[dazmond]

75 ah leisure battery died on me today after an hours work after charging it up overnight with an intelligent smart charger(halfords £40).

luckily i had a car battery on charge and nipped home to swap it to allow me to get my scheduled work completed.

the reading on my flowcontroller said it was 12v(fully charged)is this too low?after swapping it for the car battery it was reading 13.2.is this about right?

my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!

could it be a case of it sitting on the shelf for a couple of years which would of effected its life?


not happy as the battery cost me £80.

anyone else have a short life out of batteries?


thanks in advance guys


dazmond

[home6442]

75 ah leisure battery died on me today after an hours work after charging it up overnight with an intelligent smart charger(halfords £40).

luckily i had a car battery on charge and nipped home to swap it to allow me to get my scheduled work completed.

the reading on my flowcontroller said it was 12v(fully charged)is this too low?after swapping it for the car battery it was reading 13.2.is this about right?

my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!

could it be a case of it sitting on the shelf for a couple of years which would of effected its life?


not happy as the battery cost me £80.

anyone else have a short life out of batteries?


thanks in advance guys


dazmond

Have you let it run dry I top mine up with pure every so often.

[Sean Dyer]

Mine is similar daz , dont have a smart charger or anything , but ive noticed its dying quicker than normal...

Was a cheap battery though so you get what you pay for i suppose , i think mine is similar age
I have found in the past when my flow controller struggles it was because the wiring was rusting at contacts like the spade connectors and after re doing it there seemed to much better performance

[dazmond]

no i didnt let battery run dry and sean its a fairly new pumpbox(10 months old)

[Small but perfectley formed]

A lead/Acid battery only has a number of cycles then the plates suffer from sulphurisation this can be remedied, you need a c tek charger these can regenerate  the plate
Also yo can shorten the battery life if you fully discharge .

[NBwcs]

"my pure freedom golf battery lasted 2 and a half years before finally giving up on me!"

Thats brilliant. never had one yet that lasted much over a year. Worst i had was 7 months 

[ray l]

most battery stockists give one year warrenty,

I,ve had to us it once

ray

[darran higg]

Same here bought a £60 varta professional 75 amp battery 16 months ago, bloke at the shop told me at the time I bought it it would last 2/3 years, but it started letting me down so I took it back,he tested it and said it was over its cycle life and I had done well for it to last this long! He tried to sell me an AGM  battery which he said was the future and would last years . Anybody use one of these? Quite pricey and special charger required

[Simon Mess]

I don't use a leisure battery, I used to, but was advised by another windy that it wasn't necessary unless you were using a 2 man set up. I have a ford transit connect tdci, had it for 3.5 years now and no probs re battery going flat and I do have some streets where I am parked up in the same spot for 3-4 hours. When I was setting up my current van, I bought a pump controller, this had wiring to connect up with the van battery, and leisure battery, but as I say, no problems, so why carry the extra weight.

[Dave Willis]

Dazmond, that's normal none of my leisure batteries ever got past the warranty period and none ever got replaced by the suppliers either because they still took a charge even though they wouldn't hold it.

Having said that it doesn't seem right that you have suddenly dropped from a full day to only one hour - maybe borrow another charger?

The last pillock told me it was because I only had a £40 intelligent charger - his marine batteries were no problem because his charger cost £500!

You'll probably get them to last longer if you charged every two days instead of every night.

I run off the van battery now.

[home6442]

Dazmond,
Try a different charger if you have one sometimes smart chargers can misjudge the level of charge in
a battery and not charge it to full capacity.
A battery shouldn't go from being perfect one day to dead the next you should have noticed a gradual loss
of performance.

[jarvy]

Maybe  alex g should start selling batts!
Or maybe put a gardiner sticker on the batt,might make it lighter and work better 

[richard jagger]

Take a look at this.
It will work if the cells are not dead the place to work one a sealed battery is under the paper label on the top of a battery and look at the youtube
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEnErs68XM
If not send it to me so I can fix and use it.

[jarvy]

Also watched a vid about batts being revived by using an arc welder.
Dont fancy trying it though!

[robertphil]

you need to have it load tested to prove whether its good or duff .   most garages /battery shops do it for free,takes 2 seconds with a surefire result one way or another with a load tester - dont waste your time by any other method

[R.C Property]

my 110ah still going strong, nearly 2 years now. split charger on it and solar panel for trickle charge.

never been on a mains charger either, well I haven't put it on one,

[dazmond]

i should of said from the start lads that this battery has been gradually getting worse lasting 4 to 5 hours down to 3-4, then an hour.gradually getting worse.

ive got a brand new car battery so no problems working.i dont want a split charge relay as i hardly do any driving at all.mainly cleaning with minimum driving in between jobs.

as my pure freedom battery lasted so long i was expecting this one to last at least 2 years but no joy!

i always charge my batteries every night to minimize being stuck on a job with a flat battery as im not getting the ladders off!im too lazy for that after 3 and half years wfp!

i just forgot to take my other battery with me this morning!

[R.C Property]

you would be very surprised on how much a split charger will put in a battery even driving a mile!

I have a volt reader on mine and after cleaning a house it drops down to about 12.4v then drive to the next house and its back up to around 12.6v.

the spit charger can put 13-14v in the battery.

[Ben wood]

I agree I have a split relay fitted by Grippa tank when the done my van last month, I work in a 3 mile radius and its never ran out, to be honest its never been took out since and I sometimes don't move the van all day. Best thing I bought that make my life easier. Don't get a cheap split relay get a good one and I doubt you will ever have to charge it again.

[richard jagger]

I fitted a smart split charger and week ago and can see the difference.The problem with smart charger if used to often will force the water out of the battery and a dry battery with not perform well/ Daz take the paper stuck over the lids of the battery end you look if they are convected or concave.This can tell you what ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JIzSxqWidss wrong with a battery. All a smart charger is a charger able to force a higher volts into the battery at short bursts.This will de-de sulphates the battery.As a small sideline business recondition rechargeable tool batteries E G drills.I have also removed the ni cad batteries for all my battery tools and fitted them with LI ion which are far better.I am thinking of building Li ion for my pump.Wich if bought would cost a grand. They already have them for a bikes, but 6v and one could joint 2 up to make 12 volt.
They Li ion batteries are far better a lead acid will only allow YOU access 33%of of the power in the battery. The lead acid will charge +- 12,3 volt and will cut out at about 9.6 volt left in the battery. Li ion will allow you all the a/h at full tilt.I hope this will clear up some myths about 12 volt batteries.