So called smart chargers.

For the last 10 years or so i have been using a ring smart charger to replenish the leisure battery at the end of the working day. I have a split charge relay installed, but tend to find that even though it does pop a bit of charge into the battery whilst out on the rounds, its almost always requiring a charge when back parked up in the garage. 

Anyway, my leisure battery started dying back last year after 4 years, and ended up no longer holding a charge.

So i bought a new battery, but within a month that also was dying. 

Checked my smart charger with a multimeter,  and its putting out less than a third of what it says it is. 

So i  bought a standard 12 amp charger that isnt smart, its bought back both the new battery and my old battery that was going to throw away. 

£60 for a smart charger vs 20 for a standard one that actually does charge!

I had a single leisure battery for about three years. I was a sole operator at the time. After about two and a half years my son joined me and the battery struggled. Rather than retiring the battery, I put another one, of equal spec into the system, wired in parallel, as per jump leads. This works extremely well. Most of our work is very local, so I don't tend not to do many miles, but I never need to bench charge. The split charger, combined with the biggest, beefiest batteries I could get was the answer for me. I upgraded my SCR recently when the old one broke during a starter battery replacement at a supplier (it had been fitted on top of the starter battery). I now have a Durite SCR fitted behind the bulkhead. For those that have to bench charge, I think dual, Numax batteries and a Durite SCR is probably the answer. I think mine are 110 or 115 ah. 

cleaniac said:

For the last 10 years or so i have been using a ring smart charger to replenish the leisure battery at the end of the working day. I have a split charge relay installed, but tend to find that even though it does pop a bit of charge into the battery whilst out on the rounds, its almost always requiring a charge when back parked up in the garage. 

Anyway, my leisure battery started dying back last year after 4 years, and ended up no longer holding a charge.

So i bought a new battery, but within a month that also was dying. 

Checked my smart charger with a multimeter,  and its putting out less than a third of what it says it is. 

So i  bought a standard 12 amp charger that isnt smart, its bought back both the new battery and my old battery that was going to throw away. 

£60 for a smart charger vs 20 for a standard one that actually does charge!

Click to expand...

Any charger will work better than one that isn't working.

I started off with a standard starter battery charger for my leisure battery on the trailer. I replaced the battery every 6 months. I then bought a Numax smart charger and that has done the job for the last 12 years. Its had a new power lead and a new cooling fan. My current battery is 52 months old. This is my 3rd leisure battery since I purchased the Numax.

By the looks of it my smart charger has been the reason for my leisure batteries lasting. But the battery on my trailer was mounted on the draw bar open to the elements. I purchased this Numax at the same time I built a system into a van, so was the extended battery life due to the charger or the battery being fitted into a better environment.

All those who supply and deal with leisure batteries recommend they are charged with a smart charger. They should know.

Oh this wrecked my head. I got my system from sureclean and my battery just kept dying even though i covered much more milage than i was recommended to do to keep the battery topped up. End of the matter,which was long and infuriating, the controller has a smart charger in it and the suppliers had changed it with the new ones. It was now a third of the strength and not enough to keep the battery running without bench charging... and it took talking to the suppliers to find that answer. Sureclean had no idea. So got another seperate smart charger installed and now have never had another issue