Leisure Battery
 

My leisure battery appears to have given up the ghost.
Does anyone know if it can be brought back to life or where a cheap long lasting replacment can be found?

I bought my last one from http://www.tayna.co.uk/
and bought one of these Numax CXV31MF Sealed Leisure Battery 12V110Ah1000MCA 500 Cycles XV31MF which is now 5 years old. Happily powers two or three chargers and soldering for a days racing still.


Never had any luck with trying to revive one

your car? lol

I personally wouldn't use your car to be honest...the batteries aren't the same as a leisure battery and are not designed to be deep discharged...as you might do charging on a days/weekends racing!!!

A good condition car battery will do it for a bit...and I know a few that do...but I don't like the risk of the big car not starting at the end of a race day! They are more designed to give a short high current burst to get your engine started...and are kept topped up by the engine the whole of their lives.

But a half decent Leisure battery battery will charge more than everything you need...and will be more than happy to be heavily cycled over and over again in the long term.

Hi Steve

I was in the same position as you with my lesuire battery - to save money
i went along to my nearest breakers yard and got a battery from there i made sure there was no damage on it and got out of a relatively new car that had slight damage on the rear end and basically paid £10 for it and its still going strong week in week out

i dont really see the difference... they are both lead acid.
I charge all day on my car when racing... constantly turning over 3 sets of saddles and have never had an issue at the end of the day.

there are too many things these days where they are branded as for a specific use, and therefore slap up the price. it wouldnt surprise me if this was one.

as a hobby related example... batteries.... i run the nano tech ones from hobbyking. they are the best batteries ive ever used, but because they are not yet roar approved, they are about £20 a set. Yet Roar approved ones are 70,80,90 quid. its just wrong.

What makes the distinction between a car battery and a leisure battery? is it the plastic handle lol.

You could try a smart charger such as this one which may revive it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00499DTW...&hvptwo=&hvqmt=

Or you can get a new 85Ah leisure battery of ebay for about £55


Car batteries are designed for a high current such as starting a car and are then kept charged by the alternator. A leisure battery will run and run down to a really low capacity (deep discharge) without any large amount of damage to the battery itself. Both will do the job but a car battery won't last quite as long. If you only paid a tenner for it and keep it charged it may last a while.

The difference being that the lead is thicker on the cells. When the battery drains down, the lead is erroded, on a car battery, as its got less lead (thinner anyway) in it they get erroded quicker. A leisure battery has thicker plates so lasts longer so they errode, but can take it (deep cycle).

Its not a con, its one of those things thats genuine and its also about the same price for a leisure one v a car one.

time to google the inside of a lead acid battery... this sounds interesting:thumbsup:

Generally I've found buying cheap 12v batteries a false economy.

Car battery will have a much shorter life span than a leisure battery for deep cycling.

I used to buy budget brand leisure batteries, used weekly they would last the 1 year garauntee period, but not much more.

If you want trouble free race days - buy a quality battery and decent charger to charge it with. Store it charged rather than discharged.

Car batteries have very slim lead plates that are close together, and when they are over discharged the plates can buckle causing a dead cell in the battery. Leisure batteries have thicker plates that are further apart, and generally a lot heavier duty.

Usually once a lead acid battery is dead there is no recovering it, even an Optimate type charger that say can recover dead batteries never really do.

If you can get a Halfords trade card or someone that has one they offer good discounts, I got about 40% knocked of my leisure battery.

What he said ;) :thumbsup:

+ 1 more

Leisure battery @ £55 lasts a few seasons

second hand nearly new car battery from breakers yard (ex diesel )@ £8-15 .
My last car battery lasted 2 seasons.

Im no professor but my maths is ok.

ECP (euro car parts) have an extra 15% off leisure batteries this weekend.
Promo code LEISURE15
Link:
http://www.eurocarparts.com/leisure-batteries

So if you want a good branded one a lot cheaper than halfords then this is the place. There are cheaper batteries available. I am just highlighting the top end ones that can be bought at a reasonable price.

I GOT 1 FROM SPARES WORLD 135AMP LEISURE FOR MY CARAVAN 2 WEEKS AGO COST £45 WITH 3YRS GUARANTEE

I have a Toyota Avensis diesel battery, cost around £70 and its not even needed charging yet after doing around 20 race weekends. Well worth the out lay.

Jk

I use a little 14ah deep discharge battery from an electric golf cart. If you work it out on watt-hours, 14ah 12v is 168wh. A 5000mah lipo is 37wh. Round that up to 40wh for nominal voltage. You can charge a 5000, from flat 4 times. And realistically, you would just be topping off, and hopefully arriving with at least one set of batteries fully charged.

In a full day's racing i use about a third of it's capacity.

Oh and they cost about £15-20.

And whatever you buy, DON'T store it on the cold garage floor because the cold kills the cells. I've learnt this over the years, shove it on a bit of carpet or better still some shelves :thumbsup: