Leisure battery voltage / charge

Here’s a strange one…
At new, we were off grid for 3 days. Fridge on 3, we were at 70% when we left the site. Four years later, after day 2 we were at 60%. Then noticed the fridge had turned off! Turned it on, but the amber light went out. Display still said 60% charge, but noticed the voltage was at 11.7v!
Ran engine for 40 mins and the voltage was back up to 12.7v (14.4v whilst charging) and 100%. Fridge remained on overnight, but next morning showed 12.0v but 10% charge… fridge still running!
Any thoughts?

beano.d.horrendous said:

Here’s a strange one…
At new, we were off grid for 3 days. Fridge on 3, we were at 70% when we left the site. Four years later, after day 2 we were at 60%. Then noticed the fridge had turned off! Turned it on, but the amber light went out. Display still said 60% charge, but noticed the voltage was at 11.7v!
Ran engine for 40 mins and the voltage was back up to 12.7v (14.4v whilst charging) and 100%. Fridge remained on overnight, but next morning showed 12.0v but 10% charge… fridge still running!
Any thoughts?

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If the voltage drops below 11.5v at any point, especially on startup of fridge or parking heater then they will switch off to protect the leisure batteries.
The Battery % is a calculation and not very accurate. The Voltage is accurate.

Thanks for the info. Having bought before COVID, we obviously didn’t get much use through lockdown and discharge of the leisure batteries did occur. To be honest, I wasn’t aware they needed to be kept topped up (something I’m reading now that seems to be important to their life and performance). Do you think they may have expired as a result? I’ve been trying to identify what the OEM battery is (Googling rather than looking at the moment as no tools when away) and also looking for what might be an upgrade. Any pointers? My setup has two leisure batteries.

beano.d.horrendous said:

Thanks for the info. Having bought before COVID, we obviously didn’t get much use through lockdown and discharge of the leisure batteries did occur. To be honest, I wasn’t aware they needed to be kept topped up (something I’m reading now that seems to be important to their life and performance). Do you think they may have expired as a result? I’ve been trying to identify what the OEM battery is (Googling rather than looking at the moment as no tools when away) and also looking for what might be an upgrade. Any pointers? My setup has two leisure batteries.

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Varta LA80 are fitted. They are dimension critical to fit in the spaces, so many batteries will not fit.

LA80 is indeed the correct battery (same as the black original Vw). I just want to point out that other brands also have alternatives, at least here in Norway. I’ve seen and used others with no problem. What’s important is the following. Must be:
AGM 80Ah, 800A
315x175mm, 190mm tall

For example, Varta F21 is the same as LA80, but sold under different label (start battery).

…and remember to check/replace the fuse (Pudenz CF8 75A) on the battery terminal in the back…I always replace those. Here in Norway only 2005-2009 exist (99% of all Californias). The “cube-fuse” are blown in half of the vehicles, and the other half it is badly corroded/oxidized,..

At the moment I have the following battery (two) in my California. No difference..

Hello . I’ve quite a bit of experience of car/lorries/motorcycles batteries and what I’ve found is how quickly lead acid batteries deteriorate when their voltage drops to 12v or below.
Leisure batteries are supposedly better at handing lower voltages. Personally it try not to let the voltage drop too much or change them asap.