Help with leisure battery

[Wengen007]

Hi
Can anyone give me advice on the leisure battery I have a Varta 5K0915 105 H it is now 3 years old and is not holding a charge very well. Please can you let me know what is a good replacement. It sits under the passenger seat.
With the fridge running all day I did a test on the battery this afternoon and it was registering 12.5 I was told if it drops to 12 it won't power the fridge.
Thanks in advance

 

[sidepod]

10.5v is the fridge drop out voltage.

Just replace with similar or any quality brand unit. Like all things, you can pay more and get a better battery. Don't use a lead acid.

 

[Bigted]

How long did you let the battery rest after running the fridge? You need to leave it a couple of hours to get a reading. Where are you reading the voltage from?

 

[B J G]

Thought the battery looked more like an engine spec rather than leisure so did a search and came up with that number as an Audi one?? If not a leisure battery it would explain life duration.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/VW-Audi-5K0915105H-Compatible-Battery-P9527.html

Do you know the battery history?

 

[Stoneybroke]

If it's been running the fridge and is still at 12.5 then the battery is pretty good.

 

[Wengen007]

10.5v is the fridge drop out voltage.

Just replace with similar or any quality brand unit. Like all things, you can pay more and get a better battery. Don't use a lead acid.

Thanks

 

[Wengen007]

How long did you let the battery rest after running the fridge? You need to leave it a couple of hours to get a reading. Where are you reading the voltage from?

 

[Wengen007]

The fridge was running whilst the voltage test was done. Will try leaving it a couple of hours and then doing another test thanks

 

[Wengen007]

Thought the battery looked more like an engine spec rather than leisure so did a search and came up with that number as an Audi one?? If not a leisure battery it would explain life duration.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/VW-Audi-5K0915105H-Compatible-Battery-P9527.html

Do you know the battery history?

This is the original battery that was fitted from the factory. This is the first time I have looked at it.

 

[Bigted]

12.5v may well be ok - what fridge are you using?

 

[Max-Felix]

You dont say what vehicle you have but presuming from your comments it's a Beach?

Thought the battery looked more like an engine spec rather than leisure so did a search and came up with that number as an Audi one?? If not a leisure battery it would explain life duration.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/VW-Audi-5K0915105H-Compatible-Battery-P9527.html

Do you know the battery history?

I seem to remember a topic on this some time back and VW were indeed fitting regular ('starter') batteries rather than constant drain 'leisure' types. IIRC this was the factory spec for the Beach??

 

[hirsty]

Jesus, really? - another thing to go check on!

 

[MattBW]

My beach also had the 80ah lead acid instead of the 68ah AGM one. I did raise with the dealer and there was indeed an option for that battery instead of the AGM at the time which mine seems to have had as a demo. May have been cheaper I guess but it does seem pretty good to be honest ran my cf40 for 4 days recently and was still over 12v.

 

[MattBW]

You dont say what vehicle you have but presuming from your comments it's a Beach?

It is the beach section forum so I assume so

 

[hirsty]

I'd have thought Day One at Mod School was "don't believe The Users know anything, and assume less" Matt?

 

[Wengen007]

I have a weaco fridge. Think I will get a better battery

 

[Wengen007]

You dont say what vehicle you have but presuming from your comments it's a Beach?


I seem to remember a topic on this some time back and VW were indeed fitting regular ('starter') batteries rather than constant drain 'leisure' types. IIRC this was the factory spec for the Beach??

Yes a beach.

 

[soulstyledevon]

I have the same battery. Its now 5 years old and isn't holding charge very well.
Need to look at an upgrade, ideally bigger capacity but same physical size and getting a proper leisure battery in their.

 

[B J G]

I have the same battery. Its now 5 years old and isn't holding charge very well.
Need to look at an upgrade, ideally bigger capacity but same physical size and getting a proper leisure battery in their.

If you look on this site it gives all the battery dimensions plus post positions which should help finding a physical Leisure Battery equivalent easier to identify..

https://www.tayna.co.uk/VW-Audi-5K0915105H-Compatible-Battery-P9527.html

I had a browse for leisure batteries and the size of the above 'car' battery doesn't match up to any leisure battery sizes. Looks like you would need to check if a longer and taller battery would fit then you'd have a bigger range to select from.
I found this site which has a large selection with sizes which would be a useful guide as to what's available.

http://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/leisure-batteries/?p=8#breadcrumbs

This being the closest match. http://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/leisure-batteries/90ah-xplorer-agm-leisure-battery/

 

[B J G]

When investigating an electrical problem on my 2017 T6 I noted that the engine battery voltage was 12.5Volts. This remained at 12.5Volts after the engine was started, I'd normally expect to see an increase to 13.75volts or similar level. I was curious as to the leisure battery voltage and had a check on the central display and that was 12.5volts also.
Plugging in the external mains gave the leisure battery voltage as 13.75volts.

From my basic look it would appear that the engine would only charge the leisure batteries to 12.5volts.

 

[Stoneybroke]

When investigating an electrical problem on my 2017 T6 I noted that the engine battery voltage was 12.5Volts. This remained at 12.5Volts after the engine was started, I'd normally expect to see an increase to 13.75volts or similar level. I was curious as to the leisure battery voltage and had a check on the central display and that was 12.5volts also.
Plugging in the external mains gave the leisure battery voltage as 13.75volts.

From my basic look it would appear that the engine would only charge the leisure batteries to 12.5volts.

The T6 has a Smart charging system, which, I believe, means the alternator is putting a lower load on the engine, and does not give full output when the battery is at a healthy charge.
Good article here...
http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/auxiliary-battery-charging-in-vehicles-with-smart-alternators.html

 

[MattBW]

Turn on the air con and the voltage will increase, as per the above


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[B J G]

The T6 has a Smart charging system, which, I believe, means the alternator is putting a lower load on the engine, and does not give full output when the battery is at a healthy charge.
Good article here...
http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/auxiliary-battery-charging-in-vehicles-with-smart-alternators.html

Thanks for that reference.

 

[B J G]

Turn on the air con and the voltage will increase, as per the above


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The aircon was on at the time.

 

[Wayne Townsend]

The link attached shows what the t5 delivers on p11

https://www.ablemail.co.uk/sites/default/files/products/ablemailbatterychargerselectionguide.pdf

I'm sure the T6 is similar . I would suggest the headlights are a better test than the aircon . 12.5 is quite low but regenerative braking means that the resting battery voltage is around that sort of value to allow room for recharge . When you consider the secondary battery is a greater distance form the charger you would expect cable drops to further prevent the secondary battery from charging .Still I'd expect you to see a higher charging voltage on turn on . You could try flattening the primary battery a bit by running the radio for 15 minutes without the engine running . I still think you need a smart charger .