Club 80-90 Forums

Hello,

My van is being filled with a (not) so lovely rotten egg smell when charging my leisure battery, it's about 1 year old) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165475

This is the charger that I'm using?
http://www.caravantechnology.com/NE143P ... arger.aspx

Is my battery gone now? or do I just need to top up the levels on the battery?

Thanks

the "rotten egg" small is the battery acid, its given off as a gas when you charge a battery, in very small amounts, you shouldnt be smelling it at all..



your battery should have a breather pipe vented through the floor to outside the vehicle

is the battery getting hot when charging? its shouldnt be .

the smell is really bad, I could hardly breath! Hense to say I've stopped charging it now!

There is no breater pipe , never had one! It never used to smell though, as it would all charge automatically when I would connect up at a camp site...

I don't think the battery is getting hot, I can check again...

can't offer technical help, but... The ambulances we drive at work have several batteries, in most cases one under each seat and one or two in the back. Its quite common for us to get the eggy smell, and this is an indication that "the batteries need doing" by the mechanic. I'm not sure whether they change them or charge them, but it seems to take them a while? Sorry thats a bit of a pointless answer!

colouredFunk wrote:the smell is really bad, I could hardly breath! Hense to say I've stopped charging it now!

There is no breater pipe , never had one! It never used to smell though, as it would all charge automatically when I would connect up at a camp site...

I don't think the battery is getting hot, I can check again...

if its a proper leisure battery, sutable for a boat, caravan ect, it should have a breather pipe

my advice would to be take the leisure battery off and charge it on a normal mains charger,in a well ventilated area take it off charge , let it stand a hour check the voltage , note the reading, leave it to stand 24hrs, then check it again, if its dropped more than about a volt , its on its way....
if you suspect its duff, discharge it completely, then take it back if its within warrenty, and get a replacement.
in the meantime, get the charger checked out, because it sounds like its cooked the battery to me...

Thanks for your reply!

I've just noticed that the liquid in the two middle cells is a grey colour / with some sort of grey residue... the other cells are clear.. Not sure if that's relevant but thought it is might be worth mentioning...

is it still within the two years from date of purchase?
if so, totally discharge it and take it back and settle for nothing less than a replacement....

ok will do!

Do you think my charger is of done this, or just a bit of a duff battery?

im not sure, i would think you need to get the charger checked out...

colouredFunk wrote:ok will do!

Do you think my charger is of done this, or just a bit of a duff battery?

It is possible the charger is over charging. You need to check it's charge rate with a good voltmeter. It should be no more than 14.5 volts when charging dropping to 13.5v when the battery has fully charged. If your battery is faulty you may need to connect it to your starter battery to test it.

The advert says it is selectable for gel or lead acid batteries, Have you selected to charge lead acid batteries. If it is on gel batteries it will charge at 14.8v and overcharge a lead acid battery.

thanks for you replies.

I'll take the battery back and get the garage to check out the charger next time it's in on a serivce...

colouredFunk wrote: I've just noticed that the liquid in the two middle cells is a grey colour / with some sort of grey residue... the other cells are clear.. Not sure if that's relevant but thought it is might be worth mentioning...

Is worth mentioning

The grey is probably minute hydrogen bubbles and they can take a while to dissipate.

Likely cause = the 2 middle cells have gone faulty and are "gassing" (with hydrogen) = faulty battery.

Check the charging voltage with a digital volt meter (£10 from Maplins if you have not got one - they are very handy to have around ) whilst the charger is connected to a known good battery - when charging, it should be no more that 14.5 volts. If it is more, the charger is faulty too