My caravan battery

Kendo · Senior Member

My caravan battery

Phil C · Guru

Found a few sites that may be useful.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery

www.solarcampingaustralia.com.au/index.php

My guess is that 2 years is a very short life for one of these, if you only discharge it lightly (eg. around 10 to 15 amps) it should last a long time. I am not an expert on these new type batteries, I still cant get my head around discharge rates etc. The book tells me to discharge them to around 10 volts then recharge if I want them to go the distance.

Evidently they are complex beasties. I do know one thing about the calcium variant, if you dont keep a charge up to them they turn into great boat anchors. Keep them on the conditioner, my son in law left his camper trailer batteries untouched for 8 months, managed to save one, the other just sat there and gassed its butt off even at a low charge current.

Safe travels

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 28th of September 2014 09:13:10 AM

Kendo · Senior Member

Thanks Phil C,

The advice was along the lines of the battery would last much longer, but the inference was that it would likely start to "give off gas" later in it's life. As it is in an enclosed space it would be prudent to replace it before it gets to this state (ie. 2 yrs).

I have added a vent hose to the battery after some very recent advice (see Battery Vent thread in Hints, Tips & Ideas).

While stored I have the van connected to 240v so the battery will remain topped up.

Jeff smile

-- Edited by Kendo on Sunday 28th of September 2014 09:23:28 AM

oldtrack123 · Guru

HI Jeff

It appears to be just a" low maintenance" wet cell deep cycle battery12v 120Ah

Just another one of the many names on the market

The little green indicator indicates it is fully charged & the fliud level is OK

I would suggest you ignore that"auto" electrician & only consider changing it when it appears to have lost capacity to the stage where it does not last anywhere near as long as it use to!!

Do not let it discharge below around 11.8V if you want long live from ANY flooded wet cell battery

Keep it fully charged at all times & just check that indicator ,if it changes from green to red the battery is near flat

If it does not show red or green the fluid level is to low

If you pull of the label [on the top], you will find small filler caps where you can top up the fluid with DISTILLED water

DO NOT OVERFILL, just over the battery plates or until the indicator show some colour is enough

PeterQ

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-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Sunday 28th of September 2014 01:29:08 PM

Ballarat Bill · Member

Kendo...One of the quickest ways to murder your battery is to discharge it too low. All the "Experts" say do not go past 50% discharge and in a 12 volt battery of your type that is at 12.2 volts. I wouldn't leave it unattended for long unless the charger was a well known high quality type with float charging. If you've only got coloured lights on your charger buy a digital voltmeter ($6 or $7 on ebay) and wire it across the battery permanently.

Bello · Veteran Member

G'day,

My last battery lasted about 6 years. It was a 105amp hour deep cycle charged from the vehicle, and from a 240v chager fitted in the van. When stored it was connected 24/7, this have kept the battery in VG condition, when camped I used a generator to charge it during the day when possible.

My battery runs the TV, sat'box, lights, water pump etc. If you keep the battery in good nick it will last a long time.

Good Luck

-- Edited by Bello on Monday 29th of September 2014 06:23:45 AM

Stratman77 · Senior Member

Hi, Kendo!

I was doing some research into the control unit in my Avan Rhys H/T (Elektroblock EBL109-6) and eventually had to contact a UK company called A&N Caravan Services who were VERY helpful - as opposed to Avan. They really seem to know what they are talking about and they suggested I read this article http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/battery-technology.php they wrote on van batteries which blew me away. They also sent me all the technical info I need to sort out my other issues. They are not battery retailers, so this is as impartial as it gets! The article gets a little technical, but is well worth reading! One issue they cover is actually a bit scary with the main cause of AC/DC failures being a low functioning battery! I hope this helps.

Regards

Chris

Stratman77 · Senior Member

Hi, Again!

Oops. Senior moment! In my previous post I meant to say 'AC/DC charger failures'.

Chris