Get your leisure battery fighting fit with some top tips from the Camping and Caravanning Club and Yuasa!
With just days to go until the reopening of caravan parks and campsites across the UK, we’ve partnered with the Camping and Caravanning Club to share their top tips for looking after your leisure battery.
It’s a common misconception that a leisure battery is a fit and forget product, however that’s not the case.
Extended periods of inactivity like we’ve recently experienced can have a detrimental impact on your leisure battery’s service life. We’ve partnered with the Camping and Caravanning Club to highlight some simple steps you can take to ensure your leisure battery is fighting fit for when the time comes.
Seasonal Use
If a battery is not maintained when not in use for long time periods, such as those we're experiencing at the moment, its condition will deteriorate and it may need replacing. In these cases, the battery has not failed because of any manufacturing or material defect but due to lack of care and maintenance when not in use for prolonged time periods.
How to Charge a Leisure Battery
All batteries lose their charge naturally when not being charged. If the charge level drops too low then they cannot be recovered. As well as natural self-discharge, the battery may also have to support electrical loads such as security systems which will drain its power.
We recommend charging your battery when in storage. Intelligent chargers can safely monitor and maintain a battery on or off of your vehicle. By using one during extended storage periods, you can prevent any damage, keep the battery at an optimum voltage and allow security systems and ECU memories to remain active.
Always check your charger’s instructions to make sure it has a maintenance mode and is safe for unattended charging.
With AGM batteries always ensure you use a charger compatible with this type of technology. Failure to do so will result in permanent damage and premature failure.
For more information, read the club's comprehensive guide to charging a leisure battery here.
Choosing the Right Battery
It might sound obvious, but always choose a battery of the correct specification and technology to meet your needs. Using the wrong battery will result in a short service life.
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing your battery:
- Battery Size - a leisure battery’s size will be limited by the amount of room physically available in your caravan or motorhome’s locker and tray. Be sure to select a battery that will fit the space you have available.
- Watt Hours - this is the amount of power the battery can supply when fully charged. You can calculate your requirements by working out the consumption of the accessories the battery will power, and how long you usually use them for.
- Cyclic Life - the number of times the battery can be discharged to 50% then fully recharged. The higher the cyclic life, the more work the battery can do during its life in service.
- Capacity - the amount of power the battery has to run your equipment. The higher the battery’s Ah rating, the longer it will operate your gear.
For more information, you can watch the Camping and Caravanning Club's how to choose a leisure battery video below
