On an 8 day trek around the wild atlantic way in Ireland. my leisure battery/charger has an eggy smell, i’m guessing the battery is on the way out! i’ve unplugged from the EHU, the smell has gone and the battery is still powering the fridge/lights. is it ok to keep using the battery like this?
leisure battery
- Thread starter paxter
- Start date
your batteries producing hydrogen gas which is what you can smell. Personally I’d get it replaced as soon as possible or at least see if the plates are showing and top up the distilled water. If you can’t then don’t use ehu as you’ll just keep producing hydrogen gas which is highly flammable/explosive
eggy smell is bad.
a over backed SLA battery.
defo disconnect the battery and charger.
get the setup checked out properly asap.
light be a good time to look at a lithium upgrade? - Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.
.
a over backed SLA battery.
defo disconnect the battery and charger.
get the setup checked out properly asap.
light be a good time to look at a lithium upgrade? - Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.
.
yes the battery is dying, i have a red light flashing on the fridge, i gave it turned down to its lowest setting. of course this is the warmest weekend in a decade!!
Eggy smell is due to Hydrogen Sulphide which is toxic. Usually caused by overcharging rather than a dying battery, although overcharging will kill the battery in short order. What charging devices have you got connected to? Split charge/DC-DC/mains/solar??
i’m not sure. it just started doing this a few days ago. can’t understand why it would start overcharging. it has been perfect for the last 2 years
If you've got an Adblu Euro 6 van then you'll have a smart alternator so will need a battery to battery charger rather than an old school split charge relay.
The smart alternator in a Euro 6 Transporter does just about everything it can to not generate a steady current to the starter battery plus additional leisure battery, it also only charges the starter battery up to 80% capacity so won't charge the leisure battery above that either.
We wasted two lead acid leisure batteries over a three year period before taking out the split charge nonsense the converter had used and putting in a B2B charger and going lithium.
The smart alternator in a Euro 6 Transporter does just about everything it can to not generate a steady current to the starter battery plus additional leisure battery, it also only charges the starter battery up to 80% capacity so won't charge the leisure battery above that either.
We wasted two lead acid leisure batteries over a three year period before taking out the split charge nonsense the converter had used and putting in a B2B charger and going lithium.
i have a 2016 t6, not sure what system is in the van
Do you have an Adblu blue filler cap below the diesel fuel cap or is yours a petrol engine?
If you've got the Adblu cap then chances are nearly 100% you've got a Euro 6 engine so smart alternator too and you want to have a look under the drivers or passenger seat to make sure the converter didn't fit a split charge relay, my converter did because they weren't clued up on the weird things a smart alternator does and doesn't do compared to the old school alternators of pre 2015 model year diesels.
Like I say we lost two lead acid leisure batteries before cottoning on to what was and wasn't happening.
If you've got the Adblu cap then chances are nearly 100% you've got a Euro 6 engine so smart alternator too and you want to have a look under the drivers or passenger seat to make sure the converter didn't fit a split charge relay, my converter did because they weren't clued up on the weird things a smart alternator does and doesn't do compared to the old school alternators of pre 2015 model year diesels.
Like I say we lost two lead acid leisure batteries before cottoning on to what was and wasn't happening.
yes i have ad blue
Might not be over charging but replenishing a low battery.
More likely is that you might be a cell down which can be difficult to detect as the vehicle keeps charging or over charging the remaining cells. Ii have know garages miss that by only taking a voltage reading. If we charge a battery with a cell down the remaining cells will adopt the charge of the charger and look OK for a while but in fact each remaining cell is overcharged. Battery might need stress testing under high load or take it out and do not use it for a few days and eventually the battery will settle and if a cell down this will become immediately obvious but stress testing will say on the spot. Stress testing can look a little dangerous as they basically short out the battery with a resistor which get frighteningly hot not for the faint hearted.
The smell is Hydrogen Sulphide as said above and it is poisonous. Little sh-ts used to let it off in my day at school as science teachers used to let it off on occasion too in younger classes but is probably frowned on these days because of the risks. H is explosive also, so not a good idea if someone is smoking.
the battery is 8 years old, i’m going to replace it when i get home, like for like and see if that sorts the problem
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