Frank McAuley Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Re Vartra- I have also been offered a Canadian battery called ROLLS - any knowledge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Frank McAuley - 2014-02-21 8:35 AM Morning Brambles Re my previous and my decision to use 110 AH BANNER ENERGY BULL they're like gold dust! In your last contribution you refer to VARTRA - which I can get so are they worthy replacement? Depends which Varta, genarally make sure it starts with a 9 in the din code. e.g 96002. But also be aware the semi tractions left in the varta range are all vented through the valve caps as far as I am aware. If comparing dual purpose types, e.g most of the budget type as I call them....e.g Numax, Lucas, and a host of others then the Varta professional flooded dual purpose is very good, but it is a dual purpose. Which Rolls Battery, again Rolls supply and brand loads of batteries. Presumambly their marine batteries. I shal guess at this one Rolls 12V 12-FS-125 Deep Cycle Batter or Rolls 12-FS-105 Deep Cycle Battery. These are very good batteries but cost more. Glad you have mentioned as did not realise they are readily available now from the likes of Barden. FS in the battery number I believe stands for Floor Scrubber (series of batteries) and so are a semi traction deep cycle design and shoud make a good choice. However we are back to te venting issue fro may installations, they vent through the caps and do not have centralised venting you can add a vent tube to. Worthwhile smifee looking at these Rolls batteries as well. Certainly far superior to the powermax ones. Must look at venting kits and see what is a avaliable and costs for those wanting battereis for unventilated lockers. Also be aware some of these industrial type batteries are not spill proof, so there are always compromises to be made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McAuley Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thankyou once again Brambles.The charger in my unit is a Sargent PX-300 Intelligent Battery Charger with a recommended battery capacity of 85 to 220 Ah. The ROLLS battery available to me now is rated at 125 Ah and as I require two am I out of luck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Not necessarily, If using the Rolls in a Motorhome and not in a constant cycling application it would be better to be filled with a lower specific gravity acid, Instead of 1.28 approx 1.26 would be better as result in less errosion of the plates when fully charged sitting doing nothing. This reduces teh capcity by about 5% so you would have 225 in total. The charger has a recommended max capcity 220. It does not say absolute max. Now a choice for a quality battery is possibly the varta 110Ah hobby. The Varta 81310 (A28) 12V 110Ah full number is 81310-000. The three numbers at end equate to cranking current. So having a value of zero means it is a deep cycle and not a dual purpose. My comment about starting with a 9 earlier in the DIN number is misleading. So it looks like the Varta 81310 in the black case with vented caps is a proper semi traction/deep cycle. It also suits your capacity recommended for the charger. The problem I have with it is some sellers seem to also state LFS110 for the code and this is a later battery and is not the same as the 81310 (A28) and an LFS is basically dual purpose starter battery. Oh so flippen confusing. My data from way back shows the 81310( A28) to be in the orginal semi traction range. It is also a lot cheaper than the Rolls but of course it will not be as good. Comparing with the Banner offerings it should be as good and have lower water consumption. Problem again is no central venting as it vents through the caps. Not a problem in ventilated locker. Are sellers really selling the 81310 or the the later LFS110. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 smifee - 2014-02-16 11:43 PM Calm down fellas :-D There is no smell. The batteries are fitted with a temperature sensor and are not overheating. The charge has returned to the maintenance rate. The temperature sensor will only stop the charging, it will not disconnect the battery which develops a fault and is overheated by the others feeding it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat1bird Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Thanks to Brambles for all the info - I have spent a good hour or more reading various threads, from as far back as 2012! I am trying to choose a leisure battery for our van, and have so far switched from the Enduroline, to Varta based on postings here, but was going to go for the varta ldf90 - but then when got to the end of this thread, I am once again a bit bewildered, as I now think this is dual purpose battery, and probably not best suited to my needs? I basically need a low height battery (190mm) to go under the front seat of a campervan. Not sure if there are any venting issues with this, especially as one of the kids will sleep on the floor next to the battery (although not while it's charging!) We just want to run a small compressor coolbox (approx. 1 amp hr) a few led lights and charge phones etc. I have had to reach for a beer to refocus, but am now unsure which battery is best - do you have any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Yes the Varta LFD is a dual purpose but is probably better than other dual purpose offerings. If you want semi traction you really only have the Banner which is more expensive and does have the drawback of higher water consumption and higher self discharge. If I needed to discharge repeatedly 50% dod or so I would go for Banner but as mine spends most of the year sitting doing nothing I opted for the cheaper Varta. In my case the deterioration from age alone is higher than the cycling use wear and tear I will give it.. Just ordered a Varta LFD myself today incidentally. My other option was a Varta Silver starter but decided against in the end. Banner which I would really like was not worth the extra cost for the use it will get so not justified. Cheaper budget ones would probably do me, but I have more faith in the Varta as the budget ones ( even though some are not priced cheaply) are really just starter batteries. All flooded batteries should be vented to the oustide world so fit a vent tube, easy enough done and taken through a hole in the floor. Some will argue certain batteries are safe as they do not produce enough gas, and whilst that is a true argument you also have to take into account possible fault conditions or near its end of life and will start releasing gas while being charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat1bird Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Thanks for you quick reply! Do you know where I can look to find the self discharge rates for the Banner and the Varta? As the battery is in a vehicle we use to drive daily (without drawing any power from the leisure battery) I would imagine it wouldn't discharge too much? Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCC Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I had exactly the same problem looking for a battery to go under the driver's seat in my VW. I also have a small compressor fridge which draws about 1 amp (but more on start-up) and general lighting to power. I ended up buying a 55 Ah Optima which is a bit different to the normal battery - it's an AGM battery with the plates formed in a spiral. It's supposed to have the ability to take a much deeper level of discharge than a typical battery so performs like a much bigger battery and it charges up very quickly. I've mounted it on it's side under the seat. http://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/products/yellowtop/ As far as venting is concerned, it's sealed so in normal use it should be fine though there is a release valve and it would vent if something goes wrong. They are very expensive but I happened to get a very good deal on the equivalent marine version (it was confusing because there were two different but similar marine versions only one being suitable). I've had it three and a half years now and (touch wood) it's been excellent. At the time I also considered golf buggy and wheelchair batteries. Varta were then changing their ranges so didn't have an option (they have more options now). I know that when I was looking some people fitted a Banner AGM battery on it's side under the seat but this was more of a starter battery and as I understand it wouldn't take such high levels of discharge. By way of history, when I got my camper it had a small (unvented) Varta leisure battery which worked well until I ran it right down. Then I got a Halfords car bettery which was a bit more powerful but didn't cope very well with the extra load when the fridge started up. I replaced this with a small leisure battery which was rubbish and not really a leisure battery. I rigged up a vent with a pipe through the top of the front window although that's hardly ideal - I just couldn't bear the thought of drilling a hole through the floor. Hope this helps. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 goat1bird - 2015-06-17 6:57 AM Thanks for you quick reply! Do you know where I can look to find the self discharge rates for the Banner and the Varta? As the battery is in a vehicle we use to drive daily (without drawing any power from the leisure battery) I would imagine it wouldn't discharge too much? Many thanks You can get the self discharge rates on teh Banner website if you look at the specifications for the individual batteries. It stated 9% per month . e.g http://www.bannerbatterien.com/backend/datasheets/EN/010957510101.pdf So you can see from this after 2 or 3 months you would need to top up the charge. Not a problem if in daily uses or even monthly use. I do not have figures to hand for the Varta's but they say they can be left in storage for up to 18 months for some batteries, I tend to read that as 9 months easily and probably equates to well under under 3% a month. This is only an issue if you leave batteries disconnected in storage for months on end. What is more significant for batteries in a vehicle parked up is discharge caused by quiescent (standby) currents of connected equipment. Hence why it is often best to disconnect a battery when vehicle is laid up or have some sort of charging arrangement. e.g solar panels or trickle charger. You might be best to look at the number of times you will be using your coolbox and electrics througout the year. If it is every day then the Banner is probably better value, if just a few weeks a year then the varta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 As PCC has shown lots of different ways to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Gordon Bennett ... Duncan is deleting anything now, even a comment suggesting that Smiffee is convinced he's behaving sensibly in keeping his clapped out batteries ! When they could Kill Him ! There are times when someone needs a firm word or two. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat1bird Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks everyone :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.