Leisure battery - i think mine is a starter battery do i need to replace?

[donde_ayer]

Good evening everyone.

I'm having some technical issues with my caravan. I will try first of all listing them together as they are linked, but are seperate headers.

My "leisure" battery is a ford silver calcium 60ah 590a, i believe it's a "starter" battery. side note: the access screws on top were loosened so this has clearly been opened before.

So a very short story of my issues, my water pump died, before it died it became very flickery (off and on before stopping at pressure, not just cutting off) so i replaced the pump on the end (whale water master, the square one, in-line pressure sensor not IC) replaced the pump with an upgraded comet 20LPM 1.1bar pump. tested it hooked up to my cars 12v supply it was powerful, hooked up to the caravan it took 4 minutes to fill my 20l water tank, and tap pressure is woeful.

I'm not sure my issue is pump specific, skip to last week, my radio flickered on and off like it was struggling for power (power switch in neutral as on EHU) it seemed to settle when i put the switch to VAN. (i'm not really sure if i'm suposed to have the switch on VAN or neutral when on EHU).

So, I supose my actual questions...

I need recomendations on leisure battery. is calcium-calcium 130AH ok for deep cycle? or do i need to spend a fortune?

Is the above battery suitable as a leisure battery?

isn't this a maintanence free bat? why were the lugs undone?

considering i have no idea on the age of the battery, is it likely that even if it is a good leisure battery, it may need replacing?

I have a voltage tester at home but not with me, i'll test battery when i'm home, but as i'm away on work i need to work out if i need a new battery or a new pump.

Thanks in advance

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Donde ayer.

Welcome to the forum.

The Ford battery is designed for automotive use, and information from battery suppliers suggest it has different charging needs compared to that of a caravan system. This could mean the built in charger in your caravan cannot properly recharge the Ford battery, and that might be why its not powering the caravan properly.

To work out what type of battery would be best for you we need a bit more information:-
Make, Model Year of Caravan (this determines what type of charger you have fitted)
Are you using a Mains Hook Up (230V ac) or how is your battery charged?
Do you have a caravan motor mover fitted?

 

[donde_ayer]

Hello Donde ayer.

Welcome to the forum.

The Ford battery is designed for automotive use, and information from battery suppliers suggest it has different charging needs compared to that of a caravan system. This could mean the built in charger in your caravan cannot properly recharge the Ford battery, and that might be why its not powering the caravan properly.

To work out what type of battery would be best for you we need a bit more information:-
Make, Model Year of Caravan (this determines what type of charger you have fitted)
Are you using a Mains Hook Up (230V ac) or how is your battery charged?
Do you have a caravan motor mover fitted?

Hi, thanks for taking the time to look.

I have a 2002 (I think, could be slightly older) lunar ariva GTS 2 berth. Right now it's on hookup 230V 16A and has been for 3 weeks, but I am required to use it off grid sometimes. Motor mover is fitted and appears to be wired direct to the battery.

What is strange is I'm having these issues with pump etc but I am hooked up. As I understand the 12v systems still use the battery even when plugged into EHU, but if the battery is knackered I assume its doing strange stuff?

As mentioned, I am unsure wether it's correct to have the electric switched to van or neutral whilst hooked up.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to look.

I have a 2002 (I think, could be slightly older) lunar ariva GTS 2 berth. Right now it's on hookup 230V 16A and has been for 3 weeks, but I am required to use it off grid sometimes. Motor mover is fitted and appears to be wired direct to the battery.

What is strange is I'm having these issues with pump etc but I am hooked up. As I understand the 12v systems still use the battery even when plugged into EHU, but if the battery is knackered I assume its doing strange stuff?

As mentioned, I am unsure wether it's correct to have the electric switched to van or neutral whilst hooked up.

If you need to go OFF Grid, then you definitely should be using a proper leisure battery. A car type battery does not like deep slow discharges, and that might have damaged your Ford battery.

Most caravans can accept a 110Ah size of battery, and with frugal use of power it should last 4 to 5 days without a problem, But at the end of being off grid the battery may not have enough current capacity to operate the caravan mover.

 

[donde_ayer]

If you need to go OFF Grid, then you definitely should be using a proper leisure battery. A car type battery does not like deep slow discharges, and that might have damaged your Ford battery.

Most caravans can accept a 110Ah size of battery, and with frugal use of power it should last 4 to 5 days without a problem, But at the end of being off grid the battery may not have enough current capacity to operate the caravan mover.

I haven't been off grid with it yet, but it will likely need to at some point, i do however plan to have solar panels in the future, maybe that will happen first.

I'm less concerned about the mover, I use it more for parking up at home and pitching in the dark, so hooking up to leave isn't a major concern.

Do i need to worry about what type of battery it is? or just as long as it's listed as a leisure battery it should be fine? i've seen some calcium-calcium and silver-calcium leisure batteries but i've also read they don't make good leisure batteries?

when you say most can accept a 110ah do you mean physical size for the battery compartment, or size as in power?

 

[ProfJohnL]

....

when you say most can accept a 110ah do you mean physical size for the battery compartment, or size as in power?

Physical size.

 

[JTQ]

As I read it, you are having the pump issue with the mains hook up connected?

This indicates to me the problem is not a battery one, because on mains the 12 Volts is being sourced from the power supply unit that charges the battery.
You really do need to check the voltages at the battery, both with and without the mains lead connected.

Whilst there are some provisos to this statement, "if these are not significantly different then it points strongly that the power supply/charger unit is not working." You would expect off any load the with mains connected to be at least 13.4 volts, and without mains something less than 12.9 volts.

In some cases, the cause is not the power supply having failed, though they do tend to, but simply the mains plug where fitted can work loose.

All said, none of this indicates the battery is healthy, just it is not necessarily the issue.

Poor water supply at taps can easily be down to other causes, like hardness deposits building up in the tap "aerators" and sticky non return valves.

 

[Ukdave2002]

The difference between car batteries and leisure batteries, is that car batteries are designed to deliver high short bursts of power; to crank an engine over, so there is a high discharge and then when the engine fires its gets charged. A leisure battery needs to deliver a constant voltage at lower current draw for longer periods between charge.
You wont damage a car battery in a caravan, it will charge fine, but just won't have the capacity for longer periods off grid. In fact if you never go off grid and just use the movers, it would suite a car battery just fine.
Neither should be left in a state of discharge for any length of time.

 

[Gafferbill]

....as a coincidence I have exactly the same battery as the OP.
Ford silver calcium 60 ah.....it is 2009 vintage taken off my 1.4 diesel in 2019 simply because it was10 years old but having no issues.
Since then I have used it as an off grid extra battery.
Still works well at 14 years old and is never allowed to drop below 12.2 volts.
Easy enough for the OP to check their battery for charge state as they have a multimeter.
Likewise to check the output, if any, of the caravan charger.

 

[donde_ayer]

Thanks for all your replies. I think the only thing I can do is deal with low pressure until I have time to get home to my multimeter, before spending a fortune on batteries etc. Everything that's been said makes sense, I'm OK with electrics just never dealt with 12v/caravan before.

With regards to low pressure @JTQ The issue starts from the water roll. If I drain my hot water tank, it takes 4 and a half minutes to fill (20L) it's not necessarily a tap pressure issue, more a water flow issue. An issue I didn't have when I tested the pump on my cars 12V supply prior to fitting. I'm relatively confident the issue is power related, beyond that is my problem.