[Nick_Thompson]

I found this on a leisure battery website under, 'battery care':

Never totally discharge a battery. It is unlikely that you will be able to recharge it again. In practice it is better to never let your battery discharge to less than 80 per cent of its capacity. If you allow the battery to discharge beyond half its capacity it is unlikely that you will fully recharge it again.

12.7 volts indicates a fully charged battery, 12.3 volts it’s half discharged and anything less than 11.8 volts the battery has fully discharged.

[8weekly]

A controller stops it being fully discharged doesn't it?

[Nick_Thompson]

I believe it does, 8weekly, but I can't remember at what voltage it intervenes.

[Clever Forum Name]

10.5v Volts. Anything less than this and the battery can/will be damaged.

At the end of a working day my battery reads around 11.8V under load.

When i get home its 12.6v

By the following morning its 13.03v

[James Bulton]

I believe its a lithium/ion that should never discharged not lead acid as far as I know.

[Nick_Thompson]

I believe its a lithium/ion that should never discharged not lead acid as far as I know.

Hi James. I've heard this point about not discharging a leisure battery past 75-80% of its capacity, reiterated a number of times when speaking to those individuals who are involved in supplying them.

[David Durrant]

When i got my lesiure battery i asked the supplier what was ment by 250 life cycles and was told i could kill the battery and it would come back from the dead up to 250 times.

[Spruce]

I believe its a lithium/ion that should never discharged not lead acid as far as I know.

Hi James. I've heard this point about not discharging a leisure battery past 75-80% of its capacity, reiterated a number of times when speaking to those individuals who are involved in supplying them.

Nick is right. However one has to read the small print. A battery will last longer if you discharge it to 50% of its charge as against to 20% of its charge. A battery discharged to 80% will last longer still.

So a battery manufacturer could be giving you a false appearance of quality by quoting a different discharge cycle to what you think they are quoting.

Killing a battery will damage it beyond recovery.

[wightsurf]

I killed my battery or so I thought, but I went out and bought one of them smart chargers, been working good ever since.