Lead acid battery fettling

[jon hill 3Participant @jonhill3]

On taking out the campervan recently I noticed the leisure battery draw was faster than it could recharge on solar.  Bearing in mind the plentiful sun we’ve been having I checked the battery to find that it wasn’t storing suffient capacity.

Its a yuasa lead acid 100ah leisure battery.  Annoyingly the cells were capped with a lightly glued on cover which I removed to discover they were looking very thirsty for de-ionised water.

Providing I can get better performance after a charge should the dust cover be re glued on to minimise potential acid leakage? The battery is clamped to the floor in the back of the van so minimal tipping hazard.

[Julie AnnParticipant @julieann]

Given that the cell caps were glued in place the battery is almost certainly a sealed lead acid battery, of which the most common type is gel. They don’t have a liquid electrolyte, which is why it looked dry. Instead the electrolyte is a very viscous gel. Since there is no liquid electrolyte spills caused by the battery being tipped is not an issue. Gel cells should not be topped up with water.

If the battery wasn’t fudged before, adding water to the cells has most likely fudged it now.

Julie

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I beg to differ ! Many wet lead acid batteries are now sealed as in theory modern charging electronics do not drive the water off so no need to top up and since you can’t you have to buy a new battery if things dry out. Many modern systems only charge the battery to 80% and the alternator is controlled by the ECU this can lead to some interesting situations. The first thing to do is ascertain what type of battery you have, wet or gel.  IF it is a gel cell then there is little you can do. I have a gel cell that is over 20 years old and still works fine – and I don’t know how it has lasted – it’s not from the care I’ve given it.

You mention solar, has it been over charged, or left flat over winter. I would glue the top back on, but go easy on the glue. Good luck. Noel.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

The gel batteries need a diferent charging regime to the wet batteries.  I recently changed the domestic battery in my campervan from wet to gel type and was told when I bought the new battery that the charger had a switch that needed to be changed over for the correct charging.  I had to dismantle one of the seats to get at the charger and use an inspection mirror to find the switch.

Russell

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