Battery chargeing

[Plug]

Need to charge my leisure battery would useing a standerd battery charger the ones you use for car batterys do any harm to a leisure battery or do i need to go out and buy a new one

 

[Paullus1959]

Hi Plug.
The answer to this question possibly depends on how old the battery charger you have is?
If it’s decades old, like the one I had lying about in the garage that my Dad gave me, then don’t use it. I had such a thing, but threw it away after finding out it can ruin a modern battery. Battery technology has moved on from the old lead acid things that started our cars back in the day.
You need a smart battery charger for a modern battery. These can be set to the type of battery you have and its current condition, if you’ll excuse the pun. If, on the other hand, you have smart charger for your car then that should be fine for your leisure battery.

 

[Woodentop]

No, a leisure battery is essentially the same as a car battery except it has a slightly different internal construction and is 20hr rated against 10hr rated for a car battery. That means that a 100Ah leisure battery can - in theory at least - supply five amps for 20 hours: the same battery rating for car use would (again in theory) provide 10A for 10 hours. The car battery can also usually provide a higher starting current.

A normal car battery charger will do the job but do consider getting a so-called smart charger which will handle the charging sequence better. Lidl or Aldi have them on sale a couple of times a year for less than about £15.

If you can get mains to your caravan you can of course just leave the battery in situ with the caravan charger active - such action will do it no harm and keep it at at least 90% charge but will not usually achieve 100% as the smart charger will. If you are not going off grid (i.e. away with no mains) the slightly low charge will be of no consequence.

 

[Plug]

No, a leisure battery is essentially the same as a car battery except it has a slightly different internal construction and is 20hr rated against 10hr rated for a car battery. That means that a 100Ah leisure battery can - in theory at least - supply five amps for 20 hours: the same battery rating for car use would (again in theory) provide 10A for 10 hours. The car battery can also usually provide a higher starting current.

A normal car battery charger will do the job but do consider getting a so-called smart charger which will handle the charging sequence better. Lidl or Aldi have them on sale a couple of times a year for less than about £15.

If you can get mains to your caravan you can of course just leave the battery in situ with the caravan charger active - such action will do it no harm and keep it at at least 90% charge but will not usually achieve 100% as the smart charger will. If you are not going off grid (i.e. away with no mains) the slightly low charge will be of no consequence.

Thanks for the reply it's for my spare battery i have one already on the van all we do is off grid as we do a lot of rallying in fields bit of a sado really lol ?? The spare i have in the shed is a banner 110ap so was going to give it a full charge and put it on the van and have two batterys in line to give me longer use in the winter months because the solar panel hardly puts anything back into the battery so looks like i'll have to get a smart charger

 

[Mr Grumpy]

What size is your solar panel?
You can always buy a suitcase style panel to augment it. We use 2, 1 X 100 watt & 1 X 50 watt, both suitcase style & they work great together.

 

[Plug]

I'v got a 100w truma panel fixed to the roof never had a problem in the past with the 100w panel on my old van but bought brand new van in april and the battery does'nt seem to last to long over the last few weeks "dark nights" cant seem the get the battery above 12,3v even been down to 11,6v last weekend and we were out most of the day even had to put my geni on a few times over the weekend

 

[Sam Vimes]

While car batteries and leisure batteries may appear to be the same there are different types of construction for Lead Acid batteries. Then of course there are now Lithium batteries.

Within the Lead Acid group of batteries there are at least AGM, GEL, EFB and Calcium Types.

Lead Acid and Lithium are very different in their charging requirements.

Its best to check that whatever battery charger you have will work with the type of battery you have. I would guess that you probably don't have a Lithium battery so you just need to ensure that the charger can work with the types I mention above.

The cheap pulse charger I have wont work on Lithium but does cover AGM, GEL and EFB

One of the best, but not cheapest, chargers is the Ctek MXS 5. This may help

https://carbatterygeek.co.uk/which-ctek-charger-do-i-need/

 

[sarahc_]

but will not usually achieve 100% as the smart charger will.

Hi, I have a question about using smart chargers as I need to get one with this cold weather and not being able to keep the caravan plugged in all the time to the mains (no outside socket).

Complete amateur question as I'e never done it (but I have used jump leads before on jump starting a car for example so understand the positive and negative connections)...

1. How would I remove the caravan leisure battery from it's current connections in the caravan safely (without damaging myself or the battery), i.e. what cables to disconnect and in what order?
2. How would I re-connect it back after a smart charger has done it's thing (and in what order)?
3. Would a smart charger like this from Halfords be sufficient?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help

 

[Woodentop]

You only need to disconnect one terminal - black (-ve) preferred for safety reasons - if you can charge in situ. If you must remove the battery then just disconnect it - again preferably black first for safety, and when returning you can connect it up in reverse of the above.
Almost any smart charger will do, just remember that if the the battery is down, with a 6A maximum charge it will take longer to reach peak charge.
The Halford's charger will do, but if there is no rush just wait until the New Year when either Aldi or Lidl will have a similar rated device on sale for about £14. Many people on here swear by C-Tek but they are rather more expensive. I have had two smart chargers for years, one each from Lidl and Aldi, and neither has ever given a second's problem. The only issue with these two - and many more expensive ones as well - is that if the mains goes off the charger will not self-restart when the mains is restored, it needs human intervention.

 

[sarahc_]

Thanks for the advice