starvin marvin Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I'm aware that when fitting a 2nd leisure battery you should fit a new matching pair. Can I ask if this is necessary when fitting a 2nd Gel leisure battery? The reason I ask is that almost 5yrs ago I had this done, but didn't have a pair fitted, wasn't aware it was considered best practice. 5yrs on still working fine and have no idea how old the 1st battery is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Ideally the original battery should be less than a year old when you add the second battery and of course of the same type and similar size within reason. If you are not a high power user and the batteries are not regularly discharged to low levels they will last a lot longer. Plenty of reports on the forums of Gel's lasting 7/8 years and more. Your original battery was probably in good condition even if it was a few years old, if it was in poor condition it will drag the new one down and you will never achieve full capacity but unless you are a heavy user you may never notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Good response Lennyhb, I agree entirely. Best oractice needn't be an absolte rule. Just been enjoying browsing your photo gallery - you've taken some very good pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvin marvin Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 lennyhb - 2014-08-20 12:27 PM Ideally the original battery should be less than a year old when you add the second battery and of course of the same type and similar size within reason. If you are not a high power user and the batteries are not regularly discharged to low levels they will last a lot longer. Plenty of reports on the forums of Gel's lasting 7/8 years and more. Your original battery was probably in good condition even if it was a few years old, if it was in poor condition it will drag the new one down and you will never achieve full capacity but unless you are a heavy user you may never notice. So if the existing battery is newish then IYO I could fit a new 90ah Sonnenschein, (these seem easier to get hold of than Exide and are the same manufacturer as Exide) gel battery. I'll need to check out the age of the existing battery. Fitting only 1new battery will save £200 or thereabouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Batteries connected in parallel should be in similar condition otherwise one might discharge the other. But I see no reason why they should be the same capacity unless they are connected in series (to produce double their voltage as in 24 volt systems. In that case the bigger battery will be undercharged and the smaller battery overcharged as they have the same current forced through them. But if they are in parallel they will charge and discharge in proportion to their capacity, just like 2 unequal fuel tanks connected together.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 In this earlier forum-thread I referred (6 January 2008 8:32 AM posting) to Exide’s advice regarding connecting together their gel-type batteries http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/ELEKTROBLOCK-EBL-99-CHARGER/10238/ Exide’s "New gel battery + old gel battery - YES (provided that the old battery is no more than one year old)” advice will be based on the principle that the ‘old’ battery will still be in pristine working order after 12 months usage. This may not be true if the ‘old’ battery has been heavily and repeatedly discharged during that period. Plainly the older the ‘old’ battery is the greater the likelihood that its condition will be inferior to that of the ’new’ battery. In starvin marvin’s case, one of his motorhome’s two gel batteries (the 2nd one fitted) will now be almost 5 years old and it can be assumed that the other battery will be older still. Although gel batteries have a reasonable reputation for longevity, “almost 5 years old” certainly is not newish and is well outside Exide’s recommendations. Discarding the original battery (should it show signs of failing) and replacing it with a new Sonnenschein gel battery would be inadvisable unless it could be confirmed that the almost 5 years old battery was still in perfect condition. If cost-saving is a very high priority it might be better (assuming that it’s practicable) if one of the gel batteries starts to falter to replace both gel batteries with a pair of new cheaper maintenance-free vented wet-acid batteries, altering the battery-charger’s charging regimen (if necessary) to match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'm not sure if tony is saying he has done in the past and has been OK so will pair a new battery with an older one again or that he has a 5 year old battery and is going to pair a new one with it. If the latter is the case and is going to put a new one with a 5 year old one I would agree with Derek, don't do it. At 5 years old the battery could be coming towards the end of it's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 StuartO - 2014-08-20 2:11 PM Good response Lennyhb, I agree entirely. Best oractice needn't be an absolte rule. Just been enjoying browsing your photo gallery - you've taken some very good pictures. Thanks, must get around to updating them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvin marvin Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'll try to be clearer. On my current van, now sold awaiting replacement van, I had a 2nd battery fitted to pair up with an existing battery approx 5yrs ago and its been fine. Replacement van has 1no 90ah Exide gel battery. The question was basically when the cabling is sorted for a 2nd battery I can then decide whether to fit one new additional gel battery and can I get away with it? It appears not. I may just have been lucky 5yrs ago when I added a 2nd battery, which is strange because if I don't have bad luck I would've any luck at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 So, how old is the replacement van? If much more that one year it would probably be unwise to pair a new battery with the existing. It isn't a hard and fast rule, in that 12 months = OK and 13 months = disaster. Somewhere after 12 months the advice will shade towards don't, and by the time you reach 24 months will almost certainly be don't, but between the two it will be a judgement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 This could be useful. http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html ...or confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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