Additional Hab battery Hobby T500FSC

[K9GYN]

I'm looking to add an additional battery and would appreciate any assistance.

Currently hab battery is under passenger seat its supposed to be an Excide 85Ah I can't confirm without removing seat

Can someone confirm if Hobby were using Excide and if it can be duplicated under seat

many thanks in advance

Phil

[Robinhood]

....if it's the original fit it is likely to be an Exide (or Sonnenschein) Gel battery.

 

I had mine doubled-up on purchase of my Transit-based Hobby, and two just fit under the passenger seat.

 

Not a cheap option, though :-S (I got mine as part of the deal).

[Brian Kirby]

What year is your van? For a successful pairing, both batteries should be more or less the same age. I think 6 months difference is OK, but any greater is liable to reduce the performance of the newest - the greater the age difference, the greater the impact. To confirm what was originally fitted, you'll have to remove the passenger's seat to be able to see clearly. I suspect Robin is right regarding Exide or Sonnenschein (which is in effect Exide anyway), it is what we had in ours.

 

There have been some variations on which battery was installed where, and on how many batteries were present. You'll need to investigate. Some Transits had two (broadly starter) batteries under the driver's seat, and the habitation battery under the passenger's seat. Others (like ours) had only the one starter battery, which left just sufficient room to shoe-horn in a second 85Ah gel to match the original hab battery. Look under the seats for an unused cubby-hole in the front of the seat base. If yours has the twin starter pack plus the charger and fuses installed under the passenger seat, you'll find no unused space under the seats and I suspect you'll struggle to find a suitable location for an additional battery.

[K9GYN]

Van was reg 1/3/12 ( build date early 2011). I've heard its preferable to have both batteries about same age but the van when not in use is on EHU and I'm hoping this will offset the age gap'

Trying to look under the passenger seat there does seem to be room for a second battery-- it looks as though I will have to remove seat to confirm battery type /size and go from there.

Thanks all for your help I'll let you know how I get on.

Phil

[alan k]

Interestingly my 2010 Hobby Van has the single starter battery under the driver's seat together with the charger and hab fuses. The passenger seat hid the single leisure battery, and had space for another to be fitted.

 

After start up following the long winter, the leisure battery was found to be cooked and I've had 2 batteries fitted to double up the capacity. The battery failure seemed an ideal opportunity. The securing framework for the battery caused a bit of a problem, but its all fitted quite snugly now

 

cheers alan

[Brian Kirby]

K9GYN - 2013-05-07 8:54 PM

 

Van was reg 1/3/12 ( build date early 2011). I've heard its preferable to have both batteries about same age but the van when not in use is on EHU and I'm hoping this will offset the age gap'

Trying to look under the passenger seat there does seem to be room for a second battery-- it looks as though I will have to remove seat to confirm battery type /size and go from there.

Thanks all for your help I'll let you know how I get on.

Phil

Hi Phil

Re battery ages I'm not competent to say, I just follow the general advice! If Jon (Brambles) picks up this query he'll know for sure.

Careful when you take out the seats: they're surprisingly heavy! Table out first for ease of access.

[Derek Uzzell]

Hobby’s brochure indicates that a 2011 model-year “Van T500FSC” had a “Gel battery, 80Ah (habitation)”.

 

On that basis, the battery will be an Exide G80 as advertised here:

 

http://www.tayna.co.uk/ES900-Exide-G80-Marine-and-Multifit-Gel-Leisure-Battery-P7693.html

 

The quoted dimensions 353mm(L) x 175mm(W) x 190mm(H) are the maxima for a battery to be fitted beneath a Ford Transit-based Hobby’s passenger cab-seat.

 

The Exide Gel leaflet provided with my own 2005 Hobby motorhome (also fitted as standard with a G80 as the leisure-battery) advises that, when a new battery is to be parallel-connected to another battery, there should be “...einem Altersunterschied von max. 1 Jahr” – “...a maximum age difference of 1 year”. Phil’s T500FSC motorhome has a build-date of early-2011, so connecting another battery to the (more than 2-years-old) original would conflict with Exide’s advice.

 

I don’t know if having the motorhome on EHU would negate Exide’s advice. If there were a real concern that adding a brand-new gel battery could be problematical, there’s always the cost-saving possibility to fit a pair of brand-new (vented) wet-acid batteries instead. Maintenance of those batteries would be complicated by them being ‘masked’ by the cab-seat, but it’s still an option.

 

My Hobby, like Brian’s motorhome, has its leisure-battery under the passenger cab-seat together with the CBE-made battery-charger and distribution/fuse box. The starter-battery will always be located under a Transit Mk 6/Mk 7’s driver’s cab-seat and, logically, it would make good sense for Hobby to install the charger/fuse-box there if free space is available, leaving the under-passenger-seat space empty for (potentially) two leisure-batteries that could easily be connected together. As Alan’s and Robinhood’s 2010 Vans have this arrangement and (as it should be visually obvious whether or not there’s the possibility to install another battery beneath the passenger cab-seat) it may be assumed that Phil’s has too.

 

It’s probable that a Ford-sourced metal ‘hold down bracket’ will be used to secure the standard single leisure-battery and (as Alan K mentions) this may need to be modified/replaced when a 2nd battery is fitted.

[Robinhood]

Derek Uzzell - 2013-05-08 9:03 AM

 

It’s probable that a Ford-sourced metal ‘hold down bracket’ will be used to secure the standard single leisure-battery and (as Alan K mentions) this may need to be modified/replaced when a 2nd battery is fitted.

 

From what little you can see under the seat swivel mount (I did have it out once, but can't envisage the layout any longer), the original leisure battery is installed to the rear of the passenger seat box, and is secured by what looks like a Ford OE bracket.

 

The additional battery is to the front of this, and the dealer has secured it with a customised metal strip, the rear part of which I would envisage is held by the same fastening as the front of the original bracket.

[Keithl]

Derek Uzzell - 2013-05-08 9:03 AM

If there were a real concern that adding a brand-new gel battery could be problematical, there’s always the cost-saving possibility to fit a pair of brand-new (vented) wet-acid batteries instead. Maintenance of those batteries would be complicated by them being ‘masked’ by the cab-seat, but it’s still an option.

 

Or fit a brand new pair of 'Sealed for Life' Wet Acid batteries and remove the complication of having to remove the seat to check them. But bear in mind they would still require venting outside the seat box.

A good example would be the Varta Professional 90 Ah Link (assuming the size is OK).

 

Keith.

 

Edit. And you can buy generic battery hold down bars in most car accessory shops.

[Derek Uzzell]

Robinhood - 2013-05-08 9:21 AM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2013-05-08 9:03 AM

 

It’s probable that a Ford-sourced metal ‘hold down bracket’ will be used to secure the standard single leisure-battery and (as Alan K mentions) this may need to be modified/replaced when a 2nd battery is fitted.

 

From what little you can see under the seat swivel mount (I did have it out once, but can't envisage the layout any longer), the original leisure battery is installed to the rear of the passenger seat box, and is secured by what looks like a Ford OE bracket.

 

The additional battery is to the front of this, and the dealer has secured it with a customised metal strip, the rear part of which I would envisage is held by the same fastening as the front of the original bracket.

 

This video-clip (that I'm not going to comment on regarding its advice!!) shows the type of securing-bracket that's used for a Transit Mk 6 starter-battery (and presumably for the battery on a Mk 7).

 

 

The bracket attaches to the seat-pedestal in 3 places, via a bolt through each side of the pedestal and using a threaded stud in the rear of the pedestal. A similar bracket was used on my Hobby to secure the larger-dimensionally leisure-battery. If the starter- or leisure-battery were fitted in the front part of the pedestal rather than the rear, the bracket could not be reversed as there's a big hole in the front of the seat pedestal (or at least there is on my Mk 6), so there'd be nowhere to attach the part of the bracket that crosses the battery.

 

I've seen it said that there are several versions of the bracket, including a version that's designed for the 'twin starter-battery' set-up Brian has mentioned. The fact is, with two Exide G80s (or equivalent L x W x H batteries) crammed into the pedestal, there won't be much opportunity for them to move about. If the original battery is secured by a Ford OE bracket, a simple metal-strip 'hold down' should easily prevent movement of the 2nd battery.

 

Although (as Keith says) generic hold-down bars are widely available, I don't think these wiould be much use in this case. There will be very little space left in the pedestal once two batteries have been shoehorned in and the type of customised approach adopted by Robinhood's dealer will be simpler than trying to adapt a generic part.