# Life of a battery



## billybilbo (Oct 7, 2007)

I wonder if you can give me some advice.My leisure battery is over 6 years old. It was in the van when I bought it.In the Bilbo its located under the drivers seat.Very difficult to get to and will mean removing the seat and swivel to get it out.
How long do they last?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

You're on borrowed time 

Mine's under my swivel seat and it takes me about 2 minutes to get at the batteries to check fluid levels. Well, a lot longer if I've misplaced the right allen key! 

Dave


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## iconnor (Nov 27, 2007)

Obviously not the same make of motorhome. But I removed the seat in my old Ducato several times, it was actually quite easy. As above poster notes only a couple of mins.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

this cold weather does show up a weak battery, now is the time to consider replacing it, rather than wait until it lets you down. Or you can take it to any decent accessory centre to have it tested in situ
providing it is possible to get to it.
cabby


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## dalspa (Jul 1, 2008)

My last van was a 2002. Bought it in 2005 and sold it in 2011. Gel battery under seat so couln't get at it. Didn't have a solar panel and would be carefull if spending a couple of days without hookup. Always recharged ok on hookup or via engine. Never let me down once! Engine battery still original when I sold it! Lucky? Always kept an eye on the needle readings on the control panel so as not to run batteries down too low.
DavidL


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## rotorywing (Jul 19, 2010)

Just replaced my 2004 leisure battery, it was about to die anyway....had my monies worth out of it. I replaced my 2004 
starter battery at the same time.........the old one seems to be in good nick but old!!

Martin


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Both Leisure and engine battery are over seven years old. On permanent EHU at home.
The last leisure battery I purchased was over ten years old when we sold last caravan.
Dave p


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## billybilbo (Oct 7, 2007)

Thanks for all the replys. I will take the seat out when the weather gets warmer :lol: and put the multimeter across the batteryI will probably buy a new battery before the season starts..


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## dolcefarniente (Jan 2, 2012)

They last until they fail. There is no rule of thumb. Neglect is the biggest cause of failure.


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

The thing with leisure batteries that is more important than even ampere-hours is maximum cycles of charge.
If you are offered a battery which doesn't state that information, don't buy it.
Many leisure batteries will have 150 cycles of charge. That is from 11.8v to fully charged just 150 times and then it is a dead, deceased, battery-no-more battery. Recharge from say 12v to fully charged is half a cycle, roughly.
There are batteries that will give 1000 cycles but the best you will usually find is 500.

If your battery is really difficult to get at, look for a "sealed lead-acid". They are maintenance free and much better performance than gel or AGM. If there is room, go for semi-traction.

Patrick


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

These look good ......................................

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281066979461?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Wadyafink eh?
I will be needing 3 before too long.£££££

Ray.


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## rotorywing (Jul 19, 2010)

Just replaced my 10 year old leisure battery with one of these http://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-CXV30HRMF-P3673.html. Hopefully it will last just as long

martin


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

raynipper said:


> These look good ......................................
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281066979461?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
> 
> ...


They look good to me at a good price too.

Patrick


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

The single most important thing with any Lead-Acid battery is to keep it charged up.

No other single thing affects the life of a battery than this, even allowing for the cyclic life, which is normally far higher that the 150 cycles previously quoted, but batteries do vary with quality.

I've never seen cyclic life reached on most batteries, only industrially on some AGV's in a factory that went and had a recharge as soon as the on-board computer saw the capacity below a certain level, and at £9000 a battery, they were not cheap.

Batteries are far better these days, most people see 7-10 years out of starter batteries on cars, and as we have seen from the responses above, these sort of figures are getting to be quite common.

Peter


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

listerdiesel said:


> The single most important thing with any Lead-Acid battery is to keep it charged up.
> 
> No other single thing affects the life of a battery than this, even allowing for the cyclic life, which is normally far higher that the 150 cycles previously quoted, but batteries do vary with quality.
> 
> ...


The point I was trying to make is that there are some household names that produce batteries with cycles in the sub 200 mark but they don't usually make that fact clear. So if you don't see the cycles quoted it is wise to assume less than 200 which is not good enough for leisure use for many of us.
We are full-timers. If we are off grid and static for a week we rely on the solar panels to provide charge (480w). If we take three quarters of capacity overnight we are usually back at full by midday but we will use 5 cycles. That is 30 weeks in a 150 cycle battery. Given that when on hookup we use the batteries as a buffer to the mains, we still use 2 cycles a week.

Varta are a well respected maker, I would have thought. They push their LFS range for motorhomes and this is from their spec sheet:
_Long lasting: up to twice the cyclic stability of conventional flooded batteries (up to 200 cycles @ 50% DOD)_
that is UP TO 100 cycles! The LFS range is popular with OEMs too...

I do agree that keeping topped up is good but the nature of our activities doesn't really lend itself to do that.

Patrick


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

No criticism intended, Patrick, we don't see any of these low-cycle batteries, but we wouldn't look for them in our market either.

Peter


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

these do seem to fit the bill to replace leisure batteries.

cabby

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-110AH...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2ec7286031


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## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

I'm lucky. If I rotate my from seat and then slide it fully back the cubby hole under the seat is almost fully exposed.


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