Is this leisure battery dead?

[Amra]

I found a battery my father had received when someone cleaned out a house almost a year ago, it's been standing in the garage without being charged or used at all.

It's a Exide Sprinter P12V2130 with 86aH capacity. 

Anyway I've tried charging it with my CTEK MXS 5.0 charger a few times, but the error lamp just turns on after a night of charging. Putting a multimeter to it shows the charge @ 9.25V and it doesn't seem to change particulary much when I put the charger to it.

So is it dead?

I read around on the internet that maybe the smart charger doesn't 'detect' the battery properly since the charge is so low and that you can hook it up to your car battery and let it run for a couple of minutes and then attempt to use the smart charger again, is that worth trying?

I also have another 75aH leisure battery that works perfectly, should I try to hook it up to the dead battery with jumper cables and let my Ctek charger be attached to the good battery, is that a good idea and will it perhaps work?

[Uplooker]

Yes that battery is well and truly dead. Because the voltage is reading 9.25V and not 12V something it indicates that some of the cells are done for - sorry.

Definitely do not hook up your other working battery, you will not achieve anything. At worst may potentially knacker that one too

Ian

[Reeny]

I chuck mine out when they can't hold more than 12v (should be 12.5v to 13.5v fully charged).

So yours is toast if it is only holding 9.25v maximum.

I stopped using leisure batteries in the motorhome.

The built-in trickle charger can't provide a full charge to stop the plates sulphating over.

Only realised after my 3rd battery expired.

Apparently they need the full 14.5volts to charge up and keep them healthy.

Leisure batteries are the worst kind of power source ever.

So I use normal car batteries.

[Charic]

Amra...........   NO to battery/battery. NO to Car / battery. Clean the terminals, check electrolyte, top with distilled water if possible, charge at 10amps for about 10 mins, if voltage is > 10v it may be possible to salvage, but in your case very unlikely, as you charged all night for only 9.25votls.  The texts above stand true( they write quicker than I do?)

[Amra]

Okay guys, thanks for the advice. Also it's a sealed battery so I can't top up anything.

[101nut]

Apparently they need the full 14.5volts to charge up and keep them healthy.

Leisure batteries are the worst kind of power source ever.

So I use normal car batteries.

Sounds to me like you've been using silver doped lead acid batteries. Perceived wisdom suggests a 14.5v terminal charge rather than the 13.8v for a standard lead acid. Your problem is the charger and battery being incompatible, not the batteries being bad necessarily. Car batteries and leisure batteries can be the same chemistry, it's only their plate structure that differs which allows a leisure battery to deep discharge.

On the original subject, the battery is probably beyond revival but if you really want to give it heart massage before the last rights try a smart 'reconditioning' pulse charger, they don't always work but can perform miracles ... The other option is a dose of 'battery reviver' which is a chemical doping (often edta) which can reverse sulphation - sometimes!

To reiterate, whatever you do don't try to charge it off a car, you may not only damage the existing battery but also the alternator.

AndyG 

[101nut]

Oh, and for reference, many 'sealed' batteries are not ...

It's often possible to open the cells and find the electrolyte low ... I've topped up several 'sealed' batteries then put them on a current & voltage limited charge for a week to rejuvinate.

AndyG

[cosmological]

If the battery has not been charged for a year then it will be dead, and also if the battery was allowed to go dead flat then that will kill it.

[Reeny]

Sounds to me like you've been using silver doped lead acid batteries. Perceived wisdom suggests a 14.5v terminal charge rather than the 13.8v for a standard lead acid. Your problem is the charger and battery being incompatible, not the batteries being bad necessarily. Car batteries and leisure batteries can be the same chemistry, it's only their plate structure that differs which allows a leisure battery to deep discharge...................................

AndyG 

Hi Andy,

The built in trickle charge recharging system in the motor home is only designed to supply 12.5 to 13 volts maximum.

Otherwise it would blow all the 12v lights when plugged into the mains 240v supply.

What I am supposed to do is disconnect, discharge, and recharge the damn things every month or so to keep them healthy.

What I do in practice is let them discharge naturally, then switch over onto the backup battery inverter and recharge using a car battery charger. (must be a normal 13.8v charger)

I still don't rate leisure batteries as being reliable

It's better if they don't go flat, then I don't need to worry about saving them from oblivion.

[Carl Reade]

At that voltage it's had it.

[Helite]

It may be just too low for the charger to see, I wouldn't give up on it yet. I have put "dead" battery's on a trickle charger to bring them back up and they have been fine. If you can open it make sure the plates are covered if not top up the electrolyte. You can connect the 2 batteries and then put the charger on to see if it takes a charge, it wont do the good battery any harm, its just the same as jump starting a car. I have fitted plenty of batteries that have been sitting on the shelve's for years that are "dead" and once you give them a charge they are fine. It may be goosed but it is always worth trying.

[nicks90]

if its reading under 10v then its probably got a dead cell, so its past reviving.

but they can sometimes be "shocked" in to life by applying a large ampage to force the sulphates to dissolve back in to the solution and then take charge. However this never restores it 100%, but can give a useful lease of life though,

I have revived a few batteries by zapping them with my arc welder (dont try this at home, explosion risk) or hooking them up to my car - cars alternator providing 65-120amps charge for a few minutes. Whatever you do, make sure you wear safety equipment and do it outside in a well ventilated area!

if its properly dead, dont dump it at the tip. Your local metal recycling place will give you a few quid for it.

[Amra]

Interesting. Well I am a bit clueless when it comes to batteries, but there is a place with some battery experts I can take it to and have them take a look at it.

[Reeny]

The scrap yard.

I got £10 for the last 22kg lead acid leisure battery to die on me.

£44 for a new one  =  20% off the price.