Jump to content
Click here if you are having website access problems ×

Leisure battery question


Paul Deslandes

Recommended Posts

I have a 12V leisure battery that's used to power an electric fence energiser. It had been left without a recharge for a little too long with the result that when recharged it appeared to have one cell with a short circuit as the fully charged voltage was around 12 volts.  In for a penny, I stuck it on various chargers, some smarter than others, to see if any of them might bring it back to life.  After 48 hours on an Accumate, the voltage, some while after disconnecting the charger, has risen to just over 13 volts whereas a normal battery would be 13.8 volts.  So it would seem to have recovered a bit but not fully.  I'm assuming that a leisure battery has the same characteristics as a regular cranking battery as the basic chemistry is the same - or perhaps not.  Can anyone explain why I'm seeing this voltage?

Thanks

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Have you (can you) checked the fluid levels?

Yes the chemistry is similar, but the optimisation is different.

The unloaded voltage of a charged cell carries little information... until it gets as low as that one. But once loaded I'd expect the voltage of the knackered cell to drop way below the others.

If you want a bit more life out of the battery and it's not a crucial application you could try the magic tablets.

Jonathan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi JK

The cells are sealed, or at least have no removable tops, so can't check levels or add magic tablets.  The battery is only a couple of months old and I don't think it was left that long between charges so it may just be a random failure covered by warranty.  The problem is getting it back to Tayna.

The energiser takes very little current and can work at less than 9 volts so we could just use the battery as-is.  I'm just curious as to why the voltage has settled at 13 volts.  I'll put a load on it tomorrow and see what it does.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...