new battery charging

[carp]

hi last year i cooked the battery in the van and was told this was due to the battery being left to discharge when left in the caravan when in storage now i have bought a new battery and just in case this has been left standing i have put it on low charge can any one tell me how long do i leave this on charge so i dont harm this battery many thanks

 

[rob_jax]

If you use the search facility on this forum, you'll see several (many even) threads on the correct use and maintenance of a battery.

Basically if you allow a battery to discharge by itself (every day a battery loses between 0.3 AH and 0.5 AH - about 50 to 100 milliamps of internal current flow because of internal chemistry) then below about 50% discharge the battery plates start to irreversibly deposit sulfate on the plates. This is called sulfation and will eventually kill a battery.

If you discharge the battery under normal load - drawing several amps all the time - then you can discharge the battery to around 25% before sulfation occurs.

You can beat sulfation by keeping the battery fully charged (or charged above 50%) - either charge the battery once a month or leave it on a trickle charger. A trickle chrger only feeds 100 milliamps into the battery, roughly balancing the internal loses.

If your caravan charger is an "intelligent" multi-stage charger, then it should put the battery on trickle charge automatically. If it's not, then you will pump too many amps into the battery and cook off the liquid (also killing the battery) and a monthly charge regime is best.

Robert