Leisure battery......Again

[Hub61]

Hi all, read many posts about leisure batteries and a bit bamboozled. Currently have a Sargent set up, even after 3 days ehu, nothing running in van, I can only ever get to level 4, 1st green light, on the display. With very light use there is not enough volts to fire up Eberspacher diesel heater on the second night of "off grid" camping leading to grumpy OH. Van is 2017 T6, converted in 2018?, with very little use so I imagine the battery is kaput. Thinking about Lithium but which one?? And also does the Sargent charger and display support Lithium?
Thank you

 

[Hub61]

Update.....Looked a bit harder and don't think Lithium..Will need a whole different set up I believe so second best will be decent AGM. Are these compatible with Sargent display etc as I would think that they're OK for current vehicle and ehu

 

[prog99]

In the 1st picture your charger is switched off but the hand written note claims that that's the on position (its not, I have one)

 

[MK2Golf24v]

In the 1st picture your charger is switched off but the hand written note claims that that's the on position (its not, I have one)

And the switch lights up when on

 

[Hub61]

RCD is ON when UP, charger light is ON.

 

[t0mb0]

Leave the battery charging for a good 24hr, take a voltage reading on charge just to check that's working, then take it off charge, leave it for an hour or so with no load and then read the voltage again and tell us what it is. This will give a reasonable indication if the battery is knackered.

 

[Hub61]

Was just taking a " before" reading but think my multimeter is knackered....came up as 16+V. ‍

 

[t0mb0]

Was just taking a " before" reading but think my multimeter is knackered....came up as 16+V. ‍

Yep, even with temperature correction, that does seem too high. If by some chance it is accurate though, it might explain your battery issues! Try and test the meter on a known voltage, or borrow another meter if you can.

 

[prog99]

Another thing it could be is the wiring.
What does the display show when you are charging through the ehu(ie how many lights. Should max out) And then flick it to the vehicle battery on the console and see how many lights it shows there.
Then do the same when it’s not charging.

Mine arrived wired backwards (or the unit was faulty) which caused no end of pain until I realised and the builder swapped it out.

 

[Hub61]

Yep, even with temperature correction, that does seem too high. If by some chance it is accurate though, it might explain your battery issues! Try and test the meter on a known voltage, or borrow another meter if you can.

Multimeter kaput, 18v on my Panda

 

[t0mb0]

Multimeter kaput, 18v on my Panda

Try changing the meter batteries before binning it - sometimes they start giving whacky readings if their own internal batteries are going.

 

[Hub61]

Leave the battery charging for a good 24hr, take a voltage reading on charge just to check that's working, then take it off charge, leave it for an hour or so with no load and then read the voltage again and tell us what it is. This will give a reasonable indication if the battery is knackered.

Scores on the doors
Leisure reads 12.25v at rest, this would not fire up diesel heater, 3 lights lit
Van idling 13.73v
Charger on 12.91v, 4 lights lit = 1st green lit
24hr ehu from 13A socket, left for 1 hour, 12.58v, 4 lights lit, 1st green comes on at 12.5v, Final should be at 13.5v

Starter battery 12.23v at rest, 14.68v at idle so Alternator good.

So 24 hour charge has given me 0.33v...is that correct??

Anybody know what voltage diesel heater needs to kick in?, I'm guessing 12.5.

 

[Deaky]

It’s not a voltage thing. The heater will be trying to pull 10-15amps at startup which your battery can not supply. I’d take it off and get it tested.

 

[t0mb0]

Scores on the doors
Leisure reads 12.25v at rest, this would not fire up diesel heater, 3 lights lit
Van idling 13.73v
Charger on 12.91v, 4 lights lit = 1st green lit
24hr ehu from 13A socket, left for 1 hour, 12.58v, 4 lights lit, 1st green comes on at 12.5v, Final should be at 13.5v

Starter battery 12.23v at rest, 14.68v at idle so Alternator good.

So 24 hour charge has given me 0.33v...is that correct??

Anybody know what voltage diesel heater needs to kick in?, I'm guessing 12.5.

I don’t really understand the description of the green lights but 12.58v after a full charge isn’t terrible although you’d expect more like 12.8v from an AGM fresh off a good charger - if this dips heavily as you fire the heater up that would be bad sign though. What battery and charger are you actually running?

 

[t0mb0]

I don’t really understand the description of the green lights but 12.58v after a full charge isn’t terrible although you’d expect more like 12.8v from an AGM fresh off a good charger - if this dips heavily as you fire the heater up that would be bad sign though. What battery and charger are you actually running?

Sorry, just realised that EC155 unit has an integrated charger. After a quick google, it’s not obvious to me that that’s a proper three stage charger though. Have you got another charger you can put on to see if it makes a difference?

 

[Hub61]

Sorry, just realised that EC155 unit has an integrated charger. After a quick google, it’s not obvious to me that that’s a proper three stage charger though. Have you got another charger you can put on to see if it makes a difference?

That's the battery, no date on it will try an optimate on it and see what happens.....Sargent charger is a bit crap I believe.

 

[t0mb0]

That's the battery, no date on it will try an optimate on it and see what happens.....Sargent charger is a bit crap I believe.

View attachment 194806

Ok, that appears to be a traditional flooded lead acid battery so is naturally more fragile than an AGM, for instance. It appears to have some built in charge indicator - what does that say? Also, according to some info online, it requires a 14.4v equalisation charge regularly. Looking at your Sargent, I don’t believe it does this so your battery may be operating at significantly reduced performance. I would stick it on a decent 3 stage charger and see what difference it makes.

 

[Hub61]

Another thought, could I hard-wire a charger/optimiser to the leisure battery, power it via a 240v socket for better charging on ehu?? Remove charger fuse from Sargent unit?. This would still allow Sargent control board to switch 12v etc on?
Seems a very easy, obvious solution and i could fit an AGM leisure battery too, possibly Lithium, so what's the catch?

 

[t0mb0]

Another thought, could I hard-wire a charger/optimiser to the leisure battery, power it via a 240v socket for better charging on ehu?? Remove charger fuse from Sargent unit?. This would still allow Sargent control board to switch 12v etc on?
Seems a very easy, obvious solution and i could fit an AGM leisure battery too, possibly Lithium, so what's the catch?

Yep, a decent charger of some sort sounds beneficial. Question is whether you want a EHU charger, bypassing the Sargent, or add a DC-DC charger which would charge from alternator whenever vehicle is running. How does it currently charge from alternator, is it a split charge relay, a DC-DC or nothing?

 

[Hub61]

Not sure but there is mention of a "charging relay" in van instructions.