qwark Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I understand it is advisable to use a smart battery charger to recharge my leisure battery. It is a 100 AH Leisure battery. 2 questions how long would it take to recharge my battery, and I have removed it from motorhome till spring, do I just keep it dry and safe in cupboard till spring We are thinking of being away for 6 weeks and will have hook up say every 3 days, would this be possible with 2 leisure batteries, or would a solar panel as backup be neccesary. Thanks for any advice Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I understand it is advisable to use a smart battery charger to recharge my leisure battery. It is a 100 AH Leisure battery... Question One - How long would it take to recharge my battery? That’s going to depend on how heavily discharged the battery is to begin with and how powerful the battery-charger is. I’m not sure it’s really answerable other than to generalise by saying that, if you’ve ‘taken’ 50Ah-worth of charge out of the battery and the battery-charger has an output of 10Amps, it would (in principle) take 5 hours to fully recharge the battery. Question Two - I have removed the battery from the motorhome till spring, do I just keep it dry and safe in cupboard till spring? A battery will gradually lose charge over time. Assuming that your leisure-battery is in good condition, I suggest you put in on charge, say, every couple of weeks. (What do you intend to do about maintaining the charge-state of the motorhome’s starter-battery - or have you removed that too?) Question Three - We are thinking of being away for 6 weeks and will have hook up say every 3 days, would this be possible with 2 leisure batteries, or would a solar panel as backup be neccesary? Once again, it depends... Days are longer in the summer and the weather is warmer, while the opposite is true in the winter. In the winter you’ll tend to use habitation lights and heating appliances longer than in the summer, with a consequential higher drain on your leisure battery. If you have a TV, you’ll probably watch it more in the winter. There’s also the matter of whether you plan to be static for 3-day periods or travel during that time (when the motorhome’s alternator will be able to put some charge back into the leisure-battery). If your present leisure battery is getting on in years, I suggest you dump it before going abroad next year and replace it with a pair of good-quality new ones, which should be adequate for what you are say you’ll be doing. A solar-panel would be nice, but I doubt it would be needed if you are sure you can obtain a hook-up regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I'm a big fan of solar panels for motorhomes and although they might not work as effectively in winter (of which I no experience yet) they certainly deliver the goods in summer. My MH came with a pair of good leisure batteries and making sure we were on a site (for an EHU) every thrid or fourth day would allow us to use TV ad lighting freely when we were off EHU. Adding a solar panel made a big difference and the batteries are topped up during every day, whether we are driving or not driving. So I'm biased in favour of solar panels, to the extent that I suspect we would be OK with a single leisure battery. Not so sure whether this would be OK in winter and I'm told by those who use ther MHs heavily in winter that the solar panel achieves a lot less because of shorter days and weaker sun. But I think any motorhome which is going to be used off EHU should certainly have a solar panel, ideally of 120 watts or more. Maybe less for panel vans. So in answer to your question I would buy a solar panel as the next step and then a second leisure battery only if your single leisure battery then didn't turn out to be enough for the electrical load of your TV watching etc. It's only money and you can't take it with you. (Actually that's not true, in the case of leisure batteries it's money and weight.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Based on Tom’s earlier postings his motorhome (unless he has changed it) is a 2004 Compass Amazon GT 200 - a quite compact overcab design - and his planned 2015 French trip will begin in June and involve stays on campsites and aires, with Bergerac being the initial area of interest. I’ve been motorcaravanning since 1998 and both of my motorhomes have had a single leisure-battery with a capacity less than 100Ah. We’ve motorcaravanned exclusively in France (except for about 7 campsite nights spent in the UK back in 1998) from March through October, mixing stays on aires and campsites as Tom plans to do. I’ve never felt a need for a larger capacity battery (though it has to be said that we don’t have a TV and I’ve swapped the light bulbs for LEDs) nor a solar-panel. The Rapido motorhome I have on order has a 100Ah leisure-battery and we intend to use the vehicle as we have in the past. I won’t be adding a solar-panel to the Rapido, nor an extra battery. I believe adding a solar-panel to Tom’s motorhome would be unnecessary financial expenditure and I’m not wholly convinced that a 2nd leisure-battery would be essential either. What is vital, though, is to ensure that the leisure-battery in Tom’s motorhome is in good condition before venturing abroad, as there’s little point forking out for a solar system if the battery it’s going to be charging is at death’s door. Me, I’d want to be certain the present leisure-battery is in tip-top order (I’ve learnt my lesson about this the hard way!) and, if there’s any doubt I’d replace it, upping the capacity of the replacement(s) if I thought it was justified. This is a simple (and relatively cheap) thing to do and avoids any potential complications that fitting a solar system might involve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I've always had two leisure batteries, but technology has moved on, my present van ( a Rapido ) has a single ( LIke Dereks ) 100 amp battery, all of the lighting is LED, the TV is LED, we almost never use EHU, but the addition of a solar panel on our previous van and this one negates the need to worry about moving on to get some charge back in, or find a hookup, or the need for an extra battery, and since solar we've had zero battery power issues, although in the main we don't do winter apart from the odd couple of nights. I have a Kyocera panel, best accessory I've ever bought. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwark Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 Thanks every body , I feel a lot more confident to make the right decision now, based on your advice. Derek was correct about our French holiday (first time abroad) and our motorhome. I have already changed the bulbs for LEDs,and we will be staying on sites with EHU for two days then 2 days (60-100 miles) staying on Aires , then 2 night camp site with EHU etc , end up watching Tour de France in July Roll on June Best wishes Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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