leisure battery

[ThomChloe]

hi just bought a t25 and the leisure battery is shot been told i would be better getting a good heavy duty car batery instead of a leisure battery could anyone help me out cheers

[Canaldrifter]

hi just bought a t25 and the leisure battery is shot been told i would be better getting a good heavy duty car batery instead of a leisure battery could anyone help me out cheers

I'm using a starter battery as a leisure battery. Bin told by them who know that it will last a year or two longer.

Tone

[California Dreamin]

Westfalia used starter batteries from the factory.
However....you need to be aware that starter batteries are much less tollerant of being run flat than a leisure batteries. The trick for longevity is firstly, not to allow them to be completely flattened and secondly, not to allow them to stand for too long in there discharged state.....in other words, fully charge them as soon as you can.

Martin

[boxer]

I've just installed a starter battery as a leisure battery, because i had one really. Anyway I wonder if any of you electical giants can help with a problem I'm having? Without the aux battery circuit connected the starter battery runs down over time. The clock is disconnected and the radio is off. So... must be something else. Anyway the battery has gone flat again so this morning I go to it to take it off to charge it. (Have not yet wired a charger in on board, but I will) . I disconnect the negative pole. then when I go to disconnect the positive pole I touched the rim of the engine compartment with the spanner and got a spark? I know I shouldn't because there is no circuit between the + and - poles of the battery? What the blithering heck!

[California Dreamin]

Something is obviously back draining....but not being totally familiar with your charge system? I can't really comment.
ZIG unit? Split charge?

Martin

[tonytech]

I'm not really sure how you got a spark,
How long does it take for your batter to go flat?
How old is the battery?
Have you checked if the alternator is giving a good charge?
Have a read of https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... ging_cause
New radios are notoriously bad at draining batteries, even when switched off they draw current to keep their memory refreshed.

T

[Wychall]

Was it just a single spark or does it repeat each time you touch it? A single spark could indicate a capacitor in something discharging (radio amp perhaps?). Ideally, use a multimeter to check whether there is a voltage difference across the live and earth terminals. The same multimeter could be used to check how large the drain across the battery was. 0.7 amps is a typical drain for radio memory, alarm standby etc.

[boxer]

The battery came with the vehicle a while ago. Am i being stupid here, if the negative terminal is not connected then how can I get current flow (spark).......... Just clicked the spark is from the aux battery positive pole being earthed through the wire between the two battery positives! This does go through a split charger relay (peugeot I think) and that could be because I have not fitted the earth to this relay yet so it may be open? Multimeter needed here. Its great the way posting a problem makes you think it through. The radio is going to get rewired off the aux anyway because I'm convinced that's a problem. Although there might be something else that he previous owner has done with the wiring, which isn't great. I've only had it about a month on the drive and it doesn't get moved much at the moment as I'm doing the interior and the camper wiring.

[boxer]

Just had another thought, the earth for the aux runs back to the main battery - terminal, and that's definitly isolated. No reading now between the main + terminal connector and earth with the main battery off the vehicle and in the shed so that idea is not a goer.

so back to the previous question how can a positive terminal spark to earth when the earth terminal is disconnected? It's not a great big welding your spanner to the chassis flash just an orangy sparking, I put this down to the battery being flat. It does repeat itself (I only tried it twice).

i will charge it up and put it back on, disconnect the aux battery and try again (using a multimeter instead of a spanner) Watch this space.

The battery does hold its charge for days at a time off the vehicle but does go flat on the vehicle if I don't use it. Two weeks ago I took it off the van to lend to a mate it started their car and was returned a week and a half ago fully charged, put back on the van and not used, flat last night!

The space behind the battery in the engine bay looks ideal to put a permenant charger unit into. Any views on this location, what does everyone else use it for?