Leisure battery installers?

PostHack

Hi all,

We have a converted transit and our leisure battery setup has ceased working recently. It was working fine for about a year, but has since stopped charging (or something). I suspect our mechanic, who originally installed it, might not have used the best method. I'm looking for a garage that can install/fix it, someone who actually knows what they are doing!!

Based in Tipperary/Cork, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

Buford T Justice

Perhaps an hours trip up from tipp might be the order of the day?

http://www.pathoranmotors.com/

Our regular Aidan_M_M may be able to help you out here....

PostHack

Thanks Fingers, will check that out. Just want to get it sorted once and for all!

paddyp

PostHack wrote: »

Hi all,

We have a converted transit and our leisure battery setup has ceased working recently. It was working fine for about a year, but has since stopped charging (or something). I suspect our mechanic, who originally installed it, might not have used the best method. I'm looking for a garage that can install/fix it, someone who actually knows what they are doing!!

Based in Tipperary/Cork, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

If it was working fine for a year it sounds like a harsh assessment of your mechanic. Could easily be a fuse but if you battery is left dead for too long that will be toast too.

Aidan_M_M

if you could post a few pics of the battery areas , we might be able to explain/see what's wrong?

jamdec

Hi,

Take some voltage measurements if you have a voltmeter.

When the engine is started does the voltage start to rise or stay the same? With the engine at rest, what's the battery voltage....?

spaceHopper

It could be anynumber of things. Why not let you mechanic have a look at it at least he has a right to see if it was his work before you judge him.

HereAndThere

I just installed my new leisure battery.

Ecosel 110ah deep cycle battery.

The solar panel is connected to a solar regulator/charge controller, there is an output from this which goes to the leisure battery (6-7 Volts).

I assume this is enough to keep the battery charged yeah?

Cheers

spaceHopper

No that doesn't sound right,

Your leasure battery is 12 volts nominal and will only be charged by a higher voltage, when it's full charge it will be about 12.7 volts. The solar cell with no load should be about 17 volts and then the solar regulator feeds this to the battery.

What solar cell did you get?


A solar cell is good at triclke charging the battery but you really need a powerfull one to full charge it. If you have a 100W cell then at full power you get 100W/17V = 5.8 amp so it will charge the battery after 20 hours of full power, in ireland you won't get that so expect to charge a battery in about a week

I've a 70 HA battery and the engine is more than enought to charge it.

At the start of the summer I took it out and put it in a smart charger - it was a lot of hassle to get it out and after two minutes the charger said it was full - moral of the story use the engine and maybe a 4W solar cell to keep it topped up

HereAndThere

Not sure of the solar cell ratings as I bought second hand.

Brochure is in german but can't find "Solarzelle" anywhere

The 6V mesurement I took was when the previous battery was not connected. It could be just that the original solar cell is old circa 1999 and doesn't have enough ummphhh.

The previous battery (came with van) was knackered so I want to make sure this doesn't happen to the new battery.

Have installed the new battery and it has a reading of 12.8V engine off and 14.4V engine on.

I thought the solar panel would be enough to give the battery a trickle charge when the van is parked up.

Might have to climb up on van to see what power rating is on the solar panel. May need a new one. Aidan_M_M said before that anything less than 60W is useless.