[easy clean]

we run the equipment in the vans off of leisure batteries in the back being charged by a split relay, this battery in particular is only a year old and only lasts about 30 mins until it has dropped down to under 10 volts.

i've read loads of posts where people say that they use it for 2 days then charge it but this would not last 30 mins let alone 2 days, even when it was only a couple of months old it never lasted that long and the battery we used before was excactly the same.

what i want to know is does anybody else charge them this way and do the get the problems im getting? should they be trickle charged and not charged by the van?

any help appreciated

thanks jon

[Llaaww]

I use a split relay and all is fine with a 110ah leisure.

First thing to do is check and clean all the connections, mine need looking at once in a while as they corrode fairly quickly in the wet.

Try bench charging it and see how long it lasts then.

[easy clean]

how long does your battery last, its never been bench charged

[Llaaww]

About six months now, on a split realay its never gone flat. The battery is a couple of yrs old.

[Neil Gornall]

I had a similar problem a few months ago with a fairly new battery.
No matter how long it was on charge it would only last a short time.

I took it back to the supplier who tested it and at first said its fine, however he then put it on a crank test (under load) and it failed.

he replaced it with a new one and sent mine back to the manufacture.

so might be worth having yours tested.

[easy clean]

they've both been lucas batteries and i've had two in this van and 1 in another, im thinking its because they get charged by the van and maybe they're designed to be slow charged, im sure someone on here will be knowledgable and tell me where im going wrong

[David Salkeld]

Ok folks.....
My experience.....

The bigger the amp hour battery the more amps charge it needs........

I use 3 different ah 12 batteries:-

110ah in my car to conect to my trailer for tranfer pump and a 100psi delivery pump

17ah for trolley use 100psi pump

7ah in a backpack

The 110ah I have in the boot of my car and connect to the trailer when working.  When I put the trailer away and back my car in the drive for the night I have a 8amp charger connected and hooked up to the mains over night.

The 17ah is also in the boot and I hook it to a 2 amp charger over night and it keeps it topped up.

The 7ah batteries (I have 3) are kept on .5amp chargers.  I have 1 in use and 2 kept on chargers

Oh... the 110ah also is hooked to a split charger through a power socket in the boot....but I don't think it does much good??

Hope this helps
David