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Buying Leisure Batteries.


eid

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I remember reading somewhere that when buying new batteries, you should look at the date of manufacture and do a voltage test on them.

I can't remember the details though, so my question is, what is an acceptable voltage and age for new sealed lead acid batteries?

 

Thanks.

 

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1 minute ago, eid said:

I remember reading somewhere that when buying new batteries, you should look at the date of manufacture and do a voltage test on them.

I can't remember the details though, so my question is, what is an acceptable voltage and age for new sealed lead acid batteries?

 

Thanks.

 

Don't buy sealed batteries you cannot maintain them, if you cannot top up the water they will not last as long, if you cannot check the water levels then you will not see the internal shorts developing.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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49 minutes ago, eid said:

I remember reading somewhere that when buying new batteries, you should look at the date of manufacture and do a voltage test on them.

I can't remember the details though, so my question is, what is an acceptable voltage and age for new sealed lead acid batteries?

 

Thanks.

 

around 12.7 volts but it will depend n how long they have been i stock and when last charged. a dry charged batery that was filled and not given a charge may well be lower

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56 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Don't buy sealed batteries you cannot maintain them, if you cannot top up the water they will not last as long, if you cannot check the water levels then you will not see the internal shorts developing.

I buy sealed as it is almost impossible to get to the batteries to top them up so they are never going to be checked.  As they are coming up to 7 years old they've not done bad.

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12 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

buy sealed as it is almost impossible to get to the batteries to top them up

I suppose it depends on how well the boat is laid-out, but accept that some builders compromise on servicability, and it that case you may as well go for sealed.

 7 years isn't bad but it depends on how they are 'used'

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2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I buy sealed as it is almost impossible to get to the batteries to top them up so they are never going to be checked.  As they are coming up to 7 years old they've not done bad.

Plus, decent modern sealed batteries have a vapour recovery system so, in normal use without over charging, the loss is pretty much small enough to be negligible. Similar to Rob's above, my last set lasted 8 years.

 

There are better batteries around at greater cost and if they're well maintained they may well last longer. So, you pays yer money and takes yer choice.  I'd say that sealed have their place, particularly if there's doubt that you can maintain your batteries properly, but a poor charging regime can kill both equally effectively.

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13 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

around 12.7 volts but it will depend n how long they have been i stock and when last charged. a dry charged batery that was filled and not given a charge may well be lower

Would dry-charged batteries be marked as such? I found the site I had read before. They suggested batteries should be at least 12.4V when bought. Does this sound right to you? Also, what about manufactured date. How old a  battery would you accept?

 

 

13 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I buy sealed as it is almost impossible to get to the batteries to top them up so they are never going to be checked.  As they are coming up to 7 years old they've not done bad.

 

9 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I'd say that sealed have their place, particularly if there's doubt that you can maintain your batteries properly, but a poor charging regime can kill both equally effectively.

 

I could access the batteries. They range from easily accessible to a real pain in the arse for the last one. The question is more "do I want to?". The answer is a resounding "hell no!".

 

Thank you all for your replies.

 

Edited by eid
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20 minutes ago, eid said:

Would dry-charged batteries be marked as such? I found the site I had read before. They suggested batteries should be at least 12.4V when bought. Does this sound right to you? Also, what about manufactured date. How old a  battery would you accept?

12.4 volts has discharged to around  a true 75% so it says it either has not recently had a routine freshening charge or as I said it was dry charged from the factory and was not properly charged upon filling. Often dry charged batteries were filled and immediately out into service so, in theory, they were charged on the vehicle.

 

Dry charging is a manufacturing technique where the battery is assembled with part pre-charged plates and then sealed in an air tight case. Typically the holes below the filler caps had a sacrificial plastic diaphragm sealing them so upon sale the diaphragms were punched out and the battery filled and immediately put into service. I have never seen a dry charged battery marked as such because those dealing with them know what they are and how to treat them but sometimes you can see the remains of the diaphragm. I think they can out a coating on the plates instead of the diaphragm that is dissolved upon filling. I ould have nothing against a dry charged battery as long as it had received a proper charge after filling.

 

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17 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

12.4 volts has discharged to around  a true 75% so it says it either has not recently had a routine freshening charge or as I said it was dry charged from the factory and was not properly charged upon filling. Often dry charged batteries were filled and immediately out into service so, in theory, they were charged on the vehicle.

 

Dry charging is a manufacturing technique where the battery is assembled with part pre-charged plates and then sealed in an air tight case. Typically the holes below the filler caps had a sacrificial plastic diaphragm sealing them so upon sale the diaphragms were punched out and the battery filled and immediately put into service. I have never seen a dry charged battery marked as such because those dealing with them know what they are and how to treat them but sometimes you can see the remains of the diaphragm. I think they can out a coating on the plates instead of the diaphragm that is dissolved upon filling. I ould have nothing against a dry charged battery as long as it had received a proper charge after filling.

 

Until recently, all the motorcycle batteries I have bought have been dry-charged, sold sealed with foil as you say, with a separate container of acid that punctured the seals as you filled them.

I believe the H&S means that they can no longer sell batteries like this, and they must be filled before sale.

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24 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

12.4 volts has discharged to around  a true 75% so it says it either has not recently had a routine freshening charge or as I said it was dry charged from the factory and was not properly charged upon filling. Often dry charged batteries were filled and immediately out into service so, in theory, they were charged on the vehicle.

 

Dry charging is a manufacturing technique where the battery is assembled with part pre-charged plates and then sealed in an air tight case. Typically the holes below the filler caps had a sacrificial plastic diaphragm sealing them so upon sale the diaphragms were punched out and the battery filled and immediately put into service. I have never seen a dry charged battery marked as such because those dealing with them know what they are and how to treat them but sometimes you can see the remains of the diaphragm. I think they can out a coating on the plates instead of the diaphragm that is dissolved upon filling. I ould have nothing against a dry charged battery as long as it had received a proper charge after filling.

 

 

So the retailer would fill the dry-charged battery at the point of sale then?

8 minutes ago, dor said:

Until recently, all the motorcycle batteries I have bought have been dry-charged, sold sealed with foil as you say, with a separate container of acid that punctured the seals as you filled them.

I believe the H&S means that they can no longer sell batteries like this, and they must be filled before sale.

 

Thanks dor

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4 minutes ago, eid said:

 

So the retailer would fill the dry-charged battery at the point of sale then?

 

Not necessarily. A wholesaler/distributor could fill them before supplying them to the retailer. One hopes in that case they would then charge them properly but who knows if they did. 

 

I gave two reasons a battery may not be fully charged upon purchase with improperly dealing with a dry charged battery being one.  On balance I would rather have a dry charged battery that had not been charged upon filling than an ordinary one that had been standing a fair while self discharging. In either case anything less than around 12.7 off load volts suggests lack of charge for some reason and the lower the voltage the less well charged it is and thus the more sulphated it may be.

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