Cooked Leisure battery vs clicking charger

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

Alison ' s parents' van. Massive sulphur smell on hook up realised battery was cooking was hot like a radiator! Volts were 11. Disconnected and charger was clicking output cycling 8 to 12 volts. Later put bakery on again clicks stopped and volts on interior socket reached 13.
So is charger broken or battery? My van's charger making 16v connected to its battery. Thoughts appreciated.

[zippy656]

Charger should be max 14.5v

[rustic]

Charging voltage should not go above 14.5 Volts as excess gassing will occur, water will be lost, and the plates could be exposed causing damage.
The battery can over heat too.

Do the following test.
With nothing connected to the battery, leave it a few hours to settle, then measure the voltage across the terminals, using a digital voltmeter on the 20 Volt DC range.

What is the voltage ? ............

What type of charger are you using?
What is it's maximum charging current?



11 volts across a battery that is deemed to be fully charged, indicates a faulty cell.

[solarman216]

Your so called leisure battery is a start battery with a new name, nothing more, it is all to do with the plate thickness and a little to do with the composition, so if to be used as a leisure battery it needs to be fully charged, to 15.2 volts, 4 stage charging is best, something your alternator cannot do on its own, there are add on's that will do this however, but if your charger is making 16 volts connected then this suggests the battery is of high resistance ie foofed, 11 volts and hot suggests it is low resistance and shorted, the reason most vehicle units only charge to 14.2 is the high temperature in the engine bay would lead to cooking on a long run, but as its sole purpose is to start the motor this is not important, Rick

[AlexD333]

Although built in, the terrano will have a regulator rectifier right.

Is it a possibility this could be foofed instead, this not limiting the amount of power going to the battery, thus sulphur smell and killing the batt.

I imagine it comes as a one piece "alternator" on cars though :nenau rick??

[solarman216]

Although built in, the terrano will have a regulator rectifier right.

Is it a possibility this could be foofed instead, this not limiting the amount of power going to the battery, thus sulphur smell and killing the batt.

I imagine it comes as a one piece "alternator" on cars though :nenau rick??

yes that is correct car alternators come with a built in regulator to around 14.2 to 14.5 volts however this does NOT FULLY CHARGE A 12 VOLT FLOODED LEAD ACID BATTERY, it only charges to a safe voltage for the conditions involved, but as stated before this is adequate for starting, Rick

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

in caravan guys, no car connected. caravan or towing section.

2 caravans

both are oem built into caravan charger/transformers.

the dodgy battery felt hotter just at one end, or the cell next along.

the dodgy charger, was clicking with no load or battery connected,
cycling voltage 8-12 suspect was switching off and restarting.

put battery back on, clicks stopped and voltage read on internal socket
11V constant as per previous on battery. oddly then third time rose to
and settlled to just under 13V. which to me would be charged.

over on my caravan, power on and battery off, 16.5V, then power
and battery on, 16V. power off and battery only 15.5V BUT didnt test
when settled.