leisure battery charging?

[blinky]

I have a Numax 75ah leisure battery and I put it on charge last night with my 8amp battery charger. 24hrs later it is still on full charging and has not switched over to trickle charging - how long would you expect a battery (that was not completly flat, just a little low) to take to become fully charged?

[Cornelius Varley]

I think this sort of battery takes about 36 hours to charge from new (maybe wrong).

Peter

[blinky]

Ah, OK then, will leave it on another day and see. Thought maybe my charger was not powerfull enough or something!

[gary1968]

charging the leasure battery mate? you dragging yourself out the obsy and going to a dark site or summit, lol.

Gaz

[blinky]

Just making sure everything is happy....

[barkis]

Did the charger come with the battery Craig?

Be careful if not, these batteries have sealed cases, and excessive gassing due to high initial charging current could be dangerous.

Ron.

[blinky]

It's a charger from Argo but it says it charges leisure batteries so I have no reason to think it would be dangerous

[faulksy]

idealy you need a pulse type charger so it doesnt damage your battery

[pete_l]

how long would you expect a battery (that was not completly flat, just a little low) to take to become fully charged?

The oft quoted figure is 1.4 times the battery's capacity.

So for a 75Ah battery, multiply that by 1.4, gives 105Ah. If you're pushing 8 Amps in to it, it should take 105 / 8 = 13 hours to fully charge from flat.

[Mountain View]

It's unlikely to charge at 8 amps, that's usually only in the early phase of charge, it then to to drop the charge rate and therefore extend the total charge time; it's all complicated by the fact that it's also related to the charge voltage, and... Can anyone see a clear sky yet...actually if you really want a great battery charger that will not only charge but will 'refresh' the battery by de-sulphating it then take a look at the ctec range! Link follows

CTEK chargers - the smartest battery chargers in the world! For cars, boats golf carts and other 6, 12 and 24v vehicles.

Wish I could see a break in the clouds

Gordon

[Tinker1947]

I think i remember reading a thread about leisure batteries requiring a certain amount of charge to get them over the from flat state to fully charged, if the charge rate is not high enough they won't charge, they will how every charge with a trickle charge provided there below a certain charge to start with. Maybe somebody else knows if this it right or not...

[blinky]

Jings, I never knew this was so complicated! I will give it another day, then maybe try and find an email address and mail the company to ask them.

[Helen]

i ran mine down totally - left the dew heaters on (D'oh) the suppliers said to take it to a garage and get them to turbo boost it. It worked and it now charges, although I do struggle to get it to fully charge.

Helen

[gary1968]

Optimate, IMO, the best lead/acid battery chargers out there...... Its all I use to charge my Astro batteries and motorcycle, never ahd a problem with charging, even from very discharged states.

Gaz

[beamish]

snap !! don't have any probs charging up my 85Ah battery, tipped off by Steve L many moons ago!

Karlo

[Frank the Troll]

I have a couple of leisure batterys here (for fencing) they can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to charge.

I also hook the one in use too a 12v solar panel, so dont have to charge very often.

[glowjet]

I had the same problem quite some time ago, queried it with Battery masters and Power-Sonic in relation to my SLA types and leisure batteries, I was advise these should be charged at a quarter of the batteries A/h rating, I purchased a dedicated unit for the SLA, at the correct rating and an electronic 12Amp charger with a range of 45A/h to 110A/h for the leisure batteries, no more problems. The original old 6Amp unit went into the bin, however, with my heavy duty charger it takes up to 15 hours or so for a full recharge after a days fishing with the outboard motor, and I have noted most of this is on a reducing trickle charge after the main boost. If your unit is still on full charge, I would suspect you may have a fault, if you take your battery to a garage and it recharges, then your charger may be suspect or your battery had dropped below the point where your charger would be effective

[Macavity]

I think the bar-graph display on my charger seems to go down "rather rapidly" to 25%. It seems to spend an "exponential" amount of time approaching (whirring away) on 100%, before it finally stops. No matter, but I think I'll buy a cheap LCD voltage display, and make up my own mind more about when it need charging.

[blinky]

I just dont know! It has been on charge for a couple of days. I removed the charger, then reconnected and it said it was full. Tonight I had everything powered up and it styarted at 13volts then rapidly dropped down to 12.2, do you think this means it is faulty?

[Mountain View]

It is my considered guess that your battery is in need of replacement, how old is it?

Leisure batteries are often neglected through simply not being used regularly and this has an impact upon performance

It is recommended that even a battery in storage should be recharged regularly, every month or so

With a rapid drop in voltage like that it would suggest replacement, but get it checked out at a car accessories retailer, they can normally tell with an electronic gadget that does not rapidly discharge the battery, so best advice, get it checked

Gordon

[gary1968]

It doesn't sound good Craig.... :-( It would appear you have spent to long wrapped up in your waarm obsy and not getting out into the field enough... :-) As said above though mate, get it checked at a local garage, or, swap it for the one in the caravan, you dont rely on 12v battery in there (but dont tell the inlaws)......

Gaz

[blinky]

The one in the caravan is 110aH after the Father in Law swapped out the 75aH one as 'it was not strong enough' - he then gave it away to a local garage!