Dreaded batteries

[karl d]

Hi, thanks for letting me in,

 

I've a 63plate ex crewbus transit I've converted to a basic camper , cooker bed lighting etc.

I've hooked up the power to 1 of the 3 60amp outlets off the battery box . The batteries are the original ford ones both identical , my question is ,can I replace the aux one for a leisure battery ?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Karl.

[spospe]

Your 'van seems to be a MK 7 Transit (based on it being a 63 plate) and the answer to your question is "Yes" provided that the second battery (the one at the front) is of conventional construction. The currently recommended battery being the Varta LFD90 (90 a/h), this battery will a) fit in the space and b) is the sort that Auto-Sleeper used to fit to the Transits they converted to motorhomes.

[aandncaravan]

Spospe, gives good advice.

I would add that usually, and there can be many exceptions, we find that the slightly smaller Varta Silver LFD75 Dual purpose Starter/Leisure battery is a good physical fit for both the Starter Battery and the Aux battery.

Because they are Silver technology, just like the Ford originals, the batteries cope well with the higher alternator voltages on some transits.

The Varta LFD75 Silver has more capacity, more power and they are a lot cheaper than the Fords at only about £79 each'ish.

But check your sizes first, Varta LFD75's are 278mm x 175mm x 190mm.

The Varta LFD90's are 353mm x 175mm x 190mm and obviously better if you can squeeze them in.

 

Be careful about buying cheaper budgets, because a standard transit ECU controlled alternator can charge at 15v which will cook lesser batteries.

[aandncaravan]

Update to the above, Tom, thank you for the email asking to clarify :

My comment about Transits and higher Alternator voltages is not relevant to Motorhomes and Conversions where the chassis would have normally been ordered from Ford with the 'Smart' alternator disabled.

 

 

The comment above applies ONLY to Transits that started off as Commercial vehicles, like the owners Crewbus.

 

Background:

Transit commercials and Ford cars, going back many years, were equipped with ECU controlled Alternators that would 'Boost' charge the Starter battery at a higher 15+ voltage to speed up charging when the battery was cold, but once warmed up, drop to a lower than 13.9v rate to save fuel.

 

This is pre Stop/Start, primitive fuel saving strategy, not energy recovery, I think from about 2004, although possibly pioneered on the late 1990's Ford Kak?

 

Because of the higher voltages involved Ford helped develop a special Silver based battery that was resistant to internal corrosion at these charge rates, hence the high cost of the batteries.

History has shown that conventional batteries used to replace Ford OEM Silver technology batteries have very short lives.

 

I believe, though not certain, that this early Silver technology development was instrumental in leading to the outstanding Bosch/Varta Powerframe Silver batteries that came later.

 

 

Not an expert on Ford so treat above as 'guidance' only.