If your motorhome or caravan has been parked up for a long period of time, it’s well worth thinking about the leisure battery.

Caravan and motorhome specialist Andy Harris knows only too well the importance of looking after your leisure battery, and perhaps more importantly what happens if you don’t. He has recorded a short video with some handy hints and tips on looking after your leisure battery.

In the video Andy tells us that if left unattended, even the best batteries can self-discharge, which can seriously damage them. You might have been able to keep your motorhome on mains hook-up but in many cases, this is not a good idea either. If you use mains hook-up, the leisure battery will be being charged by the on-board charger, and in most caravans and motorhomes this is not a very sophisticated system. It can actually damage the battery, this time by over-charging it, causing gassing and drying out of the battery.

Now the best solution is to use an intelligent battery charger, that monitors the battery and constantly adjusts both the charging voltage and current depending on the battery’s state of charge. If your caravan or motorhome is parked next to a power supply, connect a smart battery charger to your leisure battery for peace of mind charging. If you are unable to attach a charger permanently, either try to charge your leisure battery once a month or remove it from the vehicle, bring it home and put it on charge.

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Andy recommends using the CTEK MXS 10 which is a fully automatic 8-stage charger that delivers up to 10A to any lead-acid service battery. It will make sure that the leisure battery is charged to maximum capacity so that when you can get out in your motorhome or caravan, your leisure battery is charged and ready to go.

Because let’s face it - with fridges, lighting, audio equipment and a whole load of other accessories to power, you need to be certain that you’re not going to end up stranded in the middle of the glorious countryside with a flat leisure battery.