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[Terbs]

Classic example of our battery usage is.... we have been here for 14 days. we go home wednesday for 10 days, then back here for two days, then home for a week, then here for four weeks. Then home for 7 weeks, then back here for 3 weeks. I think you get the drift....this goes on through the winter, too. Back to back time would be about 4 to 5 months. So our battery gets a fair bit of use.

[minifreek]

I need a proper caravan charger/PSU for our tintent....

Im charging the leisure battery with a heavy duty battery charger that is automatic, switches off when fully charged and then goes into trickle...

[Sir Tigger KC]

Seems as though you were lucky not to come back to a bonfire!   

[05omegav6]

Used to top up the batteries on the boat quite regularly, but they got hammered and were only ever engine charged

[Taxi_Driver]

Used to top up the batteries on the boat quite regularly, but they got hammered and were only ever engine charged

Overcharged then  if they were leisure batteries.....car/truck batteries its a different story 

[Taxi_Driver]

I need a proper caravan charger/PSU for our tintent....

Im charging the leisure battery with a heavy duty battery charger that is automatic, switches off when fully charged and then goes into trickle...

You may want something like this...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-CTEK-Multi-MXS-5-0-12V-Car-Battery-Smart-Charger-Conditioner-/271868284124?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f4c9cccdc

Altho the one I have, I got from Lidl/Aldi when they had a special purchase price.....mine was about £15 but its not a Ctek brand 

[hercules]

I need a proper caravan charger/PSU for our tintent....

Im charging the leisure battery with a heavy duty battery charger that is automatic, switches off when fully charged and then goes into trickle...

this is what happens when the battery goes faulty or needs topping up and doesn't get checke, it still accepts a charge and so your charger stays on full amp output and never goes to that trickle state then hot smelly dry battery,the resistence in a good healthy battery can stand the trickle charge but in my experience when a battery is going to be left for a long period it should be disconnected and then charged to a timetable you can monitor(I used to say one 24 hr period a month but then a vastly experienced bloke told me id do it twice)

[hercules]

Horses for courses...and Daz knows his vans 


He's a big, ugly bastard though. 

im not that big 

[hercules]

Terbert -
You may want to try Halfords for a leisure battery, especially if you have a Trade card for them....About 4/5 years ago I picked up a 110AH leisure battery for £60....the price without trade card was £110 

Hercules -
Are the battery chargers in caravans just basic chargers then?
I would have thought they would have been 'ctec' or 'intelligent chargers' that monitor the battery and switch off charging once the battery is fully charged 

they are a good charger but in this case when the battery needed a top up and didn't get it as above it will have kept charging got warm and dried out more and got hot and smelly 

[hercules]

infact the charger in question is installed in a 2004 van and isn't faulty,it was installed in vans before that year and although is not used in modern caravans you can still buy that charger today 

[Bigron]

This may be a silly suggestion, but I will make it anyway - what if you remove the battery altogether? If your 12 volt demands are not great and you are always on site electrics, the charger will meet those needs directly without the battery?
I did exactly that back when I had an elderly Sprite; it didn't have a battery anyway and I made a 12 volt power supply with a maybe 10 amp capability, but it was only really needed to run the water pump and minor ancilliaries as I had 240 lighting and fridge.

Ron.

[Kevin Wood]

Yep, good posting ^

Why bother with batteries and their idiosyncrasies when the 'van never moves?