[hannahg]

Hello,
I'm hoping one of you lovely helpful folk can advise me.

I think my leisure battery has boiled over. There was a nasty smell, described by members of my family like "eggs" and "burning", coming from inside the van, pretty sure from the leisure battery, which is inside the front seat.

Money is tight and I can't afford a garage or a new battery just now. For now I just want to disconnect the leisure battery. Is this as simple as this:
- remove black lead on main battery
- remove red leisure battery connection lead from main battery
- replace black lead on main battery
??

Thank you.
Hannah

 

[14t5]

I'd disconnect black lead from leisure battery as a minimum, both leisure battery connections to be extra safe

 

[GixxerMick]

Hello,
I'm hoping one of you lovely helpful folk can advise me.

I think my leisure battery has boiled over. There was a nasty smell, described by members of my family like "eggs" and "burning", coming from inside the van, pretty sure from the leisure battery, which is inside the front seat.

Money is tight and I can't afford a garage or a new battery just now. For now I just want to disconnect the leisure battery. Is this as simple as this:
- remove black lead on main battery
- remove red leisure battery connection lead from main battery
- replace black lead on main battery
??

Thank you.
Hannah

What he said. Just remove the neg cable from the post and make sure it doesn't touch the positive or anything else that is positive or cover up the terminal. Usually the Neg cable isn't long enough so should be safe. Remove the Positive to be sure.

Personally I would be taking the battery out and checking it over for splits in the casing, leaks etc.

Check the electrolyte levels which should be just above the plates or for a sealed battery there is usually a sight glass where you can check.

Assuming all is well you might be able to rescue the battery using a multistage charger. I always put mine in a plastic crate just in case and leave the charger to do it's thing.

A maintenance free sealed battery normally doesn't need venting and can be orientated upright or on it's side but a lead acid battery where you open the cap of each cell to top up the electrolyte should be fitted upright and vented outside of the van to atmosphere. Failure to do this will allow the gases produced from charging venting into your van with the obvious potentially disastrous/deadly consequences. Perhaps this is the reason for your odd smell?

 

[DafnPuppet]

Disconnect just the black lead from the leisure battery and tape it out of the way.
Have a good look around it to ensure you don't have any leaks.

 

[DafnPuppet]

.....Remove the Positive to be sure....

Leave the positive (red) cable connected until you are ready to have the battery removed. If your fault is in your split charger this cable could be a direct connection to your starter battery.

 

[hannahg]

Thank you everyone.

OK, so, just to be clear (I need things spelling out in words of one syllable!)

** I only disconnect the negative (black) cable from the leisure battery? Nothing else? **

And I need to check the split charger before I fit a new leisure battery, in case the fault is with that? What else could the fault be?

thanks again

 

[DafnPuppet]

** I only disconnect the negative (black) cable from the leisure battery? Nothing else? **

Correct.
It is not likely that you have a faulty split charge relay. If you were to disconnect the red cable and leave it loose, it may become live when you start the engine and could therefore short out on the metal seat base and cause a fire.

The most likely cause of you problem is a dead leisure battery that ultimately needs to be replaced. When you have the black lead disconnected you should measure the voltage accross the two terminals. If it is 10 volts or less then your battery is toast.

The correct way to remove a leisure battery is to remove the cables in the following order.

1st remove black (-'ve) lead from leisure battery.
2nd remove black (-'ve) lead from starter battery.
3rd remove red (+'ve) lead from leisure battery.

Refitting is the sequence reversed

 

[hannahg]

Correct.
It is not likely that you have a faulty split charge relay. If you were to disconnect the red cable and leave it loose, it may become live when you start the engine and could therefore short out on the metal seat base and cause a fire.

The most likely cause of you problem is a dead leisure battery that ultimately needs to be replaced. When you have the black lead disconnected you should measure the voltage accross the two terminals. If it is 10 volts or less then your battery is toast.

The correct way to remove a leisure battery is to remove the cables in the following order.

1st remove black (-'ve) lead from leisure battery.
2nd remove black (-'ve) lead from starter battery.
3rd remove red (+'ve) lead from leisure battery.

Refitting is the sequence reversed

Thank you, that is super helpful. I'll disconnect the leisure battery for now and then reconnect a new one once I have one, following your sequence.

Thanks all, I really appreciate your help.
Hannah