Battery Life

Bonz,

Chances are the 4 year old hydrometer rubber has perished by now.
Get a new one - only a few dollars from Repco, Supercheap, KMart, etc.

Will show you the condition of each cell, the best way to determine battery health.

Unlikely the battery would "lose volts faster than it used to".

Perhaps it's not reaching 100% charge?
Perhaps the battery is suffering from some level of sulphation?
I assume you maintain the correct electrolyte level in the battery?

Give the battery a good charge with a proper battery charger.
Do you have access to a "smart" charger? As well as providing a 3 stage charging process, a good one will identify the condition of the battery, the presence of sulphation and "shake the bleep " out of the battery to wake it up an if required.

Bonz

Is it a deep cycle or starting batt? Due to size restrictions, I can only fit a starting batt in as an aux, cause I've managed to fit it in with the main batt under the seat.

However when I replaced it recently the batt man told me I would dramatically reduce its life by running it up and down when powering the fridge.

Could this be the problem??

Cheers

Good to see you Bonz,

Mine had swolen up along the filler points from one to the other after "just over a year" and was replaced under warranty just a month back. It was to be returned to America and the manufacturers as another example for what doesn't happen with their products. It was certainly reducing in output quite significantly. Replaced it with a later model.

Sounds like it's well on it's way out Geoff.

As it gets sulphated it's capacity drops and the volts will drop quicker when under load so your observation is probably correct.

Good to see you back Geoff.

They do just gradually wear out. Each time you discharge them, takes a little bit of their life out of them. Each major discharge has a major impact, hence the advice to never let them go below 50%. Of course not always practical.

The misconception that they suddenly chuck it, is due to modern cars starting at the first flick of the key. A few years ago you would get a warning as the old girl would crank over slowly for 4 or 5 seconds before firing up. These days the first notion you have that the batt has expierd is when your car won't turn over at all.

Sounds like it's time for a newie.

Cheers,

Jim.

gday bonx.
sounds like its on its way out mate.
if your going to buy a new one i woould recomend a delcor marine battery.
i just got 2 100 ampers for the als.i think they were around the $140 mark but i did say i think lol.
mine has just clicked up its third year and still going great.i got the 80 amper.
another advantage they are also a starting batery.
cheers mate

Hi Bonz, I am sorry to say that this will keep happening to your battery , the condition is called Nissanitis , anything that is to close to Nissan turns to shiat lol

Bonz,

Firstly let me apologies for my previous response. I don't think I was myself in fact I think I looked like Eric. Chances are I might have been but we will never know.

Secondly and finally I learnt a valuable lesson last night. Don't leave computer logged on with Eric around.

Anyway hope all is well and will see you soon.

Regards

Nick

G'day Geoff,
as others have stated it is great to see you back with your SOH still shining.
I recall a year or so ago, a post from Willem regarding battery maintenance which included draining out the battery acid and replacing with new. The idea being to drain out all the gunk from around the plates and refilling again. Haven't tried it but new batteries probably built to newer cheaper specs these days and not possible to drain out old gunk.
Why is it that the battery from a new vehicle will last up to 5 years and the replacement ones will only go for a couple of years.
My deep cycle battery is a Delcor on and it is now 2 years old with no signs of fading away yet in spite of frequently run flat. I put it on the trickle charger and away it goes again.
Cheers and hope to catch up again soon. The beds are already made up. LOL
Alpaca