Leisure battery draining

[nuggetwillow]

My leisure battery is only a year old .when I now switch anything on the battery drains quickly from 12'8 to 7 them if I switch the lights or water pump off it goes back to 10;9 any help please

 

[DXX]

Check the guarantee certificate, it just may have more than 12 months terms.
Charge it until it indicates it’s fully charged and take it to a battery specialist who has the equipment to load test it. You may get this test free.
If you need to replace it remember that the old one has a scrap value of 10-20 quid depending on size.

 

[nuggetwillow]

When I start the van it's 14;2 . When the engine is not running it's only when I switch some things on it drops to 7 quickly then back up to 12 once I switch them off

 

[DXX]

When I start the van it's 14;2 . When the engine is not running it's only when I switch some things on it drops to 7 quickly then back up to 12 once I switch them off

It appears to not be taking any load, the voltage you read with the engine running is the input voltage.
It can read 12v but not have any load capacity, it needs load testing.

 

[nuggetwillow]

How do I check a load test

 

[Pauly]

take it to a local battery supplier/shop and ask them to test it

 

[Pete C]

Sounds like your leisure battery is knackered.
How does it normally get charged, and has it ever been allowed to discharge completely in the past ?

Pete

 

[t0mb0]

It’s either just horribly empty and desperately needs charging properly, or it’s actually knackered.

An outside possibility is that there’s an issue with your wiring and whatever you’re switching on is drawing way more current than you think and causing huge voltage sag. However, given you’re reporting it getting all the way down to 7v, I think it’s pretty likely the battery is not healthy. As others have said, get it properly tested (after charging fully).

 

[nuggetwillow]

Sounds like your leisure battery is knackered.
How does it normally get charged, and has it ever been allowed to discharge completely in the past ?

Pete

Charges from the main engine system battery.its only a year old no it's never been fully discharged as it's under the drivers seat

 

[Pete C]

All it takes to fully discharge the leisure battery is to leave something on for too long when the van isn’t being used. Its location doesn’t matter in this respect.

Pete

 

[Qnapper]

You need a new battery