Trickle charging leisure and main batteries

[chad]

I've got these linked by a split charge relay but this seems to cause problems with the 'intelligent' charger that I have, an 'Accumate Multi-stage Smart charger'.

It never seems to sense when they are fully charged and just keeps on charging, never switching into 'maintenance' mode.

Any ideas?

 

[Moseley]

What happens if you disconnect the batteries and just try charging one at a time in isolation?

It could be that you have a small current drain which is enough to keep the charger trickling away.

 

[chad]

Thanks for the reply.

I haven't tried that yet as I assumed it was overcharging, as there's a white deposit around the front of the 'main' battery, and the relay was 'blocking' whatever signal the charger needed to tell it both were fully charged.

Could an alarm take enough power to cause this?

I'll try it this weekend.

 

[Moseley]

Another thing I just thought of - I didn't know it was possible to use a trickle charger on a split charge setup, I thought it was one battery or the other. I may be completely wrong with this, but using it to charge both systems could confuse it if the relay is flicking on and off.

The white deposit is a sign of oxidation - might be worthwhile cleaning the terminals off and re-applying some fresh Vaseline around them.

 

[rlepecha]

I have a multi stage smart changer hooked up to my leisure battery, when that battery reaches 12.4v(I think) the relay will activate and it will begin to charge both batteries. When the relay flicks over the charger notices the extra load and switches to a 'bulk' charge mode for a couple of minutes and then continues through the rest of the required stages.

How big is your leisure battery and what is the Max output of the charger? If you've got somewhere close to 160ah in batteries (both leisure and starter) it will take a long time before the charger says its done. I think mine takes a day or so to fully charge, the peak output of my charger is 20amp though so starts off pretty quick.

 

[chad]

I've got a 110AH leisure battery but have been leaving on charge for a about a week at a time.

It might be my charger - I've already got a battery charger so bought it as more of a trickle charger.
I've just checked the spec and it looks like it's a whole 1.2Amps! - although over a week or so that's about 180ish AH

Which one are you using?

 

[rlepecha]

I've got a 110AH leisure battery but have been leaving on charge for a about a week at a time.

It might be my charger - I've already got a battery charger so bought it as more of a trickle charger.
I've just checked the spec and it looks like it's a whole 1.2Amps! - although over a week or so that's about 180ish AH

Which one are you using?

Yeah that does sound a bit dodgy. It could be that there is something pulling charge from one of the batteries permanently. It is not likely to be an Alarm, I have one fitted and it pulls very little charge.

I am using http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271107518129&alt=web" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pretty pricey but I use it for powering all the 12v equipment in my van; TV, fridge, lights etc and also keeping the batteries topped up. 20A is overkill for most people but my TV + Fridge alone can pull 9amp together. A similar charger from other brands is close to £230!