# Choosing a Leisure Battery - as simple as this?



## DavyS (Jan 10, 2009)

My leisure battery has died so I have been researching my options, lead, AGM, gel, - and what make.

I have come to the conclusion that if you choose a good quality lead battery then you probably dont need AGM or gel. 
Leisure batteries achieve resilience to deep discharge by having more lead in thicker plates. Some cheap batteries advertised as 'leisure' are in fact starter batteries with low lead content and thin plates; some are hybrid. 

And how to choose a good lead leisure battery? - Ignore all the marketing hype including AH capacity - which is nominal, instead buy the physically largest battery that will fit the compartment and choose the heaviest one cos it is likely to have the most lead and therefore will be most resilient to deep discharge.


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## rotorywing (Jul 19, 2010)

Good idea

I'm beginning to get paranoid about my batteries, The vehicle was first registered in 2004 so I assume both batteries are 2003 vintage.......10 years old !!!. Both batteries have given me excellent service including 10 weeks in France last year. But following the cold spell and we are about to go for another 8 week jaunt. I think that I better invest in new ones. 

I shall adopt your idea and research for a good old fashioned lead one 

martin

PS The ones installed are Motorcraft ones


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## andyandsue (Sep 7, 2008)

*good advise mostly*

Yes, good advise mostly,

Get the largest capacity( ah) you can reasonably afford. Physical size needs some research as some manufactures make slightly "taller" batteries with far greater capacity,

Take a look at the 6v route also ,these manufactures make em for the mobile work platform etc so their customers really do vote with their feet so specs are good and the batts are not that expensive
We would have gone for a a pair of 6v if poss but size/charging arrang ment didn't permit so second best choice is a pair of 125AH flooded.

A point to be made is that retailers of batts cant mail/courier flooded cell batteries because of the risk of acid leaking in the post so of course they push other types which they can sell.

Our new pair of Elecsol are semisealed ( they came from tanya with a plastic plug sealing the vent holes.

Another great plus of the 6v batts is that the acid level can be checked and topped up as ness and the companies have a great technical back up service .being open the batteries have far greater tolerance of high charge rates also.

In summary go for a pair of 6v flooded from say Trojan and if thats not what you want try 12v
sue and andrew


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## andyandsue (Sep 7, 2008)

*rotorwing advise*

leave well alone maybe

charge both batteries up using your EHU charger and then take em out and leave for a day ,then take em to a good battery shop and ask em to drop test em( putting a load on and seeing if the voltage drops too quickly)

the voltage reading you get from an ordinary meter wont give you an idea of the condition inside

if they are open cell check fluid levels (just above lead plates )

buying batteries is like a marriage!!!!marry in haste -repent at leisure


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

You can check the state of charge on any Lead-Acid battery by the open-circuit terminal voltage, but you cannot determine the condition or the capacity by that process. The test has to be done after a period of settling after charging or discharging.

A drop test will tell you that the battery will support a certain short-term load, but again, will not tell you the condition or the available capacity.

A true capacity test will discharge the battery at the C/20 rate and the withdrawn capacity recorded, down to the end of discharge voltage as specified by the battery manufacturer.

Here is a typical discharge curve for a battery on discharge test:










This particular curve is for a Nickel-Cadmium battery, and the curve is shallower than would be the case for a lead-acid battery, but the principals are the same.

Peter


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

I have bought a number of flooded lead acid leisure batteries off the internet and they have all been courier delivered !!! (but to be fair they were of the "sealed" type !!!)

Most experts seem to agree that flooded lead acid's give the best service life/performance for MH use and thats what I have always used, cant see the point in paying loads more dosh for Gel batteries that actually perform less well :roll: 

From experience the best thing to conserve leisure battery life is a decent solar panel to ensure they are always as fully charged as possible. Either that or a Ctek or similar "smart" charger. (Having said that arent the modern built-in units from Sargent & similar "Smart" chargers??)


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## DavyS (Jan 10, 2009)

*Re: rotorwing advise*



andyandsue said:


> charge both batteries up using your EHU charger and then take em out and leave for a day ,then take em to a good battery shop and ask em to drop test em( putting a load on and seeing if the voltage drops too quickly)


Motorhome owners dont need to go to a battery shop to test leisure batteries; I fully charged mine then switched on all the lights - which gave a current drain of 5A (C/20) and timed how long before the battery voltage fell below 12v - it was less than an hour. Duff battery.


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