Leisure Battery Investigation by Caravan Club

[otherclive]

I read the article in this months CC magazine which concluded that only Varta, Banner and Exide made leisure batteries conforming to EN50342. But only Varta and Banner were available for inspection and testing. Of the other batteries examined and tested none would have met EN 50342 and from the description of the construction most were nearer to car batteries but with leisure type labels Other issues such as labelling showing 110AH but small print indicating 90AH, and one battery only produced something just abov 30AH when it should have been nearer 100AH.
What I found disappointing is that the Caravan Club did not deem it appropriate to identify which batteries were clearly not making the grade. This is possibly because 'Leisure" has no defined specification so misleading marketing of starter batteries as Leisure batteries is not illegal. As a Club I dont know why the CC wasnt more open in the type of batteries tested and the overall results with manufacturers being identified. If EN 50342 is to mean something then it is quite acceptable to test compliant and non-compliant batteries against this specification as a means of informing consumers. If manufacturers dont like the outcome then its up to them to improve their product or suffer the consequences. But as a Club surely the CC can bat for their members or would it be the risk to advertising revenue?
The article can be read from the link below

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/6552072/technical.pdf

 

[RogerL]

Car batteries and traction batteries are well defined - marine batteries, halfway between the two are less well defined and leisure batteries are marketed as being between car and marine but with no definition.
It's ALWAYS been the case that most "leisure" batteries have just been car batteries with handles and different labels - but there have always been one or two decent ones - and the difference doesn't seem to relate to price paid.
I recall the CC did a similar "investigation" several years ago and gave similar evidence - few batteries sold as leisure type have a reliable Ah rating on them - it seems that little has changed.
Traction batteries would be ideal for caravanners who go off-EHU but would generally be considered too heavy and too expensive - car batteries work very well with motor movers and the occasional night off-EHU and are light and cheap - for the majority of caravanners in between, get a VRLA (fully sealed) marine battery.

"Leisure" batteries are a waste of money, IMO.

 

[JTQ]

I share your disappointment
with the CC not naming the subperforming batteries, but they have actually done
members a big service in bringing the relevance of EN 50342 to our attention.

A lot of members simply
were not aware that there even was an EU standard that guaranteed our batteries
would perform as the label leads buyers to believe. Now in that knowledge they
can buy with confidence, leaving anything not conforming to EN 50342 on the sellers
shelves. I applaud John and the Club for going that far, there is now no need to
buy our leisure duty batteries in ignorance.

 

[Guest]

I'm not at all sure this standard has anything to do with telling 'us' what's in a battery?, my information is the legislation was sneaked in under the guise of recycling so 'they' know what they ultimatetly need to deal with.

Problem with that is, they can still stick 110 on the label, as long as Ah does not follow it, leading to confusion for us. However, it must state it's capacity but not specifically in amp hours, (unless of course it suits the manufacturer), so generally in another form alien to us so hiding it's true capicity.
Clue I was told then is to seek out a battery with 110 on it, or a number very close to it, which is followed by Ah, that then will be what it is!

 

[xtrailman]

It's made me aware of the cheating and lieing thats going on.
The pictures clearly show some batteries with short plates.

My last two batteries however have just been bought from the dealer at Bawtry, both cheap with a 2 year gaurantee, and the fiest was 7 years old when i let it go with the caravan.
I wount be buying my next battery from them however as they have moved to sealed types.

The second from them a "liesure and marine battery" is now 9 years old.

 

[Surfer]

That article is from October 2010 so not new? Numax is probably one of the more popular batteries sold to caravanners as a leisure battery. I take some of John Wickersham writings with a pinch of salt as on a number of occasions he has written information where he is economical with the facts.

 

[otherclive]

Apologies if the link is not correct but as it popped up on my first search on the CC website I assumed it was the one in this months magazine. But on reading them and comparing the most recent is not very different from the one on the link. Most of the posts in Club Together are extremely critical of the Clubs decision not to name the complete list of batteries that were investigated. Which is the same position they adopted after the 2010 article. I still would maintain that if the Clubs tests and examination were soundly based then there could be no other reason for not naming all batteries other than protecting commercial revenue streams.

 

[Dustydog]

Well am I any the wiser

My own experience says a lot imo.
My Avon 110Ah lasted 8 years in two caravans and until this spring could still work the mover on my Wyoming TA. It is now in my mates motor home working well for lights etc.
My replacement 110Ah Numax is performing well, fingers crossed. The batteries mentioned by the CC do not appear very common and I do wonder why that is

.

There is of course a legal duty of care on the part of the caravan dealer to ensure the battery they sell is suitable for purpose. If it doesn't have the EN 50342 stamp does that make it a duff product??

 

[otherclive]

Understand your view but that has been arrived at through many years experience. New comers or those not too technically biased would find some form of standard or good consumer test to be a valuable aid to decision making. I don't think duty of care really extends to a dealer selling a battery. Without any standard to base it on how would the consumer take forward any claim?

 

[ProfJohnL]

I am not entirely familiar withe EN50342 standard, so a quick search on Google produced this result:

http://www.cenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=104:110:2769426331781772::::FSP_ORG_ID,FSP_PROJECT,FSP_LANG_ID:100,22309,25
"This standard is applicable to lead-acid batteries with a nominal voltage of 12 V, used primarily as a power source for the starting of internal combustion engines, lighting and also for auxiliary equipment of internal combustion engine vehicles."

Interestingly it limits the scope of the standard to what we would describe as started batteries, thus it is not strictly a leisure battery standard. So this answers Dusty's question, and raises the question of why the article even referred to the standard?

The usage of a battery used in most caravans is to provide long slow discharges which can become deep discharges, which is more akin to a Traction Battery.

Traditionally traction batteries (the name suggests used for motive power) are built heavily, which might not suit the weight problems with caravans, which is where leisure batteries come in. they should uses similar plate and chemical composition as traction batteries, but a lighter construction.

 

[JTQ]

I am not entirely familiar withe EN50342 standard, so a quick search on Google produced this result:

The part of EN 50342 where familiarity is really needed here is the testing;
Of particular relevence in those tests is the discharge "periods" over which batteries are tested at constant current drain, ie 100hours, 20 hours and 5 hours. Ratings C100, C20 & C5
The time to deplete any particular battery greatly effects the achieved Ahs, the slower it is depleted the higher Ah it yields.
For Leisure batteries the accepted peiod of interest is "C20" the 20 hour depletion test.
When purchasing that all important "C20" value is the figure to focus on.

 

[Raywood]

This has left me wondering if I have been fleeced as my battery is not a Varta or Banner, not sure who sells them near me. I may have a perfectly good leisure battery or have paid over the odds for a car battery and I have no way of telling.
The club has done the industry a great dis service as they have damaged the repuitation of all other makes of battery and given Varta and Banner a huge boost. Any other good guys are now suffering with the bad guys whose names we do not know. The CC should be protecting its members and naming the wrongly labelled batteries and having found this problem obtaining all other makes they can find and checking them.
They should be protecting the members, not protecting the crooks.

 

[Gafferbill]

I have never had a problem with batteries.......for many years I only ever used EHU and the caravan battery was always a cast off car battery. Cast off at the first sign of a hesitation when starting the car engine.
Since starting to go off grid fairly often some 8 years ago I have bought 3 cheap so called leisure batteries during that time.
I still use all 3 and they all work well .......perhaps I have been lucky! (I don't have a mover)

 

[JTQ]

Since starting to go off grid fairly often some 8 years ago I have bought 3 cheap so called leisure batteries during that time.
I still use all 3 and they all work well .......perhaps I have been lucky! (I don't have a mover)

The important question is do they hold, or have ever held the amount of energy, Ahs at C20 , you purchased them as holding??
The issue is not about them "working", but about them being as paid for. Bit like paying for a pint of beer and being given less than a third of a pint, still perfectly good drinkable beer but short measure!.

 

[Gafferbill]

The important question is do they hold, or have ever held the amount of energy, Ahs at C20 , you purchased them as holding??

I understand your point of view but I don't share it.

............my point of view which I was trying to get across is that is not of any importance to me as I buy the cheapest batteries and they have always performed adequate to my needs. I do not need to worry about their C20 performance or whether I have been ripped off.....I can just get on and enjoy my caravan.

Off tomorrow on a 4 day rally (non ehu) to enjoy the Bridgwater and Burnham on Sea carnivals

 

[Raywood]

I appreciate the point made about buying the cheapest battery but in many ways this is like the horsemeat scandal. You ask for a leisure battery and legally that is what you should get whatever the price. You would expect the quality to rise with the price but what you should not get is something essentially different. If thje battery is labelled Leisure and is not then it is a clear case of a breach of The Trade Descriptions Act and the retailer could be prosecuted. It does need action taken or the fraud will continue.

 

[RogerL]

I appreciate the point made about buying the cheapest battery but in many ways this is like the horsemeat scandal. You ask for a leisure battery and legally that is what you should get whatever the price. You would expect the quality to rise with the price but what you should not get is something essentially different. If thje battery is labelled Leisure and is not then it is a clear case of a breach of The Trade Descriptions Act and the retailer could be prosecuted. It does need action taken or the fraud will continue.

Define "leisure" in legal terms - almost any battery is capable of giving some leisure use.
The only legally-enforceable label that can be applied to "leisure" batteries is "lead-acid" or "gel" and I doubt that's ever mis-sold.

 

[bertieboy1]

It seems to me all this talk of a "leisur battery" and EN 50342 is a waste of time.I don't think the term "leisure battery" is a definition recognised by this national standard.
However if a manufacturer claims a "leisure" battery meets the testing requirements of EN 50342 then thats another thing.
It comes down to this, there is no national standard for a "leisure" battery (whatever that is).
I bet if I go into a caravan accessory shop and ask for a battery complying with EN 50342 I'll be met with a blank stare or given a car starting battery.

 

[xtrailman]

Still buying a cheap leisure battery for rally use seems a bit back to front to me.
It makes sense for someone on EU, but not without.

Don't forget the capacity drops with age, so a battery already low on output will get progressive worst, and if they've short change you on the capacity then its a good bet the plates with deteriorate quickly as well.

 

[JTQ]

I bet if I go into a caravan accessory shop and ask for a battery complying with EN 50342 I'll be met with a blank stare or given a car starting battery.

But if you went to a respected battery reseller and asked for an EN 50342 C20, 100 Ah or whatever capacity battery you need then you will come out with a lead acid battery ideally suited for "Leisure" use and meeting the capacity you asked for.
Like you I suspect there will be fewer caravan accessory outlets that could offer the same; they are likely IMO to offer the well advertised brands, rather than the well respected.

 

[Surfer]

I bet if I go into a caravan accessory shop and ask for a battery complying with EN 50342 I'll be met with a blank stare or given a car starting battery.

But if you went to a respected battery reseller and asked for an EN 50342 C20, 100 Ah or whatever capacity battery you need then you will come out with a lead acid battery ideally suited for "Leisure" use and meeting the capacity you asked for.
Like you I suspect there will be fewer caravan accessory outlets that could offer the same; they are likely IMO to offer the well advertised brands, rather than the well respected.

And more than likely they will be more expensive than the standard leisure battery as the battery wil have the "mark" on it. We purchased our Numax CVX battery from Tanya who deal with batteries only and it was known as a Leisure battery.

 

[Gafferbill]

Still buying a cheap leisure battery for rally use seems a bit back to front to me.
It makes sense for someone on EHU, but not without.
Don't forget the capacity drops with age, so a battery already low on output will get progressive worst, and if they've short change you on the capacity then its a good bet the plates with deteriorate quickly as well.

.........like you say when using EHU battery quality does not matter.

What I have found to be successful when rallying off grid is to have a method of charging your batteries and uprate your 12 volt capacity by having multiple batteries.
This is a more pragmatic approach than worrying about battery quality and accurate capacity description when making a purchase.
Solar power and generators are common and increasingly wind turbines as charging methods.

My chosen method of keeping my caravans 2X 100 amp hour batteries charged ultimately comes from my tow car's alternator.
This can be with the direct running of the engine or by use of a 600watt pure sine wave inverter via the caravans on board smart charger. This inverter is used to transfer charge from the tow car's 2 batteries (300 amp hour) to the caravan batteries via the smart charger.
The tow car's batteries are replenished whenever the engine is running and can also be utilised direct from the caravan via 12 volt extension leads.
This set up has proved successful for all year round use and for long periods at a time with extensive use of TV and lighting.
Coupled with the use of 13kgs Calor Propane gas there is little loss of comfort as compared with EHU.
My wife is even able to use a 500 watt 240 volt mains hair dryer via the inverter

The only downside of not having EHU are no microwave and no compressor freezer. These are left at home as they are not permanent fitments in my caravan.

Many people who caravan off grid only do so for a week end and have too high expectations of their single caravan battery and its performance in the absence of any charging.

 

[Surfer]

We have a 12v socket in the rear of Jeep however I don't think we can use this to recharge a 85amp battery as it may melt the wires. I am not sure if we could tap off the supply to the caravan socket on the rear of the Jeep?