How long does a battery last ?, I've had this one a few years now, maybe 5 or so, not sure if i need to buy a new one just in case this one fails me I have a motor mover I charge it every week by coupling the van up to electric. I'm beating myself up about this we are going away tomorrow evening
Do you have a garage local to you which sells batteries?
Ours is 8 years old and has only been charged when on site or towing. It was tested a couple of months ago by a local auto electrician who was surprised how well it stood up to the test. I was expecting him to say it was on its last legs so he could sell me a new one.
How long do they last? - how long is a piece of string? Very much depends on how well you look after them and the quality of the battery in the first place! 5 years old is not automatically at end of life, but an abused battery may be near dead in a year or so, a good one well maintained could give you ten years service.
It currently tells me my 6 year old 'spare' Leisure battery has a state of health figure of around 80% (compared to a new battery), which considering it hasn't been particularly well looked after (it should have been charged more regularly/on a trickle charge!) is not bad, my 5 year old caravan battery shows 98% state of health, as it lives with a solar trickle charger maintaining it. Both batteries perform well under load, and keep their charge in use, so no reason not to believe the meter. It's NOT a simple volt meter, volts alone tell you very little, it does a discharge analysis in relation to battery type, capacity, state of charge, in/out of vehicle (on/off load) etc. to assess the battery health.
You can do a crude comparative test with a voltmeter and known load over a period of time to give some insight into a battery's health, but the meter simplifies it into a 30 second entirely repeatable test. I figured it would pay for itself by saving me the cost of a new battery when not really required, or preventing me being caught out with a dead battery. Worked for me so far!
You can of course do as Flat at did and get a battery supplier to test it for you, hoping they are honest with what they tell you.
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The first two 110 ah. leisure batteries I had lasted no more than 3 years but information received from a local auto electrical shop was that I wasn't using the correct type of charger as I was using a Maypole trickle charger that was charging in milliamps which was insufficient. I was advised to purchase a 5 amp smart charger which I did and purchased a new Lucas 100 ah. battery as well which after 6 years of use my thoughts were identical to yours thinking how much longer will my leisure battery last. Each year went by with the same thoughts but unbelievably I had 11 years of service out of that battery so the smart charger had more or less paid for itself. So, it's how you look after your battery that is the most important thing so you get the full battery life without it giving up prematurely. However, charging the leisure battery up by coupling the van up to electrics and using the onboard charger will only charge to around 80% of the capacity to avoid it reaching the gassing stage so effectively you reduce the life of the battery. When connected independently to a smart charger it reaches a higher percentage of charge then the electronic computer keeps the battery charging on a constant float charge which effectively provides a longer battery life.
Mine has solar panel keeping it permanently charged each day and when away on mains EHU and it has been on two caravans for 10 years now. It is a Numax 110 amp battery originally bought from Tanya Batteries EBay.
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Topic: Battery
via mobile 04/8/2022 at 12:07pm
