How can you tell if leisure battery is dead?

BongoBonkers · Post by **BongoBonkers** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:02 am

Hello

We have had a 110ah leisure battery on our Bongo for 3 years. It has always been looked after, i.e. trickle charger on regularly, esp. in winter, and has always worked perfectly until it went from being 100% good (i.e. 2 days parked up, fridge running, no probs) to not working at all well (30 minutes parked up, fridge running) last week during our holiday.

I have given it a good charge and it initially reads more than 12V across the terminals when you take it off charge but quickly drops to 10.7V ish when you put a load on it.....Water levels are fine in the battery and it gasses healthily when charging.

One possible relevant factor was that we bought it as a Bosch leisure battery but I have since been told that Bosch don't make leisure batteries and it is hence simply a conventional large car battery intended for starting vehicles only.....Just to muddy the waters though, a friend of mine said that he was of the firm opinion that all the 'deep cycle' leisure battery stuff was bull**** anyway and a car battery would work just as well.....

If any experts can tell me, does the battery reading 10.7V after a long charge mean it is definitely fit for the wheelie bin only? I would have expected a leisure battery to last a long while (5,10 years, maybe more) if looked after. Is this unrealistic? 3 years seems a bit rubbish....

Hope you can help, Dave

Post by **g8dhe** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:54 am

A voltage of only 10.7v indicates a very flat battery, or possibly one with a dead cell.
If you have a decent charger then put it on charge for at least 48 hours, then let it rest for about 6 hours and measure the voltage again (what are you measuring the voltage with ?) if at that point the voltage is less than 12.6v then you have a dead battery.

missfixit70 · Post by **missfixit70** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:21 am

If it is dead, it should have a scrap value, don't just sling it out

may only be a fiver or so, may be a bit more, but rising scrap prices means the lead in it is worth sumat - so not a total loss

BongoBonkers · Post by **BongoBonkers** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:44 pm

Geoff,

Thanks for reply. Measuring voltage with a multi meter across the terminals.

Think it is probably kaput in real terms (i.e. fridge only worked when engine was on when on holiday last week....). Guess I was just fooling myself really that it might be ok if I charged it for ages. Always been a tight-wad!

Kirstie,

I must admit I hadn't considered that, thanks. I can offset it against the cost of the replacement!

Cheers guys

Post by **g8dhe** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:05 pm

Ok well if it is a reasonable multimeter and not an old moving iron gauge then provided you have measured at the battery terminals then its not sounding to good, still worth a check after giving a good charge however. I was having doubts about my own L/B during Feb. but simply turned out to be a little corrosion on fuse blades when I had them all apart for a check, hence giving poor charging and suspicion that the battery was beginning to show its age (3 years +).

maxi_77 · Post by **maxi_77** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:15 pm

The battery does sound pretty dead but I agree give it a good 2 plus days on charge, then leave for 12 hours and check the voltage.

Leisure battery construction is different to car starter batteries. Your LB needs to give you a lot of power at relatively low rates for a long time, where as the starter battery needs to give you a lot of power over a very short time. They are made differently inside, so worth buying the right type for the application.

How can you tell if leisure battery is dead?

How can you tell if leisure battery is dead?

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Re: How can you tell if leisure battery is dead?

Re: How can you tell if leisure battery is dead?

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