I bought one of the above less than two years ago and it ( alledgedly) has a five year warranty. In the winter months I found that it was not holding a charge and told Elecsol. They wrote back, effectively blaming the cold weather. Even now that it is warmer the battery will go from full charge (12.8) to 12.5 in 3 days. I have done everything correctly and use a C-Tek 7000 charger at home and solar panels where no EHU. Anyone else had this kind of thing with Elecsol??
Elecsol Battery
- Thread starter Rodone
- Start date
To charge your battery fully, the output from your charger must be of the order of 14.4 - 14.6 volts. If yours is a "smart charger", while charging, this voltage may only remain for perhaps an hour or even less (depending on state of discharge) before dropping to around 13.8 volts. Battery should be left charging at this lower voltage for a min of 12 hours.
Perhaps your charger is not outputting this higher voltage, and your battery is therefore never being "fully charged". A battery in v good condition, when fully charged as outlined previously, with no load, should hold a voltage of around 12.6 - 12.7 volts for at least a few weeks, in room temp conditions.
If voltage is falling much faster than this, then the battery has a rather high internal leakage rate.
If the voltage drops to below 12.3 volts in a matter of a week or so then either your battery has not been charged fully or it is on it's way out.
Perhaps your charger is not outputting this higher voltage, and your battery is therefore never being "fully charged". A battery in v good condition, when fully charged as outlined previously, with no load, should hold a voltage of around 12.6 - 12.7 volts for at least a few weeks, in room temp conditions.
If voltage is falling much faster than this, then the battery has a rather high internal leakage rate.
If the voltage drops to below 12.3 volts in a matter of a week or so then either your battery has not been charged fully or it is on it's way out.
Hello david,
Thanks for reply. Yes the XS 7000 is a 'smart' charger, and when I last charged the battery,I left it on for about 24 hours. I know that it begins at 14.4 ( or 14.7 if you switch to that) but I have not monitored it long enough to see when it goes on to the bulk, absorbtion, trickle/pulse mode. I will go and connect it now, and when it has gone through ot's usual cycle, will switch it onto 'supply' mode at 13.6v and let it run on that for at least 12 hours, and then see if it holds it's charge.
Thanks for reply. Yes the XS 7000 is a 'smart' charger, and when I last charged the battery,I left it on for about 24 hours. I know that it begins at 14.4 ( or 14.7 if you switch to that) but I have not monitored it long enough to see when it goes on to the bulk, absorbtion, trickle/pulse mode. I will go and connect it now, and when it has gone through ot's usual cycle, will switch it onto 'supply' mode at 13.6v and let it run on that for at least 12 hours, and then see if it holds it's charge.
Hi again Rod. Let us know how you get on. Sometimes a battery needs to be charged two or three times over a couple of days, to fully recover it's "holding" capability, especially if it has only been used in 'van with 13.8 volts, over a season or so.
I note the C-Tek charger has a "rejuvination" mode. Not sure how effective this is, but have you tried this yet?
Good luck and keep us updated. I'm of to Isle of Skye this morning, for a couple of weeks.
Cheers!
I note the C-Tek charger has a "rejuvination" mode. Not sure how effective this is, but have you tried this yet?
Good luck and keep us updated. I'm of to Isle of Skye this morning, for a couple of weeks.
Cheers!
rod one
What you are describing is perfectly normal.
A battery has an internal resistance, in winter the resistance increases, as the ambient air temperature decreases.
In summer the resistance is less, so discharge will take longer.
I would not worry about battery volts around 12volts.
Just put the battery on charge more often during the cold weather.
What you are describing is perfectly normal.
A battery has an internal resistance, in winter the resistance increases, as the ambient air temperature decreases.
In summer the resistance is less, so discharge will take longer.
I would not worry about battery volts around 12volts.
Just put the battery on charge more often during the cold weather.
Hello Ray,
Yes I accept that in the cold weather the performance/discharge rate is affected - but in the current weather it should hold the charge for longer than three days. Anyway, I will see in an hour or so how is has fared after leaving it on a 13.6 v charge for 12 hours! Kill or cure as they say !
Yes I accept that in the cold weather the performance/discharge rate is affected - but in the current weather it should hold the charge for longer than three days. Anyway, I will see in an hour or so how is has fared after leaving it on a 13.6 v charge for 12 hours! Kill or cure as they say !
key points
fully charged 12.6v.
A general rule of thumb is a one percent per day rate of self-discharge.
fully charged 12.6v.
A general rule of thumb is a one percent per day rate of self-discharge.
That site is certainly interesting, and confirms that the battery either needs rejuvienating or replacing as it is certainly not holding anything like the charge that they suggest. Anyway I have given it a good charge, but won't really be able to check it as I am off in the van tomorrow and do not get back until early June. ( Somerset, Yorkshire, Scotland, and Cumbria) Luckily on this trip, I will have all EHU, but when I go away next ( Mid June) it will be battery and solar panels,for 4 weeks, so I should know more then !
Hi. After a lot of iffy posts on this forum last year about elecsol batteries, I bought a Numax. Used it through last summer and since october it has been sitting in the spare room upstairs. I've just checked it and it is showing 12.81Volts. Since october it has been charged once, round about december. The charger I use is a Ring Smart Charge which pulse charges until the battery is full then switches to a trickle charge.
Henry.
Henry.
Just another warning about ELECSOL - their attitude towards customers absolutely stinks. I ordered a 220A battery and was phoned to be told it would be delivered on the Friday. No battery turned up. Phoned late afternoon and left a message asking them to phone back to let me know where it was - no-one phoned. Finally got to speak to person rather than an answering machine the following week and was greeted with a gruff and curt "Elecsol". When I explained the problem all I got was "Name?", then a few seconds later, "Yes it HAS been delivered. You weren't in so the courier left it outside your gate - I told them not to bother with a signature. So if it's not there it must have been nicked so you'll just have to phone the police and report it stolen won't you?" I told this charmer that I could assure him it had not been delivered at my property since I would have seen the courier arrive but I was virtually accused of lying about that - I got the impression that he thought I had received it and I was trying to pull a fast one. As it turned out I (not Elecsol) ended up chasing up the courier and found out the battery had been left outside the gates of the wrong property. I'm still waiting over a week later for a battery so perhaps it has been stolen - but then that's not my problem, it's Elecsol's for being so stupid as to let the courier leave something costing over
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