Leisure battery not charging

Hi all,
Does my leisure battery need replacing?,
I have connected the ehu, and the charger light is on, but the leisure battery is only at 12.4v. or does this mean that the charger is faulty?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Martin.

Never going above 13V after charging for longer than expected almost certainly means a shorted cell in a lead-acid battery.  The remaining five cells are all at their maximum of 2.6V, and one of them will be the next to go quite soon...

fxr wrote:Never going above 13V after charging for longer than expected almost certainly means a shorted cell in a lead-acid battery.  The remaining five cells are all at their maximum of 2.6V, and one of them will be the next to go quite soon...

True, but... if the battery voltage was 12.4V before the EHU is plugged in and 12.4V after the EHU is plugged in, the symptoms suggest that the charger's output is not getting to the battery? Unfortunately there isn't enough info in the original post to know which of the two is likely or not...

My leisure battery voltage was 12.4v before connecting the ehu and the charger is on. It's now been on charge all night, and it is still at 12.4v. If I turn the charger off briefly, the charge goes up to 12.5v for a few seconds, and then back to 12.4v. How can I check if the fault is with the battery or the charger?

Take the battery out of the van and put it on charge on the bench using a known good battery charger. A small 8 amp (or so) charger is ample for testing and quite cheap. Or take it to a good garage for testing, remembering that the likes of Halfrauds will have a vested interest in selling you a new battery.

With the battery removed and everything in the van turned off check the charging voltage across the disconnected leads with a multimeter. The van’s charger should be outputting at least 13.7 volts. If less than 13.7 then you may have a faulty charger. If nil then you have a fault in the line, perhaps just a fuse.

If the battery is five or more years old then a new battery would be a wise investment anyway. They are a consumable item.

The Bargee wrote:Take the battery out of the van and put it on charge on the bench using a known good battery charger. A small 8 amp (or so) charger is ample for testing and quite cheap. Or take it to a good garage for testing, remembering that the likes of Halfrauds will have a vested interest in selling you a new battery.

With the battery removed and everything in the van turned off check the charging voltage across the disconnected leads with a multimeter. The van’s charger should be outputting at least 13.7 volts. If less than 13.7 then you may have a faulty charger. If nil then you have a fault in the line, perhaps just a fuse.

If the battery is five or more years old then a new battery would be a wise investment anyway. They are a consumable item.

That sounds like a good plan, will get the battery on charge asap (only been using the van for the weekly shop since September, but needed it this morning for a hospital visit, so was a bit worried about starting ).

dibsy1965 wrote:My leisure battery voltage was 12.4v before connecting the ehu and the charger is on. It's now been on charge all night, and it is still at 12.4v. If I turn the charger off briefly, the charge goes up to 12.5v for a few seconds, and then back to 12.4v. How can I check if the fault is with the battery or the charger?

Those symptoms suggest that the charger is faulty, or the wiring from the charger to the battery.

Roopert wrote:

dibsy1965 wrote:My leisure battery voltage was 12.4v before connecting the ehu and the charger is on. It's now been on charge all night, and it is still at 12.4v. If I turn the charger off briefly, the charge goes up to 12.5v for a few seconds, and then back to 12.4v. How can I check if the fault is with the battery or the charger?

Those symptoms suggest that the charger is faulty, or the wiring from the charger to the battery.

Is there an easy way to test the charger? Is it a simple as using a volt meter or does it need to be connected to a working battery? I have seen a couple of eBay accounts that offer a refurbishment service, but I want to be sure it's faulty.

On a 25 year old van you can't always assume that it's the original, and a replacement may be a more "intelligent" design than the original, but as a general rule you should expect to see a voltage somewhere in the range 13.2-14.4V DC with the power supply turned on but open circuit (i.e. not connected to anything). Some more modern types may not function properly with no load connected, but it won't cause any harm, and it's unlikely you'll have one like that anyway.

Hi Roopert,
My charger is the original x7, so I guess if it's not showing a voltage, it's kapput. 
Thanks for your help

Assuming it's got mains on the supply side, that seems a reasonable assumption.

May be of use...

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