leisure battery won't charge

[stevecritchlow]

I have a leisure bteery on my caravan which was new a couple of years ago. Its never really been used, in as much as we always go on mains hook ups, but it sits in its compartment connected up and hence charging away etc.
I've been aware that I dont seem to get any power at all when the mains wasn't hooked up, so have taken the battery off to try and charge it in the garage at home. When I've placed it on charge, the battery doesn't seem to want to take anymore than approx 6 volts (i.e thats the max reading I can get on the front of the charger when connecting it). I kept it on charge for over a day and the displayed charge on the charger never went up, but neither did it get down to zero.
I am assuming my battery is dead; so questions
what did i do wrong to kill it (want to avoid doing it again)?
is it dead, or can it be saved?
do I need to have a leisure battery, given I only use mains hook up? I like the idea of it being there for back up, or in case we fancy a nice CL in the future, but does it have any other benefits?
thanks all

 

[Damian]

The only way of checking the voltage of a battery is with a multimeter.
Dials and gauges on equipment and in vans are notoriously innaccurate.

First question is, does your charger have selectable output, 6 & 12v? and was it set to 12v?

Is your van kept at home on charge frequently during the winter or is it left in storage complete with battery?

If after checking the voltage with a multimeter th evoltage is indeed only 6v then its dead (it was when it went below 10v)