As this is a new (thrilling) game to me! don't know what I should be expecting.... Bought new campervan with leisure battery installed. It seems to lose some of its charge after 24 hrs - is this to be expected? The gauge shows fully charged after a journey but has dropped after a day or so...
Do you mean the leisure battery is dead after 24hrs or do you mean the voltage just drops a bit if engine is not running or van is not plugged into ehu(this is normal). What voltage is battery showing after 24hrs?
thanks for such quick reply tentz! There's an indicator with 4 lights: green fully charged, then two yellow and then red. It drops to yellow below the green within 24 hrs - maybe, as you say, this is normal?!
A fully charged lead-acid battery NOT on charge should be about 12.7 volts. Whilst charging, it will rise to about 13.8 volts - but would fall back again to about 12.7 volts if the engine is switched off for a while. This is normal behaviour.
If the voltage across the battery falls significantly below 12.7 volts when not on charge and with no load (that you know about), then you may have a problem. Some caravans (and probably motorhomes too) still draw a current of around 100 - 150mA when everything is apparently switched off. This can flatten a leisure battery in two or three weeks. Disconnecting the battery or switching off the battery isolator (if there is one) stops that happening.
If it just drops to the first yellow square below the fully charged square after a day that sounds quite normal to me. Unless the battery is being actively charged from the engine or by electric hookup it is always going to lose some charge and drop down a square. You may also have a small electical drain somewhere that you have not realised yet eg keeping a water boiler dump valve closed. Ofcourse, if you are switching on lights and so on that will take current from the leisure battery also. Relax ! Only worry if it drops to second yellow or red in a few days for no apparent reason.
Enjoy your new toy, John.
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I have a master switch near the door, if i dont turn that off my battery drains in a few days. The other option is to set the rocker switch between van / engine to the middle, so no battery is inline.
I would think there is a small current drain somewhere. My brothers battery used to lose charge, it was traced to a satellite receiver which although switched off still used some power until it was switched off with the main switch. Try switching off the master switch for a few days and see if the battery holds a better charge.
I found a heater isolation switch in my Bailey motorhome which was drawing 3.7A continuously and draining my leisure battery very quickly.
We try to extend battery life, when not on EHU, by using as few lights and charge points as we can get away with.
Welcome along to the forum Glen.
You have revived a nearly 13 year old post, but someone may find your information useful.
Hope you have many happy and memorable trips in your motorhome.
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I think these coloured lights only give an indication of the battery voltage and are not necessarily very accurate. I replaced the meter in my van with a digital voltmeter module which is fairly accurate.
I also found that it was possible to leave the oven light accidentally switched on.
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Topic: new leisure battery losing charge
via mobile 19/3/2023 at 4:08pm
