If a battery is charged at an excessive voltage or current, it can overheat, and the electrolyte will start to evaporate. Overcharging will cause the active mass in the plates of the battery to rapidly breakup, and battery performance will be permanently affected, as will the cyclic life of the battery. Whether AGM batteries compared to their flooded counterparts are better or not is one of the most common questions about car batteries. There are some uses of products developed on lithium for batteries, however, the vast majority of such products that vehicles use are either flooded or simply, AGM lead-acid batteries. For some people, it is possible to mix up between gel and AGM batteries in case of automotive applications, but they have very different technologies.

What’s more, switching to shelf mode means the Renogy will have a low self-discharge rate to keep it protected when not in use. As we know from above, you should have stored your battery in a charged state to avoid sulphation. However, even though the battery will be charged you should always perform a top up charge before touring. This will ensure the battery is in peak condition. Featuring an onboard state-of-the-art battery management system with high-performance dual-processors, the battery protects itself from overcharging, shorting out and overheating while maintaining a balanced voltage across all cells, so you’ll never need to worry about it.

The best leisure batteries you can buy in 2023

Platinum Batteries are the Number 1 selling brand in the UK. Widely known as ‘The Consumer’s Choice’, the entire range meets the specification originally fitted by the vehicle manufacturer. The first point that needs sorting before saying go for the biggest battery that you can get in is to determine, "is the van’s payload generous enough to have that option"? A bit like the AGM leisure battery design, but with a completely different makeup, lead crystal (LC) leisure batteries use a micro-porous super-absorbent mat (SAM), high-purity lead calcium selenium plates and a safe SiO2 electrolyte solution. LC batteries can be discharged completely and also recharged from flat without any damage and can offer three times the lifespan of lead acid batteries. Naturally, this all comes at a price.

Due to the same deep-cycle process, gel batteries and AGM batteries often seem confusing. They both are called Valve Regulated Lead-Acid batteries where the negative plate absorbs the oxygen produced on the positive plates of lead-acid batteries and creates water. It reduces the step of watering the batteries making it maintenance-free. Moreover, silica gels in gel batteries substitute glass mat for holding the electrolytes while making the electrons to free flow. They lose power faster especially at lower temperatures than the AGM batteries because of the gelled composition. For AGM batteries, glass mats can work in any temperature, have high-level usage, and are cheaper with longer life span. Most of our online products include VAT and FREE Delivery to the UK Mainland only. We pay our couriers for a next working day service. Sometimes (although rarely) courier issues can delay parcels, so please allow up to 48 hours for delivery. Please see above for extra charges. Finally, when looking at the capacity of your battery, consider the physical size: will it actually fit into the space you have? This, I think it’s fair to say, is a crucial consideration. Anything else? With such dependency on your leisure battery, why take a chance with the first cheap option you come across when there’s every chance it could suddenly leave you cut off from communication and, quite literally, in the dark? Also, you’ll want to take into consideration how many recharge cycles your battery can handle before giving up the ghost. The more a battery can do, the better, obviously. These are generally referred to as “deep-cycle” leisure batteries.

Battery Finder

Provided that the correct battery has been selected for the correct application or vehicle, instances of manufacturing faults will be minimum. HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR BATTERY – MAINTAINING YOUR WARRANTY An AGM battery similar to the Royal Battery SuperBatt, you may notice that the Lucas option offers fewer amp hours for more money, and you’d be right. However, unlike most of its model types, the Lucas is a deep cycle battery that’s capable of a staggering 500 recharge cycles, as opposed to the 100–150 of other AGMs. What’s more, you get a year extra on your warranty compared to the SuperBatt.

The warranty does not covered faults that are not due to a manufacturing issue. Examples of non-manufacturing faults are described below. Sulphation

Categories

The Flooded Lead Acid option is where batteries all began, but they’re still very much in use today. Consisting of lead plates suspended in free-flowing sulphuric acid and electrolyte (distilled water), they’re cheap, cost-effective and long-lasting owing to the fact that you can top up the water when running low. Sealed lead acid leisure batteries Holds electrolyte like a sponge to prevent acid spilling and provides up to 5 times more cycles than a standard leisure battery.