[pikeman]

Had a new leisure battery come yesterday put it on charge overnight. Only lasted about 4 hours. should I have left it on charge longer for the first charge, or could it be a duff battery. Any comments appreciated.

[andyM]

I use a voltmeter occasionally to keep any eye on the state of the battery.
If you can get hold of one might be worth checking the voltage reading when it is fully charged.
Anything less than 12.6 volts after bench charging with a decent charger is duff.
Most of the batteries I've had always charge up to more than 13 volts when in good condition.
I use a smart charger so that it doesn't over charge the battery.

[dannymack]

Wouldn't of thought you would have to charge a new battery !!! If you do I'd of charges it for 24 hours.  Havnt you got a relay where it's connected through to your main battery ? 👳👳👳

[pikeman]

think ill get a voltmeter, no danny but may be I should look in to it. Thanks for replys. Put it back on charge now will leave it on till tomorow morning see what happens. Had to finish off using my back pack, what a ball ache but but glad it was in the van.

[SeanK]

Looks as if you have got a duff battery even with an overnight charge it should
last all day.
I changed mine about a month back and would easily get 3 days without a charge.

[matthewprice]

Though a battery came charged but as you just changed your battery  could the problem be the charger,we had a loose negative wire and the battery did charge a bit but not fully .just worth a look

[tam north]

Check all connectors between battery,controller and pumps .
Had same problems last week ,found that the fuse connectors were not allowing the voltage through and reducing pressure very quickly.

[Jonny 87]

What kind of battery is it?

[pikeman]

Thanks for the replys its a lucas 100ah c20. Making me wonder if it may be the charger now last battery only about 1 year old..

[SeanK]

Make sure you use a smart charger on your battery over charging will kill
the battery quickly.
I use a Halfords smart charger after a full days work it tops up the battery in about an hour
so this shows how much power the battery still has left in it when used for a day.
The battery is a Platinum 85 amp and is 1 month old from first use.
Last one lasted me 3 years and would still give me 4 hours work when I binned it.

[pikeman]

yes also use Halfords smart charger. do seem to get through batterys pretty quick though.

[WISEOWL]

I've always thought batteries have been over analysed when in reality the most simple works for me.

I use a £74.99 leisure battery and a £19.99 simple battery charger.

After charging it goes to a healthy 13.2 volts and after four solid days usually reduces to around 12.0 volts.

I charge once a week.

[robert mitchell]

secondhand car battery and a split relay for me , never had to charge yet .

[pikeman]

probally a silly question but do the chargers wear out or get less productive at charging. had mine a couple of years now.

[Jonny 87]

Ctek chargers are the bees knees.

I've got the mxs 5.0.

Not cheap but they condition and look after your battery too.

[SeanK]

You can get a 12 volt battery tester on Amazon for about £35 I think it would
be a good long term investment in the wfp game.

[pikeman]

cheers for all the info

[James Bulton]

take your money and get a smart relay and stop worrying about your battery.Sometimes I have my bouts about the discussion on here.