 50% discharge is probably as far as you would want to go.

Assuming it is a "wet" battery, checking the level is kept at least a couple of mm above the plates, and using a conditioning charger every so often should help to extend the life.

Apart from this, "how long is a piece of string", some will last many years, others considerably less!


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi

We are still on the original 2 batteries. 2004 van. Both still hold a good charge. You can get up to 6 years out of them if you look after them.

steve & ann. --------------- teensvan


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

You should not constantly charge your leisure batteries, you should use the battery and when it discharges and the lights go dim, then you should put the batteries on charge, keeping the charger on all the time lessens the life.

I have a solar panel on my unit, which always charges the leisure, I will be ensuring that at least 2 maybe 3 times a year I will be discharging the batteries and then recharging.


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

> You should not constantly charge your leisure batteries, you should use the battery and when it discharges and the lights go dim, then you should put the batteries on charge, keeping the charger on all the time lessens the life.
> 
> I have a solar panel on my unit, which always charges the leisure, I will be ensuring that at least 2 maybe 3 times a year I will be discharging the batteries and then recharging.


To interject....now this absolutely confuses me 8O

There's been many a Post on here from many a Poster which says that they ALWAYS keep the batteries on hook up!

And surely ......if you're using the battery "till the lights go dim" wouldnt the battery go down below 50%....and isn't this bad for the battery??

For the most part I get really useful info from MHF but on the subject of charging leisure batteries I see really conflicting and confusing advice.

Help!!! :roll: :lol:


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

Ithink that there is a happy medium between the two.........

Put on hook up for a day or so and then leave it for a week or so and repeat as necessary. That's what I do anyway. You should not leave permanently on charge unless you have a smart charger (like the one for my bike) that detects when the battery is charged and switches itself off.....


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Now I am confused . when we purchased Bessie we were advised to keep on EHU if possible. The charger would only charge when required.
I never had a problem with caravans n EHU in 20 years.
Dave p


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## Mike48 (May 1, 2005)

My leisure battery was the original on my 2002 vehicle. I charged it once a fortnight with a CTEK charger when on my drive.


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## Spooky_b329 (Jan 24, 2009)

Flattening the battery until your lights go dim is seriously discharged and damaging to the life of the battery...well over 50%!

As a general guide, 12.7v is fully charged, 12.3v is 50%, 11.8v is pretty much fully discharged. I suspect when the lights start to dim, a multimeter would show significantly less than 11v.

If you were to charge your battery once it reaches 75% discharge, it would have significantly more recharge cycles than allowing it to reach 50% discharge.


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.

When we used to keep the van at home before we fulltimed the van was hooked up all the time through a weekly timer that switched on for 2-3 hours once a week. This keeps the batteries topped up. I also used to keep my kit cars and motorbike, batteries charged this way while laid up in the winter.

steve & ann. ---------------- teensvan


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Spooky_b329 said:


> Flattening the battery until your lights go dim is seriously discharged and damaging to the life of the battery...well over 50%!


I have to disagree with this, the reason for a battery is to supply 12v dc to lights and equipment, if you do not allow the battery to be used, all that will happen is the battery will gain a memory, and will fail earlier.

Yes there is lots of conflicting reports on here, and I must say, I am no expert in the field of batteries, but I have used batteries in tents, caravans, and now motor homes, I have never had to purchase a new battery due to a failure of a battery, and I have always completed a full deep cycle one a year, and a half cycle discharge 6 months later.

I used to have to do similar things on "uninteruptable power supply units (battery systems).

Or is it I have been lucky, over the past 25 years??


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## Dick1234 (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi all

Not sue if this is called hijacking the thread or adding!!?

About to change my two 100 AH bats as they are 6 years old going ok but did notice a drop in performance this year so will prob be trouble when we go skiing as we will be wild camping/Aires and relying on the gen.

So how do I maintain the new bats. Always left the van on hookup at home but now I am not so sure.

Should I -
. Do as I have always done and assume that the charger is working well and maintaining the bats well?
. Charge occasionally?

Does my charger do more damage than good if left on all the time?

Regards

Dick


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## TR5 (Jun 6, 2007)

A modern charger, which increases and decreases charge as required is fine to be left on continuously. In fact, the Ctek literature states that it can be left on continuously.

However, if a cheap car battery charger is used that has a continuous and somewhat unregulated output, and left on continuously, it can over-charge and damage the battery. 

Use a multi-stage charger/conditioner, and leave it on for the best results!


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Memory effect applies to NiCads, not Lead Acid.

Never leave batteries in a discharged condition for any longer then necessary.

Don,t discharge below 20% of capacity remaining.

When in winter lay up put on charge for one night a week or fit a good solar panel and regulator.

SOME chargers can be left running permanently, some will over time consume water from the electrolyte. Read the small print for your charger.

C.


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## airstream (Jan 7, 2009)

*battery life*

Battery life can not be stated in years - its a chemical thing that is dependent on not only maintenance but the design cycle life of the battery in question
Every battery has a finite cycle life and is shown as a scale against depth of discharge (DOD) the greater DOD the fewer cycles the battery can give
All battery manufacturers provide this data in print or website (try the manbat website and weep at the conditions and what is not a manufacturing fault)
The life of any battery is dependent on how it is used - deep discharge less life - and yes we all know of the 25 year old Hymer still on its first battery?
Gen advice do not discharge more than 40/50% and never let it get less than 12.4v when not in use
Regards RayH


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

Now you know why I said I was confused.

Doubly enforced for emphasis TR5?? :wink: 

Thanks from me for responses


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

If you use proper DEEP CYCLE TRACTION DUTY batteries that are designed to be discharged down to about 20% every day then re-charged overnight then quality batteries will last 5 years on fork lift truck duties.

The closest you can get for motorhome applications is probably golf cart batteries. 2 X 6 volt fat ones connected in series is the best way.

But unless you intend to roll your motorhome or are not preperated to regularly check electrolyte levels then its best to stick to wet electrolyte batteries but get one with "re-combination tops" to minimise topping up requirements.

C.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

and as usual it all depends

If you keep your battery more or less permanently on a small trickle charge from either an 'intelligent' battery charger or a very small one set to a suitable voltage then no harm will come to your battery and I have known lead acid cells last 20 years like that.

If you over charge your battery (non-intelligent large/powerful charger unregulated solar panel) and fail to top it up then you can do damage and shorten its life.

Discharging it below about 12V repeatedly will damage your battery.

Discharging it to below 10V and leaving it there for a while could immediately fail your battery.

and in answer to the original question 

at least 3 years and normally 5 without special attention or bad treatment. 

if you add bad treatment to a cheap battery or good treatment to a quality battery then the answer is as long as a piece of string.


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## jocie (Dec 24, 2006)

Both the vehicle battery and the leisure battery in my year 2000 Hymer 544 were original when I traded it in in September. I kept the vehicle on EHU when parked, and the Hymer charger was obviously doing the correct job. I can therefore confirm the merits described above of using the correct charger and keeping on EHU where possible.


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## DustyR (Jan 26, 2009)

So is the MH onboard charger of the 'intelligent' type so can be left on EHU safely or they just like any battery charger??


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## DustyR (Jan 26, 2009)

So is the MH onboard charger of the 'intelligent' type so can be left on EHU safely or they just like any battery charger??


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## DustyR (Jan 26, 2009)

So is the MH onboard charger of the 'intelligent' type so can be left on EHU safely or they just like any battery charger??


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

DustyR said:


> So is the MH onboard charger of the 'intelligent' type so can be left on EHU safely or they just like any battery charger??


Depends on what type of charger is fitted in the m/home.

Some have sophisticated multi stage chargers,others have a fixed point charging system


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## bozzer (Jul 22, 2009)

Just found this post and trying to relate it to the experience we had this weekend.
Our Mhome bought Dec 2005 and original batteries. We have 2 solar panels and 2 leisure batteries when at home we are on EHU occasionally, if sunny I let the Solar panels do their job. When the engine is running the battery level is 14.2 when parked up 12.6.

This weekend we were at a rally with no EHU, used the blown air heating for a couple of hours Fri evening and watched TV for 1 -2 hrs. Saturday morning heating for 30 mins when I noticed level was at 11.9 so turned heating off. Came back to van at 4pm, 10 mins heat 1 light on and battery warning buzz showing11.5 . Turned everything off and ran the engine, the reading went straight up to 14.2 when engine stopped it went to 13.6 turned on heating for 10 mins dropped to 11.9 turned everything off. We were out for the evening but when returned used torches. My wife went to the loo during the night and turned the light on after 1 min it went out and 12v system shut down.

Do we need new batteries?


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

bozzer said:


> Do we need new batteries?


Sounds like your original batteries are not holding charge so yes I would say you need some new ones.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Indeed you do 

It's nice having diagnostic information with a question 

Dave


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## bozzer (Jul 22, 2009)

Thank you for your help. We now have 2 early Christmas presents, 2 Elecsol 110 batteries so the extra bedroom is ready for the Christmas period.


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## PeterandLinda (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi

This is useful stuff. reading between the lines I think that with careful usage I should expect up to seven years from the leisure batteries (We have had one low voltage warning when on an Aire for three days) but may expect to change them after five and when we do, replace them with traction batteries at, presumably, great cost.

Bit like the tyres then - a set of seven of them will cost us £1000!

P&L


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