# Is my starter battery totally stuffed?



## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

Came home last Wednesday after 9 nights on hook up and a 350 mile drive home. Left the van on the drive without plugging in mains lead but have a solar panel on roof so should have loads of power. On Friday morning I had a text message from the alarm to tell me that the battery voltage was low so went out and hooked up to mains.
Tried to start the van and just got clicking from the starter solenoid, oops!
It was then that I noticed that the cab interior lights were both on and presumably had been on for about 36hrs.
Left it to charge for a while but still the same so removed the cab floor and put a meter on the battery which was showing good voltage with no load so then tried hooking up to my ancient battery charger which had stood unused in the garage for years. That bought the battery voltage up to 14.2v in a couple of minutes then showed it was fully charged and cut out. Still the engine would not start although it did turn over for a couple of seconds before the solenoid started clattering again.
Tried charging with a neighbours heavy duty charger with the same result-battery giving every indication of being fully charged.
Next step was to try jump start with leads from his Land Rover. It started immediately and I then let it run for almost an hour.
Switched off and tried to start but again it turned over for a second and that was it. Have left it hooked up to the mains all night and on the on-board charger but still this morning the battery was just about flat.

Can the battery be cream crackered after just a short time discharged? 
Is it now scrap or can it be revived?
Is there something else going on that might have caused the problem?

Vehicle is an AutoTrail on a Ducato chassis and is only 31 months old. There have been no problems with the cab battery to date.

Sorry for the long post but I have tried to be precise about the problem and await some suggestions from the many experts on here.

Richard.


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

Your battery does sound to be distressed. I bought a charging device from Halfords a while back, that is supposed to rejuvenate batteries.... something to do with sulphur I think. Anyhow, it worked for me but first of all I would take the battery to a battery supplier to put a load test onto it, this is usually a free test which you cannot easily do yourself, Then you should have some idea whether you have a flat battery or one that should be flattened.

Alan


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

Sulphation is the process you are looking for.

An over-discharged battery enters sulphation immediately and it is pretty much irreversible, despite various 'Jungle Juice' remedies that you see advertised.

Depending on the degree of sulphation you may get further use out of it, but it does sound pretty much knackered, BUT, check the starter motor isn't playing up, just in case!

Peter


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## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

listerdiesel said:


> Sulphation is the process you are looking for.
> 
> An over-discharged battery enters sulphation immediately and it is pretty much irreversible, despite various 'Jungle Juice' remedies that you see advertised.
> 
> ...


Thanks Peter.

I think the starter motor is ok as it jump started straight away.

If the battery was sulphated would it still show 13v+ on a meter?
Also, when we hooked up an external charger it indicated that the battery was fully charged.

Confused of Suffolk.


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

When you connect a battery to a charger then you see the Voltage given by the charger. You need to look at the voltage of the battery after it has been stood for an hour without a charger switched on or connected.
12.7V or over 100% 
12.5V 75% 
12.4V 50% 
12.2V 25% 
12V or under Discharged


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

If the battery is high-impedance (high internal resistance) through sulphation then the volts will be normal on charge.

Check it with all the lights on and without the charger.

Peter


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Dear Confused of Sufolk.
It sounds to me as if you might have a damaged post. Seems you can charge and get the battery up to snuff but as soon as you try to take several hundred amps out at once it breaks down.
Is it possible the post has been knocked, bent, twisted when connecting or disconnecting?

Just another thought. If when charged and you turn the key getting the solenoid to chatter, keep this up for 30 seconds or sao and then feel each post. Beware one just might be red hot. Thats the problem post.

Ray.


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