Bengie Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I have two Elecsol 110ah leisure batteries installed from new in our Auto-trail Dakota. They are about 3 and a half years old and were fitted at the factory when new. They have suddenly started runnung down quicker than they should. To test, I fully charged (each separately) by the vans system for 30 hrs, then isolated from the van, put on a constant load test (a 50 watt lamp) and monitored the voltage on a modern test meter. One ran down to 10volts after about 3 hrs, the other after about 5 hrs. I repeated the test using another good charger, same result. To claim under gaurantee Elecsol required an Electronic 'Din 375A' test at a reputable garage. The test shows 'Battery Good' but the engineer agrees they can't be. Any suggestion gladly received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Have you spoken to Elecsol or Auto Trail and asked for their views? Perhaps one of their appointed agents might be able to help? Perhaps the person who tested them might speak to Elecsol on your behalf? Do you have any documentation to show the length of warranty which, I presume, might well have started when Auto Trail purchased them and not when the van was first registered for which the manufacturers warranty would apply? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengie Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Auto-trail said as it was out of their 3 yr warranty to deal with Elecsol direct as it is within their 5 yr warranty. Elecsol are quite curt and don't discuss details. Just "have it tested and send us the printout" As an engineer I know my tests are good, but why does the Din 375A report "Batteries Good". ATS, the testers can't explain it but weren't sure whether the battery should have been 'stood for a while' as oposed to testing staight after charging, it was disconnected and reading 13.2v at the time of test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 If you can't get a result on din375a test I'd suggest you do as I did, take the batteries down tidy tip and go out and buy some decent non overated batteries and never ever puchase any Elecsol batteries ever again and if anyone ever asks you about batteries tell them not to buy Elecsol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 That's a bit harsh Colin. The batteries have - and I am guessing here based on typical Motorhome use - already suffered at least three and a half years of very likely on and off use coupled with possibly being allowed to go quite flat quite often which is about the worst treatment that you can give any battery. Added to which is the time that they spent before the van was sold which could - or might not - be anything up to a year or so? That said I don't rate Elecsol either and I won't be buying any more! On the other hand if I could get two new 'uns FOC I would not refuse them! Maybe Elecsol would like to comment on this forum! Why not leave them on the van for a week or so then disconnect them without any charging and get them retested? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengie Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hi all, thanks for the input, I'm tending towards the Elecsols to the TIP suggestion however why should we? If they say a 5yr warranty thats what it should be and NOT assume its the customer that is always wrong. Just to mention that NO the batts weren't allowed to go flat and left like that, we have a 100watt solar panel, the van also has a Brilliant on board 'Sargent' intelligent charger/solar panel regulator. Just want a fair explanation for the results, be nice if Elecsol were techncally helpful like Sargent, I still await a reply to my question on their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Bengie - 2012-04-11 10:02 PM Hi all, thanks for the input, I'm tending towards the Elecsols to the TIP suggestion however why should we? If they say a 5yr warranty thats what it should be and NOT assume its the customer that is always wrong. Just to mention that NO the batts weren't allowed to go flat and left like that, we have a 100watt solar panel, the van also has a Brilliant on board 'Sargent' intelligent charger/solar panel regulator. Just want a fair explanation for the results, be nice if Elecsol were techncally helpful like Sargent, I still await a reply to my question on their website. To obtain a useful reading of a battery’s charge-state the battery MUST be allowed to ‘settle’ for a time after it has been on charge, otherwise you will tend to be reading the output voltage of the charger. Take a look at my 9 April 2012 11:58 AM posting on this recent thread http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=27204&posts=15 Assuming that you knew before you put your batteries under a 50W constant load that each had reached a good state of charge (ie. that you had let them settle for several hours and then confirmed their voltage was, say, 12.7V before applying the load) then there can be no doubt that your testing has proven that your batteries will need replacing. It's difficult to guess why the test made by ATS showed "Battery Good" unless they tested your batteries very shortly after they had been on charge. If that was the case, then it’s quite possible that the ATS test results would have been overly optimistic. I remember a young ‘technician’ testing a car battery of mine that I knew was on its last legs and telling me that it seemed OK to him. The fact that I had just been driving the car and the vehicle’s alternator had been heavily charging the battery during that period was ignored. A GOOGLE search on “Elecsol warranty” (omitting the quotes) will retrieve a number of forum discussions on the subject. Messages are mixed, but it appears that Electrolux has honoured their 5-year warranty in the past, though good customer-relations do not always seem to be high on the company's priority list. I'd do as Tracker suggests - let the batteries settle for a week and then get them retested. Perhaps there Is a specialist battery firm near you that you could use rather than a generalist like ATS? I certainly would not chuck the batteries away while they are well within Elecsol's warranty period and you know that they have always been well treated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengie Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 Thanks Derek great tech info. Still, not being able to find exactly what Din 375A entails is bugging me, WHERE IS CLIVE MOTT GOTOBED when we need him, come out of hiding Clive! Meanwhile I am going to try yet another 5 stage charger with reconditioner. Wil post the results when done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I belive you'll find that "DIN 375A" just refers to a standardised test where a 375 Ampere load is placed on a battery as mentioned here: http://www.cantecsystems.com/ppdocs/ST-375-manual.pdf (it's not the sort of thing you should try at home!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Tracker - 2012-04-11 7:39 PM That's a bit harsh Colin. Not at all, it comes from experiance of three Elecsol batteries, one of my own and two at work. With the works ones, at six months old, the retailer attempted to get out of his responcabilies by palming us on to Elecsol due to his inability to get anything from them, well that didn't work. For my own, at 18 months old, I had other more pressing worries to deal with at time, so let them off the hook, but I'm still around to warn others not to buy from them. BTW the 'cheap' BlueStar battery we replaced it with is still going strong ten years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Thanks again for the support, the power of forums is awsome. The Tech Manual on the 375amp test was a great help thanks Derek. The new CTEK charger conditioner arrives today, will let you know results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengie Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Elecsol comes up trumps. Hi guys, thanks again for all your input. I still don't know why a 12v battery will pass the DIN 375A test but only last 2 hours on a 4amp load. HOWEVER, Elecsol honoured their 5 yr guarantee and replaced both my duffo's so well chuffed. Over and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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