leisure battery renewal

[Brambles]

Derek, I was thinking the same as it looked like a Deta Exide battery.

[davidmac]

Thanks Brambles I am looking to replace the one u/s battery I have with 2 newones so I will go with the Bosch 4018

[davidmac]

Thanks Brambles I am looking to replace the one u/s battery I have with 2 new ones so I will go with the Bosch 4018

[David B]

Going back to Brambles and Derek's responses on 19 April to my earlier post (sorry could not see how best to refer to them all).

 

I now have a 60Ah low maintenance Marine starter type battery with deep discharge capabilities. It's lower than the possible 80 or 90 Ah I could fit in the tray under my Nuevo driver's seat. It's potential lifespan as a leisure battery is somewhat compromised by its dual purpose design.

 

It would be possible to fit a second battery to beef up my potential Ahs - but could be a bit of a hasle.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Do I wait for the new battery to die in x years - while risking getting a flat battery despite my 90watt solar panel with only 60Ah to play with - and then replace it with as large a deep discharge battery as will fit under the seat?

 

2. Do I add a second battery? If I did would I have to follow the standard advice to have a matched pair. Thus I would have to buy a second 60AH dual purpose battery. Then I end up with 2 non-ideal batteries!

 

3. Or do I just buy a new deep discharge 80 or 90Ah battery and try to sell the 60Ah one to a boat owner?

 

Its all my own fault as I knew the original 7 year-old battery was not at it's best and I should have replaced it before going to France and Spain for 5 weeks :$

[Brambles]

Sorry Davidmac...never noticed change of poster there.. Yes, you are making a good choice going for the two Bosch's. I answered as being matched to the drivemobil...oops, but still applicable.

 

David B, good question.

You really should onlt parallel up batteries which are wihin one amper size of each other. For example You can parallel a 10Ah with a 100AH if needed but in these situations you need regular monitoring and protetio circuiuts in place more than just a fuse. e.g thermal monitoring of each battery so if a fault occurred in the 10 Ah it would not be boiled and fry from the power in the 100 Ah. Hope that makes sense. Fuse protection is not sufficient.

 

So for safety we stick to one size difference and you could fit something like a 40 up to 70Ah.

By foting an identical or similar battery uyopu ommediatel half tyeh depth of dicharge you woul have with using only one. This will more (much more) than double the life of the batteries in use. So a second battrey from that point of few makes sense.

 

Equally though changing to a semi traction of much higher capaity will also more than double the life you get adn so again makes sense.

 

Ideal woud be a good 80 to 100 Ah in parallel but for safety would not go above 80 and the Bosch 80 Ah ( might be marked 75 ) would be good for this. ( lets throw ideals out the window a bit here).

If the one you had was a premium semi traction I woul nt put a cheaper dual purpose paired with it, but as original is the other way and is the less suitable for purpose then no point adding another less than ideal battery just so we can say we have a good match made in heaven. Ok Ok I am not making much sense here!

 

Right, moving on... the Bosch 75Ah SL5008 see link from earlier and again here http://www.carbatteriesonline.co.uk/ and then go to bosch leisure batts, seems an excellant price.

Will it fit? .. It is dimensioned...278 x 175 x 190 high I think... THIS NEEDS DOUBLE CHECKING.

What you could do is put it under the seat and move your french battery elsewhere )

I have lost the plot here as cannot find references now to the max size you can fit. From memory it was under 290ish if a tall battery ober 220, but 320 long if height was below 320ish.

 

I shall come back to this later as being called upon to do something else just now, and posty as is. Sorry for nay typos - not got time to check.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brambles]

Rewrite of above post.

 

David B, good question.

You really should only pair up batteries which are wihin one capacity size up or down of each other. To explain, you can parallel a 10Ah with a 100Ah if needed but in these situations you need regular monitoring and protetion circuiuts in place more than just a fuse. e.g thermal monitoring of each battery so if a fault occurred in the 10 Ah it would not be boiled and dry from the power in the 100 Ah shoudl say a cell become shorted. Hope that makes sense. Fuse protection is not always sufficient.

 

So for safety we stick to one size difference and you could fit something like a 40 up to 70Ah along with your 60ah battery.

By fitting an identical or similar battery you immediately half the depth of discharge you would have with using only one. This will more (much more) than double the life of the batteries in use for a given power usuage. So a second battery from that point of few makes sense. Also gioves yopu reserve capacity should it ever be required

 

Equally though changing to a semi traction of much higher capacity will also more than double the life you get and so again makes sense.

 

Ideal woud or might be a good 80 to 100 Ah in parallel but for safety would not go above 80 and the Bosch 80 Ah ( might be marked 75 ) would be good for this. ( lets throw ideals out the window a bit here as your french battery we know is not ideal but it solved a problem you had at the time of no working battery).

If the one you had was a premium semi traction I would not put a cheaper dual purpose paired with it, but as original is the other way and is the less suitable for purpose then no point adding another less than ideal battery just so we can say we have a good match made in heaven.

 

Right, moving on... the Bosch 75Ah SL5008 see link from earlier and again here http://www.carbatteriesonline.co.uk and then go to bosch leisure batts, seems an excellant price.

Will it fit? .. It is dimensioned...278 x 175 x 190 high I think... THIS NEEDS DOUBLE CHECKING as I am having to guess its case size but I am pretty certain I am correct.

What you could do is put it under the seat and move your french battery elsewhere.

I have lost the plot here as cannot find references now to the max size you can fit. From memory it was under 290ish if a tall battery over 220, but 320 long if height was below 320ish. So possibly you could go for a 90 Ah but I would not want to pair it up with a 60. You could and would be fine while batteries are in good condition but you need to be careful in a few years when faults are possible. Modern Calcium batteries do however tend not to develop shorted cells but go high resistance. (contradicts what I was saying earlier ) so risk is low, but sited inside a 40K + motorhome we want zero risk not low risk.

 

So I am not really giving you a hard answer. I think personally I would go for one of teh Bosch 75Ah batteries and preferably the L5 one which is the SL5008 on above linked site. Fit it under the seat if it will fit and locate yoru 60 elsewhere and wire in parallel. If you can fit a much larger battery like a 110 Ah and sell the 60 then that also sounds a reasonable option, but I suspect by the time you pay for a 110AH and get a lot less for your 60ah, then the Bosch at ,what was it, £72??? looks good and you get loads of capacity pairing the two up.

 

Hope this helps,

Jon.

[David B]

Thanks Jon (Brambles) for your comprehensive reply. I will have to ponder on the options!

 

For anyone else with a Nuevo who finds this topic while searching the database, there is an extensive discussion of the battery size options to fit under the Nuevo driver's seat at :-

 

http://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t2271p15-replacement-nuevo-leisure-battery-rating

[Derek Uzzell]

David B - 2012-04-24 5:46 PM

 

Going back to Brambles and Derek's responses on 19 April to my earlier post (sorry could not see how best to refer to them all).

 

I now have a 60Ah low maintenance Marine starter type battery with deep discharge capabilities. It's lower than the possible 80 or 90 Ah I could fit in the tray under my Nuevo driver's seat. It's potential lifespan as a leisure battery is somewhat compromised by its dual purpose design.

 

It would be possible to fit a second battery to beef up my potential Ahs - but could be a bit of a hasle.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Do I wait for the new battery to die in x years - while risking getting a flat battery despite my 90watt solar panel with only 60Ah to play with - and then replace it with as large a deep discharge battery as will fit under the seat?

 

2. Do I add a second battery? If I did would I have to follow the standard advice to have a matched pair. Thus I would have to buy a second 60AH dual purpose battery. Then I end up with 2 non-ideal batteries!

 

3. Or do I just buy a new deep discharge 80 or 90Ah battery and try to sell the 60Ah one to a boat owner?

 

Its all my own fault as I knew the original 7 year-old battery was not at it's best and I should have replaced it before going to France and Spain for 5 weeks :$

 

I'd go for your Option 1.

 

It's unlikely, based on the similar dimensions, that the TechPower 60Ah maintenance-free battery you obtained in France has a significantly lower Ah capacity than the Fiamm battery it replaced, and I'd hazard a guess that the TechPower battery's technical specification is at least as good as that of the Fiamm original.

 

The Fiamm battery lasted 7 years and I'm assuming its restricted Ah capacity did not cause you problems during that period. If you were able to operate your Nuevo satisfactorily for 7 years with the Fiamm battery, I see no reason why you should not be able to do the same with the TechPower battery for the foreseeable future.

 

If you've found in the past that the Fiamm battery's limited Ah capacity was cramping your motorcaravanning style, or you would just like more capacity, then Option 2 or 3 would be logical, but otherwise why do anything? Even if the TechPower battery has a potentially shorter life-span than the Fiamm, do you anticipate still owning your Nuevo 5, 6 or 7 years from now?

[Brambles]

Very good points raised Derek, never looked at it from the point of few old one lasted a long time so depth of discharge has been low. I suppose, why spend more money when you do not need to.

Yeah! I will go along with your option.

[David B]

I am going for option 1, i.e. see how I get on with the 60Ah battery. If the sun shines its not a problem as I have the solar panel. We tend to tour and not stop in one place for more than a few days, so get some engine charging. Our 12v usage is not excessive. Main drain would be TV and fluorescent lights in winter. But probably on mains in winter for heating so mains charger on.

 

Thanks for all the advice and thought provoking posts.

 

David B.

[WildBill]

David B

 

I have replaced all my lights from halogen to LED and am going to replace my one fluorescent to LED too. It is quite astonishing how much juice a fluorecent tube uses compared to LED.

 

Just a thought.

[WildBill]

I have now got my second leisure battery all hooked up in the van. THANKS TO BRAMBLES for his help with my battery I.D. I have even bought a plastic battery box from e-bay and made up a vent tube to vent the battery to fresh air. Next time I am on battery will be Newbury. I could be on the look out for a solar pannel by then if funds are made available by my accountant, (she's sat next to me).

[Derek Uzzell]

WildBill - 2012-04-25 7:50 PM

 

David B

 

I have replaced all my lights from halogen to LED and am going to replace my one fluorescent to LED too. It is quite astonishing how much juice a fluorecent tube uses compared to LED.

 

Just a thought.

 

Replacing a motorhome's halogen bulbs with LED equivalents is normally well worthwhile when it comes to reducing 12V electricity consumption, as the LED equivalent of a halogen bulb may use 90% less power.

 

However, the same is not necessarily true for fluorescent lighting, as an LED 'strip' equivalent in size and light output to, say, a 12V 8W fluorescent tube is likely to use 5W-8W of power. There should be a consumption reduction, but it won't be anything like as dramatic as the reduction that results from a halogen-to-LED swap.

 

An earlier relevant thread here:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25445&posts=9

 

and a DIY project described here:

 

http://caravanstv.com/members/articles/how-to/how-to-convert-existing-fluorescent-lights-to-led/

[David B]

Derek Uzzell - 2012-05-04 8:47 AM

 

Replacing a motorhome's halogen bulbs with LED equivalents is normally well worthwhile when it comes to reducing 12V electricity consumption, as the LED equivalent of a halogen bulb may use 90% less power.

 

However, the same is not necessarily true for fluorescent lighting, as an LED 'strip' equivalent in size and light output to, say, a 12V 8W fluorescent tube is likely to use 5W-8W of power. There should be a consumption reduction, but it won't be anything like as dramatic as the reduction that results from a halogen-to-LED swap./

 

I had read somewhere that replacing fluorescents with LEDs was not worth the considerable cost - I have 9 fluorescents - for the small gain in consumption reduction.