Just been to the caravan toaday and found our lesuire battery had no charge at all, worse when I looked it had a bulge on the side and appears as though it has been "cooked", cant understand what has happened. We went away 2 weeks ago and all was fine, used electric hook up and when we got back to the storage compound (after 3 hour drive) we used the mover to put the van onto the pitch and there was plenty of power in the battery to opperate the mover. Took the van to a dealers last week for water ingress and collected the van and returned it to the storage today, on returning to the storage that was when i discovered the battery problem. battery was only 18 months old so has been replaced under warranty. Cant understand what has happened. Any sugestions.
Cooking lesuire battery
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I have come across this twice before both times it was due to one of the electro plates coming loose and falling against the next plate, one of the batteries had blown up rupturing the battery case
Thanks for the info Paul, Sounds like it could be likely as the van had been in storage and not hooked up to the mains. Has me baffled, as when we parked it up 2 weeks ago, we used the motor mover and the battery was fine then. If it had been cooked on our last outing by the inbuilt charger it wouldnt have had the power to operate the mover on our return.
Sorry to say if this is the cause you will need a new battery, the good news is that it is rare for this to happen.Thanks for the info Paul, Sounds like it could be likely as the van had been in storage and not hooked up to the mains. Has me baffled, as when we parked it up 2 weeks ago, we used the motor mover and the battery was fine then. If it had been cooked on our last outing by the inbuilt charger it wouldnt have had the power to operate the mover on our return.
Not a problem paul, the battery was only 18 months old, and still under gaurentte, so i took it back to the supplying dealer and they replaced it straight away. so I have a brand new battery fitted already.
it would have really stunk if u had cooked the battery, the smell is unbelievable and u or someone on site would have noticed it, so i doubt if hat was the problem.Thanks for the info Paul, Sounds like it could be likely as the van had been in storage and not hooked up to the mains. Has me baffled, as when we parked it up 2 weeks ago, we used the motor mover and the battery was fine then. If it had been cooked on our last outing by the inbuilt charger it wouldnt have had the power to operate the mover on our return.
just beeen reading interesting info on chargers, ive pasted the link below, but u may have to cut & paste it into your explorer bar or type it in.
http://www.sailgb.com/sshop/tech_info.asp?ID=223
http://www.sailgb.com/sshop/tech_info.asp?ID=223
also here for a chargerjust beeen reading interesting info on chargers, ive pasted the link below, but u may have to cut & paste it into your explorer bar or type it in.
http://www.sailgb.com/sshop/tech_info.asp?ID=223
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=170275&categoryId=31335&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=31335&crumb=31335&varient=&CarSelectorCatalogId
Keith I have read the link and take issue with the following
"The third battery type is the genuine "deep-cycle" battery, designed to operate electric vehicles such as fork-lift trucks, milk floats and golf carts. These have a different cell construction with much thicker, stronger plates than starter or leisure batteries, making them more resistant to physical damage caused by constant deep discharging. They are ideal for use in caravans, motorhomes and boats except for a couple of features: they are extremely heavy and bulky and they are very, very expensive. These disadvantages tend to outweigh the advantages of deep-cycle batteries and so, in most cases, the leisure battery is the most suitable for domestic use in vehicles"
A battery designed to operate electric motors has to be robust to with stand heavy current drain especially the initial high current at switch on this is why the plates are thicker. A leisure battery is designed to give much lower current drain (inrelation to starter motors and electric motors) but maintain a higher voltage.
When a large current is drawn from a battery the terminal voltage drops substancially which is not a great problem when used to drive an electric motor, however it is a problem when your using the battery to operate electronics such as a TV.
So a battery that best meets the demands found in a caravan is one that maintains its voltage so that the electronics in the water heater controller TV ect can operate longer over its discharge periode and the leisure battery is designed to do this.
Having explained this I now think that what may have happened to Dels battery may have a bearing on this. He uses his leisure battery to power his caravan mover and if the plate was faulty the extra power needed to drive the motors could have "buckeled" the loose plate and caused it to come in contact with another.
So this gives us a dilemer is a leisure battery suitable to be used with a caravan mover. In my opinion it is but it will reduce the life of a leisure battery especially if the battery is not imediately put on charge after it has been used to move the caravan.
"The third battery type is the genuine "deep-cycle" battery, designed to operate electric vehicles such as fork-lift trucks, milk floats and golf carts. These have a different cell construction with much thicker, stronger plates than starter or leisure batteries, making them more resistant to physical damage caused by constant deep discharging. They are ideal for use in caravans, motorhomes and boats except for a couple of features: they are extremely heavy and bulky and they are very, very expensive. These disadvantages tend to outweigh the advantages of deep-cycle batteries and so, in most cases, the leisure battery is the most suitable for domestic use in vehicles"
A battery designed to operate electric motors has to be robust to with stand heavy current drain especially the initial high current at switch on this is why the plates are thicker. A leisure battery is designed to give much lower current drain (inrelation to starter motors and electric motors) but maintain a higher voltage.
When a large current is drawn from a battery the terminal voltage drops substancially which is not a great problem when used to drive an electric motor, however it is a problem when your using the battery to operate electronics such as a TV.
So a battery that best meets the demands found in a caravan is one that maintains its voltage so that the electronics in the water heater controller TV ect can operate longer over its discharge periode and the leisure battery is designed to do this.
Having explained this I now think that what may have happened to Dels battery may have a bearing on this. He uses his leisure battery to power his caravan mover and if the plate was faulty the extra power needed to drive the motors could have "buckeled" the loose plate and caused it to come in contact with another.
So this gives us a dilemer is a leisure battery suitable to be used with a caravan mover. In my opinion it is but it will reduce the life of a leisure battery especially if the battery is not imediately put on charge after it has been used to move the caravan.
A leisure battery is the least desirable type to use with a motor mover.
A car starter battery wil provide the high currents for short periods much better, but is unsuitable for it's current drain role in a caravan.
A proper deep-cycle battery will provide both the high current used by motor movers and the current drain when off mains hook-up. These are very expensive and very heavy.
You pay your money and make your choice.
I personally use a car battery but we never have more than one night away from a hook-up so there's not much discharge.
A car starter battery wil provide the high currents for short periods much better, but is unsuitable for it's current drain role in a caravan.
A proper deep-cycle battery will provide both the high current used by motor movers and the current drain when off mains hook-up. These are very expensive and very heavy.
You pay your money and make your choice.
I personally use a car battery but we never have more than one night away from a hook-up so there's not much discharge.
I have to agree if you use a motor mover it would be better to have a deep-cycle battery but for the short time it is used it is not essential.A leisure battery is the least desirable type to use with a motor mover.
A car starter battery wil provide the high currents for short periods much better, but is unsuitable for it's current drain role in a caravan.
A proper deep-cycle battery will provide both the high current used by motor movers and the current drain when off mains hook-up. These are very expensive and very heavy.
You pay your money and make your choice.
I personally use a car battery but we never have more than one night away from a hook-up so there's not much discharge.
A deep-cycle battery is not the best for a modern caravan its voltage output will fall to fast over its discharge cycle so you will end up with the water heater controller saying the battery voltage is to low yet the battery will (incomparrison with a leisure battery)still have charge thus it will need recharging sooner.
Well what ever it was that went wrong it created a lot of heat as the removable plastic tray that the battery sits on has buckled.
It sure does we had some experimental delivery vans made in the early 80s these had very large milkfloat type batteries I went to move it and as I pressed the accelerator a massive explosion was heard and the van moved upwards. It Frighten the life out of me and people came rushing out off the workshops thinking the IRA had set off a bomb. Luckily no one was standing next to the van as battery acid had been sprayed every where the battery had been ripped apart, the plates where exposed and sparking.
Chloride the suppliers investigated and found that one of the plates fixing had corroded and the plate had fallen against the next one.
Chloride the suppliers investigated and found that one of the plates fixing had corroded and the plate had fallen against the next one.
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