Caravan Battery non charging volts

[Royston]

Since my last topic where my old battery was nearly at the point where it could have exploded, I have changed my tactics with regarding charging when caravan is at home.
I used to leave my battery connected to the internal battery charger, but was advised by the fitter who replaced the battery that there was no need to charge the battery when parked at home.
Now I have been parked at home for a fortnight, checking the battery volts it has gone down from 13 volts to just below 12 volts.
Everything appears to be switched off apart from the alarm, What is the minimum Volt reading before I have to switch on the battery charger again, to bring the volts back up to full power.

Many thanks Royston

 

[xtrailman]

Your battery sounds faulty to me.
My 10 year old battery usually still shows around 12.5 volts on the internal Bailey voltmeter. Even after two or 3 weeks of charge.
At 12volts I believe its nearly discharged.

I would advise checking for parasitic losses.

 

[Damian]

At 12v your battery is flat and needs recharging as quickly as possible or it will start to sulphate and make it useless.
The alarm will discharge the battery so, despite your "fitters" advice, keep the charger on or fit a decent sized solar panel to keep the battery in good condition.

 

[Royston]

Thank you both for the advise This is a brand new battery which was fitted on site on Sept 5th, we were on site for 5 days before heading back home. we used a motor mover both times charged the battery for 24hrs switched of the charger , checking the voltmeter on a weekly basis when I noticed the sudden drop in volts. since my first post I have had the charger back on for 24 hrs , switching off the 12 volt master switch checked the voltmeter back up to 13,7 volts guess the battery is okay, will keep the charger on from now on.
MANY THANKS rOYSTON

 

[Woody3]

A battery is defined as flat when it gets down to 1.8V per cell, or 10.8 volts across the battery. It would be wise to start recharging a little above this else your smart charger may not work - assuming you have one!

 

[Gafferbill]

.........from what you have written something is draining your battery faster than would be accounted for by the alarm system.
I would define a flat caravan battery at below 11 volts but would not allow it to fall below 12 volts if it could be avoided.
12.5 to 12.9 volts is a good state of stable charge........readings higher than this are usually obtained before the battery has settled after being taken off charge.

This problem has been reported on forums and the cause has been found to be the fridge internal light being left on when in storage .......just a thought

 

[RogerL]

Just a thought - does it have a Phantom Tracker installed?

My then new Lunar had Tracker as standard by I never activated the service (insurance discount less than subscription fee) but it was draining the leisure battery in a fortnight - I managed to persuade Lunar to give me confidential instructions on removing the Tracker and that cured the battery drain.

Anyone want to buy an unused Phantom Tracker - just register and pay the subscription.

 

[Royston]

Funny you should mention the tracker, It is a standard fitting on my series 6 Senator, it also has a alarm included. I do not have the tracker active only the alarm.
Since my last input I have removed the fuse from the alarm system, more trouble than good it kept going off , due to the alarm remote button on the key ring .
I have still got the battery on charge , I will switch off the power from the control panel and monitor daily the volts recorded from the battery, to see how quick or I hope little voltage drop over the next few weeks.
Once again many thanks for all your inputs, this is my first caravan to have a alarm fitted.

Royston

 

[TD42]

firstly a freshly charged battery has what is known as a "float charge" which is why your meter shows 13.7 You need to take a reading 6/12 hours after removing the battery from charge in order to get a correct charge reading, this is 12.8 for a fully charged battery .13.8 v is the standard charge from most caravan charger systems,& will not fully charge a 12v battery as they are designed to not over charge the battery to the extent of causing fumes. This is why many folk recommend using a Smart charger such as the CTEC after each away trip as this will fully charge the battery by using 14.8v & keep it fully charged by dropping down to 13.8v until the next trip

 

[DeliDave_]

Funny you should mention the tracker, It is a standard fitting on my series 6 Senator, it also has a alarm included. I do not have the tracker active only the alarm.
Since my last input I have removed the fuse from the alarm system, more trouble than good it kept going off , due to the alarm remote button on the key ring .
I have still got the battery on charge , I will switch off the power from the control panel and monitor daily the volts recorded from the battery, to see how quick or I hope little voltage drop over the next few weeks.
Once again many thanks for all your inputs, this is my first caravan to have a alarm fitted.

Royston

We have a S6 Indiana and battery was always going flat,disconnected the alarm by pulling fuse,made sure fridge light off etc,never got to the bottom of it.Fitted an isolator switch in the compartment by the battery and turn it off when I leave the van and it has been fine since (18 months ago)Wondered if battery could discharge through the charger but gave up worrying about it

 

[xtrailman]

firstly a freshly charged battery has what is known as a "float charge" which is why your meter shows 13.7 You need to take a reading 6/12 hours after removing the battery from charge in order to get a correct charge reading, this is 12.8 for a fully charged battery .13.8 v is the standard charge from most caravan charger systems,& will not fully charge a 12v battery as they are designed to not over charge the battery to the extent of causing fumes. This is why many folk recommend using a Smart charger such as the CTEC after each away trip as this will fully charge the battery by using 14.8v & keep it fully charged by dropping down to 13.8v until the next trip

Sorry but 13.8 volts will fully charge a battery.

 

[RogerL]

13.8 volts will fully charge a battery.

13.8 volts will bring a battery up to about 80% fully charged and then maintain that state of charge without causing any excess "gassing".

14.4 volts wil charge a battery to 100% but if continued will cause excess gassing off, resulting in evaporation of electrolyte.

The above are why - old-style car chargers at a fixed 14.4v couldn't be left charging indefinitely - old-style power supplies (aka caravan chargers) used a fixed 13.8v to avoid loss of electrolyte - modern smart chargers use 14.4v to fully charge the battery and then change to 13.8v maintenance charge.

 

[xtrailman]

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/topic/89301-what-leisure-batteries-are-hungry-for/page-1

 

[TD42]

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/topic/89301-what-leisure-batteries-are-hungry-for/page-1

As far as I can see the consensus was 13.8v will only charge a battery to 80% It requires 14.8v to bring a battery to full charge at which stage the battery begins to gas/boil ..A smart charger then drops to 13.8 to maintain the battery .There is another function in many Good smart chargers which create a pulse charge of 14.8v this is intended to remove any sulphation on the plates 13.8 will not completely fully charge a battery

 

[xtrailman]

You obviously didn't read it correctly.
The battery actually returned more output when charged by the dumb charger at 13.8volts.