Leisure battery charge?

[stoneyloon]

I've got a Lucas type 110 leisure battery installed and the only thing that we have running off of it is a coolbox and the water pump for the tap whenever we use it.

After a whole day and night the battery run out mid next day and doesn't want to hold a charge even after a good long run it'll run the coolbox for maybe 5-6 hours.
I was told that previous to us buying the bongo that it wasnt used very often for the last few months just run once a week to keep it going and read that if you don't use the battery that it can stop it from working correctly.

It has what looks like a round indicator on the top of the battery and its always dark, not sure if that means anything.

Does it sound like i need a new one or are coolboxes really that power hungry?

Cheers

Colin

[francophile1947]

Cool boxes are very power hungry - you're lucky to get 6 hours out of your battery.
If it has been left flat, it may well be stuffed - charge it with a battery charger, for a couple of days, and check the voltage after the charger has been disconnected for a couple of hours. If it reads 12.8 volts that's good - if 12v or less, it's a scrapper.

[g8dhe]

Agree with the above, also do you know the age of the battery, its sometimes stamped on it in the plastic. Even if it gets regular use the battery will eventually fail due to the number of recharges the best are only warranted for 5 years and a lot for only 2 years.

[Dodgey]

The indicator shows the chemical state of the battery and is a good indicator of it's condition when fully charged.

As said above - a cool box will kill a leisure battery in short order unless you keep an eye on it and switch it off regularly.

You want something like

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waeco-CDF-18- ... 3f24c6357e

[mikexgough]

The indicator shows the chemical state of the battery and is a good indicator of it's condition when fully charged.

As said above - a cool box will kill a leisure battery in short order unless you keep an eye on it and switch it off regularly.

You want something like

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waeco-CDF-18- ... 3f24c6357e

Got one of those Waeco's had it for 4 yrs now....brilliant.... 4 days on a 110 Ah leisure battery inc water tap, TV and lights as well as phone charging..