# Flat Leisure Battery



## daveharry (Nov 6, 2007)

My Leisure battery will not charge , I left it in motorhome whilst in storage foe 6 months hence completly flat . I have been told that if it is left uncharged it will never charge again, is this true ?
dave


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

It will very probably be damaged and may not hold a charge at all. You can but try, Alan.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

we have been successful with seemingly dead batteries by linking them to a good battery and charging both together, otherwise I would advise a new battery, when in storage for long periods take home and make sure it is fully charged every 6 weeks or so.

cabby


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

You could fit a Solar Panel for next year, and this should keep your battery fully charged.


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

All of the above and also you could invest in a battery charger from Halfunds that will more or less recover the battery unless the plates are damaged.
It can discharge and recharge the battery using a lot of technical terms that mean the battery works afterwards but they cost around £50 so a new battery may not be that much more expensive.
http://answers.halfords.com/answers/4028/product/181750/questions.htm

Alan


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## jamesb72 (Jun 2, 2010)

I've had good success recovering a 'flat' battery with smartcharge 8 from ring automotive which has a battery reconditioning function that recovers batteries from a sulphated or deeply discharged state. This is using pulses I believe, and sounds same feature as the halfords charger mentioned above.

If you check battery with a voltmeter you can get an idea if its savable, if it really reads 0v or close to, it probably isn't savable.

I've recovered a battery which dropped to 9v, and got 2 more seasons use from it in our old van. So charger pretty much paid for itself then (I paid about £60 for the charger, which was about the same cost as replacement battery), but I run the reconditioning on both batteries (engine and leisure) before and after the winter now to hopefully keep batteries going as long as possible.

Might be worth asking round if anyone you know has one of these clever charges you could borrow to try it out!


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## adonisito (Nov 6, 2009)

Some of the CTEK chargers have recon modes. Ask them, they reply very quickly.


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## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

adonisito said:


> Some of the CTEK chargers have recon modes. Ask them, they reply very quickly.


I too have CTEK and would recommend them - mine has a facility when plugged into a power socket will put in 12volts so that you can change the battery without losing codes etc


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

Vanbitz, fitted a Vanmaster to our van, when I had the alarm fitted.
It keeps both batteries charged from my solar panel
Works well!

http://www.vanbitz.com/product/battery-master/


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## andyandsue (Sep 7, 2008)

*a good cance to check levels and strengh*

if its an unsealed type( best ) it could be a good chance to check acid strengh with a cheap hydrometer off ebay...same principle as home brew floating gauge and also top up with distilled water

might not help a very knackered battery but would be of interest to folks on here!!!

if youve time!


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## carprus (Jun 22, 2008)

You could try the epsom salts trick , seen it on the web a few times , never tried it myself but those that have swear it puts life back into dead batteries .

Rob.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

We used to have a system called 'Equalizing' the house batteries in our RVs to endeavour regaining their efficiency.
It was basically an overcharge for a predetermined time. This link gives some info.

http://www.trojanbattery.com/batterymaintenance/equalizing.aspx

Ray.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I used to have a very old battery charger which charged at 15 volts. Now and again I would use it for an hour or two as it is supposed to desulphate the plates.


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## andyandsue (Sep 7, 2008)

*interesting link raynipper*

Iinteresting link raynipperthankyou 
Ive checked my ctek charger and the desulphsization/recon mode is up to 15.8 volt in pulses which seems to be the same as your link

Id only use it lightly and only with open vented flooded batteries( the best despite what the adverts claim)
useful info to check sp grav of acid after using...maybe a bit techy for some

SUE&ANDREW


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## dolcefarniente (Jan 2, 2012)

If it's unsealed might be worth emptying it carefully and refilling using a battery acid pack. Any battery wholesaler will have one as most are delivered dry charged and filled as and when sold.When filled they become useable within the hour without charging. Might just bring it back to life.


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