Mel B Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi guys We've decided that we could really do with a new leisure battery for our Rapido 709F. It's now 3 years old, well, on Wednesday it will be, and it doesn't appear to be holding it's charge as well as it could. As we are going on holiday to France in June for 2 weeks and intend to wild camp or use aires we don't want it going flat on us. It is currently a Varta 90ah lead acid battery (not gel) and were wondering about upgrading it to at least 110ah. We did have a shuftie at Peterborough but there was only one type of battery on offer and we'd never heard of it so decided not to purchase there and then. Our usage is just for lights and toilet flush plus watching the odd hour of video (12v one) on our Relysis LCD TV. I don't see the point in going to the expense of a Gel battery as I don't know for definite if we'll have the vehicle long enough to take advantage of the 5 year guarantee, plus our charger is set up for lead acid, not gel battery charging. Any advice would be very welcome - I've had a scoot around the older forum postings but some are quite a while past now and obviously technology may have moved on since then. (lol) Mel B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Tyke Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi Mel I got one from a guy who runs a car & boat spares place. Halfords also have them, but they were more expensive & didnt have 110Ah ones Towsure sell them - but you have to collect Hope you get set up & have a good trip Goede Reis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Basic technology in lead acid batteries has not really changed much in the last 50 years. Gel cell batteries offer less effective capacity than a wet cell battery pound for pound. The fact that you can top up the electrolyte level in a wet cell battery means that under the same working conditions it should give a longer life. Gel batteries are for lazy people who drive their motorhomes upside down!! If you regularly discharge the leisure battery until its very flat then you would benefit from a carbon fibre reinforced plate battery as these tolerate abuse a little better. If not then buy a known brand wet cell replacement. The one you have now is a well known brand and I would expect more than 3 years use from it if used properly. If however you leave lead acid batteries in a flat state for any significant period of time then they will deteriorate. Is this the reason? good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi mel I would be inclinded to have your charging system checked out first to see that the leisure battery is recieving its proper charge, as 3yrs old with a varta battery is only about half its expected life, if.. the battery as been serviced correctly and never been allowed to go completly flat. A wet cell battery is by far the best type for a leisure, and a 110amp should do you fine, as long as you dont run it right down. My last battery lasted 6yrs and I changed my 85amp battery off my new van to a 110amp its the same make as the old 6yr one and cost under £45, so a high price means nothing. As a matter of interest I weighed my new 110amp and its 56lb so they dont help if your tight on payload. Happy touring chas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hmm, so how low should a battery be allowed to go? It's never been below 12.0v but does go down to around 12.3v. Is this normal then? Also, as regards charging, should we always allow the battery to charge up, ie when we hook up, even if it's not particularly low or would we be better using the battery power and only charging when needed? I'm think of 'battery memory' here. Views please. Ta Mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Sound advice above from Chas. Lead acid batteries should be re-charged irrespective of how much it has been discharged. They live longest if kept fully charged. As a rule you should never discharge your battery more than 80% of its rated capacity, i.e. leaving 20% residual capacity. You should also be aware that unless the hookup has been connected for several days that the battery will only get to about 80% charged. So effectively you should calculate on using 64% of its rated capacity. This is because the typical maximum voltage provided by the hookup or the vehicle alternator is 14 volts. This voltage is a compromise between state of charge and the need for regular topping up with de-ionised water. Systems that put 100% into the battery need to take the voltage well above 14 volts and some 12 volt equipment may not like this. But in the future charging systems may get a tad cleverer! So, if you can get hold of a digital multi-meter connect it directly across the leisure battery terminals and check the voltage after the hookup has been connected overnight. Expect 14 volts while its connected and on charge. Then disconnect the hookup and watch the voltage decrease a bit. Put on a light or two for 5 minutes to pull the voltage down. Then start the engine and check it goes back up to 14 again. If all these check out OK then the system is basicly working. If not then you know why your battery goes flat and need to dig deeper! Nearly forgot, Lead Acid matteries do NOT suffer from memory effect. This problem is principally with NiCad batteries. So if on hookup turn the charger ON. Good luck Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I have carbon fibre batery, brought about 5 years ago (when they first came out?) still going strong. At work we have a small gauge railway I recomemded carbon fibre bateries for electric train, boss wreaked them in one month due to insuficient charging, no refund as warenty terms broken, I got grief for a month till he wreaked a set of standerd bateries for same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpbarrett Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 motor world sell leisure batterys, and can get you a gel deep cycled exide battery . . :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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