Leisure Battery.

My 80Ah leisure battery is fully charged (green showing through top surface sight glass), but Zig unit is only showing RED, not GREEN.
 Is there anyone out there that has ever experienced this issue, or any electrical boffins that could advise? 
  Thanking you in anticipation.
Shantymanles

What does the battery tell you if you use a multimeter?

Peatlander 2 wrote:What does the battery tell you if you use a multimeter?

Thanks for your reply Peatlander2. 'Fraid I can't tell you that 'cause i haven't got one!   My tool kit comprises of a screwdriver and a hammer.   We have an auto-electrician guy in the town but he's not cheap. Hence my search for a possible answer to DIY.

Buy your self a cheap multimeter of Amazon, it’s a valuable bit of kit for the Motorhome tool box , I have had batteries that were flat when tested but still showing green in the plastic eye sight 

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I was in Lidl this morning, they had multimeters in....worth getting one! Doesn't have to be expensive, but a good indicator of the state of the battery, and will also tell you if it's charging.
Also good for testing continuity.

The one in lidl was £9.99....but the one FreelanderUK links to will do you fine. You'll need a battery for it too, usually 9v square one.

Peatlander 2 wrote:The one in lidl was £9.99....but the one FreelanderUK links to will do you fine. You'll need a battery for it too, usually 9v square one.

Ok. Thanks for your advice,  Freelander too. I'm on it!  Much appreciated 

sight glass is very poor indication of charge. I have had batteries showing green and when tested using a proper battery tester  they  were less than 25% . A good test is to put a known load ie 10 amps worth of bulbs on the battery and see how long the battery will keep them lit before the voltage falls below 12 volts .similar test of load of 20 amps should last 1/2 the time .

Avontourist wrote:sight glass is very poor indication of charge. I have had batteries showing green and when tested using a proper battery tester  they  were less than 25% . A good test is to put a known load ie 10 amps worth of bulbs on the battery and see how long the battery will keep them lit before the voltage falls below 12 volts .similar test of load of 20 amps should last 1/2 the time .

Thank you Avontourist

I wrote an article years ago for A. N. Otherforum, with this info...

"State of charge


A fully charged battery in good condition will read around 12.7 volts for a 12v battery. The only way to be sure of the state of charge (or discharge!) is to measure the voltage and/or the specific gravity of the acid with a hydrometer. This will not tell you how good the capacity in a/h is though, only a load test will do that. The specific gravity will be around 1.265 per cell for a fully charged battery.


Here are the figures for no load voltages (not using the battery) versus state of charge on a 12v battery


100% 12.7v
90% 12.5v
80% 12.42v
70% 12.32v
60% 12.20v
50% 12.06v
40% 11.9v
30% 11.75v
20% 11.58v
10% 11.31v
0% 10.05v


Again though, this will not tell you the capacity, but is an indication of how charged the battery is"

Using your new multimeter you will be able to measure state of charge, and also if it is charging when plugged in.

shantymanles wrote:My 80Ah leisure battery is fully charged (green showing through top surface sight glass), but Zig unit is only showing RED, not GREEN.
 Is there anyone out there that has ever experienced this issue, or any electrical boffins that could advise? 
  Thanking you in anticipation.
Shantymanles

After taking the advice from you fine fellows, I bought a multimeter and the best it could tell me (engine NOT running) was 8.8/9. With engine running, over 14. Give it to me straight Doc. Has it gone "belly up" ??

Take it to the scrap yard and put the few quid you get for It towards a new one, it’s dead

Yup, it's scrap. Be happy knowing that your alternator seems to be pushing the right kind of voltage out though.

Peatlander 2 wrote:Yup, it's scrap. Be happy knowing that your alternator seems to be pushing the right kind of voltage out though.

Ok thanks. Some good news then. 

Yup, good news is best!

Your alternator should be showing around 14.5/14.6 volts at the battery with the engine running. So that's good... obviously the leisure battery is just at the end of its life

Can recommend Tayna batteries if you want to do mail order.


Edited, cos I put bolts instead of volts. Carrot fingers.

Peatlander 2 wrote:Yup, good news is best!

Your alternator should be showing around 14.5/14.6 volts at the battery with the engine running. So that's good... obviously the leisure battery is just at the end of its life

Can recommend Tayna batteries if you want to do mail order.


Edited, cos I put bolts instead of volts. Carrot fingers.

Thanks again. Comforting news.