Leisure battery questions.

[BML]

My leisure battery has passed away, my entire fault, I let it go flat so when I buy a replacement I don't want to make any more mistakes. I have a few questions and hope you will be patient with my incompetence.

1.I now know that I will need a normal 110Ah battery not a Gel one.

2.Is there a recommended list of Leisure batteries? If so which is the best make and bearing in mind they all appear to carry some form of guarantee is it worth paying out for a good name?

3.I now know that a leisure battery needs ongoing charging. If one is on the road and there is no hook up that means a solar panel. I would worry that mine would get run over if I placed it on the ground chasing the sun so how effective would it be secured to the roof of the camper and what sort of solar panel is recommended for a non TV camper?

4.I have read that however many miles you drive your vehicle battery will recharge the leisure batter will not. So, what sort of home based charging device would be recommended to take care of both batteries?

 

[Keithl]

Brian,

 

When you asked a very similar question a few days ago...

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/A-recomended-leisure-battery-/46978/

 

several of us responded and questions where asked of you which you never came back and replied to.

 

So to start, what MH do you have? Make, model and Year please.

 

Now to answer your latest questions:

 

1. A suitable battery was recommended as a 90 Ah which several of us felt would be better than a 'cheap' 110 Ah. See the answers to your earlier post.

2. As 1.

3. Why do you feel you need a solar panel? We have camped for 9 years without one and see no need to get one! I think the answer to 4. may answer this question.

4. Where have you heard that? If your electrical system is properly set up then with minimal usage as you suggest (no TV) your leisure battery should receive adequate charge given sufficient time. It may be that you have a problem with your electrical system not charging your leisure battery.

[BML]

My apologies for not answering your reply's but I thought that the forum automatically contacted senders who received answers. I can only blame it on the sudden outburst of summer. My motor home is an Autosleeper Polensa 2002 built with a battery box that I was unable to access until I went out and bought a set of long box spanners not the first design fault I found.

I suggested a 110Ah because that is what I saw recommended alongside the recommendation to look for one with a four year guarantee but bearing in mind that the existing battery is an 80Ah the 90 Ah makes sense especially as old age mitigates against winter camping.

I felt the need for a solar panel as soon as I read about the need to keep a leisure battery charged with a remark that even a long run home does not replace the power.

I know what went wrong with my leisure battery which was that I left the camper stood for to long without taking it for a run to charge the batteries up or recharge them which is why I was suggesting the belt and braces cover. Many thanks for your suggestions.

 

 

 

[david lloyd]

The Varta LFD90 will be a very good replacement and offers lots of technical improvements over some more expensive batteries. I purchased from Tayna but a search of the Internet will bring up other big suppliers at a good price around £80. The benefit of buying from one of these large online suppliers is their turnover means you are more likely to get a battery that has not sat on a shelf for many months.

 

As far as solar is concerned, I have found this to be a much more intricate subject following my own questions on this forum. It is important to get the right size solR panel but even more important to get the right charge controller/regulator that will maintain a suitable charge rate at different stages in the charging process - not all do as I subsequently found out. Sorry, I am not sure how to post a link but use the search facility and search for solar panels to find the advice given.

 

I had also heard about driving not fully charging the habitation battery from the vehicle alternator and this may only affect certain vehicles fitted with a certain type of built in charging unit which controls the output from EHU, alternator and solar panel. but don't quote me on that. While at home you can use the on board charging unit with EHU connected to keep your batteries topped up. You would need to check that this also charges the vehicke battery and it is recommended that you just charge a couple of days every two or three weeks.

 

Hope this helps.

David

[Derek Uzzell]

BML - 2017-05-28 7:37 PM

 

...Is there a recommended list of Leisure batteries? If so which is the best make and bearing in mind they all appear to carry some form of guarantee is it worth paying out for a good name?..

 

 

The NCC’s “Verified Leisure Battery Scheme” is supposed to assist with choosing a suitable battery

 

http://www.thencc.org.uk/our_schemes/ncc_verified_leisure_battery_scheme.aspx

 

but I’m doubtful that it actually achieves that objective.

 

Your first priority is to obtain a replacement for your dead leisure-battery and (unless you were prepared to relocate the battery elsewhere) the replacement will need to fit beneath your 2002 Peugeot Boxer-based Auto-Sleepers Pollensa’s driver’s seat.

 

I suggest you remove the present leisure-battery and carefully measure its dimensions (and also note the position of its terminals). If a Varta LFD90 battery will fit in the space available under the seat (LFD90 specification shown here)

 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/LFD90-Varta-Professional-DC-Leisure-Battery-930090080-P3638.html

 

just get one.

 

Forget solar-panel and charging technicalities for now, and concentrate on obtaining and fitting a replacement leisure-battery.

 

[BML]

Your absolutely right because I have allowed myself to be side tracked. I will measure up but suspect that the existing battery box on my Polensa which had a 85Ah in it will not be big enough not because of the size but because there are two bolts sticking through the bottom to take the battery securing lugs. I may cut them out or even place the new 90Ah or 105 Ah battery behind the seat providing its not to tall making sure that the seat will slide over it safely. Many thanks for the advice.

[Derek Uzzell]

This 2008 MHFacts forum thread discusses replacement of the leisure-battery fitted to a 2003 Pollensa.

 

http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/51-autosleeper-motorhomes/41497-autosleeper-leisure-battery.html

 

This Auto-Sleepers Owners Forum 2011 thread is also worth reading

 

http://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t495-symbol-leisure-battery

 

Vehicle batteries are normally produced with (relatively) standardised dimensions, allowing identification by “Part Number”. A list of Part Numbers is shown here

 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/Car-Batteries-C48.html

 

and it will be seen that the dimensions (Length=353mm, Width=175mm Height=190mm) of a Varta LFD90 battery make it a “019” type.

 

As your motorhome is 15 years old, it’s probable that the leisure-battery that has now expired is not the one Auto-Sleepers fitted back in 2002. If that’s the case, there’s a good chance that a battery with a 190mm height would go into the underseat compartment and could be secured by the bolts in the compartment’s base.

 

190mm battery-height is commonplace (and often referred to as “low height”); 175mm battery-height is less common, but 180mm battery-height would be quite unusual. Reasonable-capacity batteries do exist with a height of 175mm (example here)

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-CAMPERVAN-100AH-LEISURE-BATTERY-175MM-OVERALL-HEIGHT-UNDER-SEAT-FIXING-/170843872943

 

but you’d be better off with a Varta LFD90 if it will go in.

[aandncaravan]

Habitation battery charging from the Alternator :

In most Motorhome vehicles with a reasonable sized battery bank, the Alternator should fully charge the habitation batteries.

 

However, habitation battery charging can take quite a bit longer than many think, especially on certain Motorhomes, so a long journey may be required if the batteries are heavily discharged. Sometimes as much as 5 - 7 hours driving may be required.

 

However, there will be Motorhome owners who will correctly tell you their Motorhome does not charge the batteries fully, but this isn't that the Alternator isn't capable, just that particular Motorhome doesn't.

The causes depend on many factors, but usually down to poor design, poor installation, changes to the vehicle, poor battery choice, etc.

 

We worked on one 2012 Autotrail last year that 'wouldn't fully charge the batteries on Alternator'.

It had two good batteries that were heavily discharged, yet they drew no more than 10 amps (5 amps each) from the 130amp Alternator.

For the two 80AH Gel batteries, discharged to around 50%, it would have taken close to 11 hours driving to fully recharge the batteries.

 

As a test 'fix' we ran a 10.0mm cable directly from the Alternator to the habitation batteries which increased the charge rate to just under 30 amps.

Once we had shown the cabling was the prime problem (tortuous route, poor cable size, small split charge relay, too many connections, etc.) a proper solution was put in place.

 

The owner also subsequently fitted 2 x Bosch L5's (same battery as the Varta LFD90 but they often have a better warranty) in place of the Exide Gel's and reportedly got the initial charge rate to close on 40amps.

 

 

The owner originally came to us for one of our B2B's to be fitted, but decent cabling improved it so much, he didn't need one.

As we say on the website, intelligent cabling can be nearly as good (in my view better) as installing a B2B - http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/add-a-second-battery.php